How to Fight a Velociraptor (and Win) 

A ton of very enlightening comments! I'm learning a lot from you dino nerds. *We should give Michael Crichton his due* when he was writing the book, deinonychus was technically a velociraptor, and was later reclassified. What I wanted to do with this video is distinguish between the two based on current classification, and then pit you against true Velociraptor. See you in Footnotes -- kH

That raptor was T-posing. We can't win.

Awesome. You murdering the raptor from behind was a surprisingly compelling mix of hilarious and brutal.

To call them a turkey with a lot of sharp stuff is actually kind of unnerving. I've read written about people turkey hunting where the turkey almost Wouldn't Die. They are surprisingly resilient.

Southern Cassowary of Australia is considered a distant cousin of raptors (more aggressive, emu-like) with a dangerous history with the following historical stats. 221 cassowary attacks showed that 150 had been against humans. 75% of these had been from cassowaries that had been fed by people. 71% of the time the bird had chased or charged the victim. 15% of the time they kicked. Of those attacks, 73% involved the birds expecting or snatching food, 5% involved defending natural food sources, 15% involved defending themselves from attack, and 7% involved defending their chicks or eggs. Only one human death was ever recorded, the Cassowary in self defense after being attacked by clubs by two people, the scuffle resulted in several attempted kicks by the cassowary when the one tripped and fell to the ground, continuing the attack the cassowary kicked him in the neck opening a 1.25cm (half an inch) wound in his jugular, death was shortly after due to blood loss. (only recorded death, is straight at the jugular mmmmm) Much like many of Australia's Fauna, its reputation of being deadly is blown out of proportion (mostly due to the way British tabloid press reported Australian news multiple times before the invention of global communication - 1 death/attack would be reported over a dozen times in England). If the Cassowary is an example of raptor behaviour, Food or Defense would be the only reason for an attack you, as long as they don't think your the food, and you ain't swinging at them... you would probably be fine to just walk on by quietly (like at the Pub on a Friday night when someone gives you the stink eye - don't start nothing, don't get near)

It may not be as Clickable, but I would love to see *_How to Fight a Deinonychus_* because HOOOOOOLY COW those things are terrifying!

While they were filming Jurassic Park, someone discovered Utahraptor, which is the size you're looking for. One of the filming crew, IIRC actually Spielberg, said that they invented it and then it was discovered. About the book one, Michael Crichton used the Velociraptor. The thing is, in that time Deinonychus was in the Velociraptor family, and was later decided that it shouldn't be. So yes, in the book are velociraptors, but not the V. mongoloensis one we refer to today, but V. antirrhopus, which is now considered Deinonychus antirrhopus. Same creature, but totally different taxa.

How do you survive a dinosaur like Utahraptor?(Bigger than movie raptors) Easy. Just run away from it with a friend who's slower than you.

Micheal Crichton didn't use the name velociraptor because it "sounded cooler" he used it because at the time Deinonychus was called Velociraptor Aentyrhopus.(sorry if i misspelled anything, too lazy to check)

Just to quickly clarify the different names and animals that are being tossed around when discussing velociraptor. Velociraptor mongoliensis: the small Mongolian theropod of the dromaeosaur family. ~35lbs Deinonychus antirrhopus: larger North American member of the same family. ~160lbs Michael Crichton used the name Velociraptor in the novel as antagonists in part because the name could be shortened to “raptor”. But In the 80s some paleontologist (lead by Gregory S. Paul) proposed lumping Deinonychus under the genus Velociraptor. Although this taxonomy is no longer accepted, Crichton used it when writing jurassic park as is evidenced during Dr Grant discussing the different species of raptor with Dr Wu. Lastly the creatures on film (even larger than Deinonychus, closer in size to Utahraptor ostrommaysorum) are far enough removed from the fossil record that Dino nerds usually use another name, Velociraptor hammondi (after Ingen owner John Hammond), to discuss the movie predators. Although one would have to wonder exactly how much true Velociraptor DNA would have ended up in these giant monsters.

maybe they were not so stupid since Australia lost war against Emu ;P

So we actually have to worry about deinonychus make a video on how to fight that

“You won’t run into a velociraptor on the street” -Kyle, Ever seen an Emu?

Never thought I'd be troubled watching a human strangle an animated marker-drawing of a velociraptor... That being said, wouldn't it be more effective to snap its neck? Though standing much taller, they seem to be quite a bit skinnier than a large turkey, and snapping a turkey's neck is not too difficult (right? I've never tried tbh).

XD I love how he keeps having conversations with them 😂

"Mom this turkey is funny, what's in it?" "Oh just the flavouring son", smug, "just the flavouring"

>estimating the velocity of a velociraptor is not as complicated as you might think >explains something complicated

Uhh, hate to break it to ya, but Deinonychus was *not* human sized. bigger than the Velociraptor but still quite small. If you want human-sized raptors, you're looking for Achillobator, Dakotaraptor, or maybe Utahraptor. Not Deinonychus. Edit: My examples are human height, but Deinonychus was human *size* like Kyle said.

Do one about Deinonychus!!! I've been raving about the true cocostars of JP for years! Glad someone finally gave em a public outing!

"How to Fight a Velociraptor" 1. Asteroid. 2. Shotgun. Contrary to the movies dinosaurs are not bullet proof. 3. Modern diseases. 4. Habitat loss. 5. Mammalian apex predators. 6. One Punch Man.

