Collection: Dromaeosaur / Raptor

Even if you're not a paleontologist you've almost certainly heard of "Raptor" dinosaurs, a group of carnivorous dinosaurs turned Hollywood horror stars in the Jurassic Park franchise, gaining infamy rivaling the likes of T-rex and Triceratops! Raptors, or as they are properly known Dromaeosaurs, first appeared 143 million years ago at the beginning of the Cretaceous Period. They were small and lightly built, the largest known true raptor was Utahraptor who could reach lengths of 23 feet and weigh 1500 pounds! However most rarely exceeded the size of the human sized horrors of the movies. Most true raptors rarely exceeded 10 feet long, three feet tall, and 100 pounds. The infamous Velociraptor was greatly scaled up in size for the films and was actually about the size of the average raptor mentioned earlier.

It isn't just in the movies that raptors are misrepresented either. In all of the fossil market there is no fossil misidentified more that raptor fossils. The most common of this misidentifications are the small "Deltadromeus Raptor Teeth" from the Kem Kem Beds of Morocco. If you see a small carnivorous dinosaur tooth from Morocco labeled as a "Raptor tooth", 999 times out of a 1000 it's Abelisaur (another group of small carnivorous dinosaur) and not from a true Raptor. Even in the American fossil market most raptor fossils are either from miscellaneous small theropods (including some which have raptor in their name like Oviraptors which are not Dromaeosaurs), or misidentified small theropod teeth with small Tyrannosaur teeth being the most common culprits.

This, combined with their natural rarity makes True Dromaeosaur raptor fossils extraordinarily difficult to come by. I personally check every fossil I list as Dromaeosaur raptor using a microscope and input from experts to make sure you are getting what you pay for and can reliably own a piece of these infamous and terrifying prehistoric predators!

Also yes, they were quite fluffy.