Deinonychus was newly discovered when Crichton wrote Jurassic Park and at the time it was considered a member of genus Velociraptor. Also feathered dinosaurs were not yet discovered at the time. Crichton actually made his dinos far more accurately than anything before or contemporary. We can't hold him responsible for not randomly guessing decades of science that hadn't been done yet

Why use your hands? Even if your unarmed doesn't mean you can't arm yourself. While I was in the Marines they taught us to use "weapons of opportunity". If I see anything around me that I can use as a bludgeon I'm going to use it. So for me I'm picking up a big rock and crushing that chicken. So remember kids, crush the chicken, not choke it.

why are we doing this video? It should be "how to fight a Utahraptor".

“They are essentially just turkeys with a lot of sharp stuff” Lol best line ever

I vote we change the name of Velociraptor to Fang Turkey.

Hey Kyle Great episode as always :D 2 Questions 1) My favourite dinosaur is Ankylosaurus, with dinosaurs as big as T-Rex could their shells/armour really take that kind of punishment/damage without breaking? 2) With the idea of Jurassic Park "Velociraptor" in people heads, you need to make a "How to fight Deinonychus" Take Care and Be Well

3:24 velociraptor T posing

I'd be very into a "Fight a Movie Velociraptor" episode like this one, armed and unarmed. Also into a "Fight a RL Utahraptor" episode. Could also discuss whether Utahraptors in packs could have taken out Sauropods, that'd be fun. Great episode Kyle, and yeah that random guy in the beginning was a handsome devil! ;)

This video is wrong. Everyone knows that velociraptors = displaceraptors/ time.

How about a pointed stick? Really, if they weren't very bright and so fast that their inertia would be hard to halt, a pointed stick might be an effective weapon. Spears are a LOT more effective than people assume they are. Actually spears beat swords in medieval combat recreation more often than people would think given the incredible simplicity of the weapon (it's a pointy stick) and if a Velociraptor lunges at you, they would be doomed if between your fleshy bits and their claws was a long pointy stick. And a long pointy stick if you're in the woods is in good supply. So before beating one to death with your bare hands you might want to consider picking up a stick or even if you just use it as a club that would be a better idea than your fists.

Something about hypothetical animal fights that people never seem to include, infection. My wife's cat is basically feral, only let's my wife touch it, on rare occasions. This cat got out on the roof one night. I was nominated to retrieve the cat. I grabbed it by the scruff of it's neck, and holy shit, I got the cat back in, but, not before suffering some serious bites that required having two of my knuckles surgically irrigated and a four day stay in the hospital on some serious IV antibiotics. Without modern medicine I would've gone septic and died. So, while you may be able to crush one of these tiny things, if you don't get to the hospital in time, in many, many cases this match is ends with both of you dead.

"We can't go back to their time, so-" *Kyle quantum leaps into this video and slaps himself

This is great information! Will help me survive the upcoming dinosaur apocalypse!

9:35 get one by the neck and use it as a weapon against the rest?

In the first place, given the stated size and weight of the organism, your biggest problem in a confrontation would be catching it--the poor thing would probably run screeching from the towering biped. In the second place, if it was stupid enough to charge, rear back and give it the best field goal kick you've got (I take as given that your hiking boots survived the time-jaunt). In case of a flock's attack, remove your shirt, tie off the neck and sleeves, drop a rock inside, and you have an improvised flail. Of course, all this goes out the window on Jurassic Island, since Crichton's dinos were creations of genetic engineering with admixtures of frog and modern reptile DNA. The island's raptors might be agents of a hive-mind with sea-snake venom in their fangs, or some damn thing.

Best ad placement I ever saw. Right after your "because" an ad started with "everybody needs a little yoga in their life" "It's probably a good thing Velociraptors are seperated from us by 75 Million years, because everybody needs a little yoga in their life" ...makes sense

From our findings Deinonychus was not as tall as a human (standing around the height of 6ft humans waist). But it did weigh about the same as the average human (160 - 220 lbs). And since mass is a better representation of size it was technically human size. Kyle if you dont make this a series I will find you. Fight a mammoth. Or a smilodon. Or a Triceratops. Or a ankylosaurus. Or a therizinosaurus.

I'm sorry Kyle but emus are clever girls and boys. They won a war against humans with guns

8:00 damn, Kyle be brutal! D8

Utahraptor! I wanna see this but with the utahraptor that is wayyyyy more intimidating! Utahraptor was basically velociraptor and deinonychus but bigger and scarier!

But since the raptors in most of pop media are based on animals like Deinonychus, Utahraptor, or Dakotaraptor, I feel that either this video or a follow up one should address those particular circumstances. Also, scenario 2 is assuming that the average urbanized person could even get the drop on a Velociraptor in the wild. Aside from their superior eyesight, Dromaeosaurs had a highly efficient sense of smell and hearing too. So they would probably hear and smell the average person stumbling through the vegetation long before that individual could get the drop on the raptor. And there is some evidence of grouping behaviors from some Dromaeosaurs, like some tracks of from China, of 3 presumed Achillobator that may have been travelling along a shoreline together, with their track ways spaced apart like the animals were all there at the same time. And there's the circumstantial evidence of multiple Deinonychus teaming up to take down larger prey animals, like Tenontosaurus, from both the numbers of shed teeth and corpses of animals that may have died in the take down - not that these predators were necessarily actually living together as a pack, but could have teamed up as a mob to take down the larger animal. So while we don't have clear, definitive evidence for packing behaviors in specific animals, like the Dromaeosaurs, that does not mean there wouldn't be moments where even solitary animals would team up to take down larger prey items.

Hmm. While it may be that Michael Crichton may have originally framed his Velociraptors on Deinonychus, given the tactics seen in the movies, the Utahraptor (Achillobator giganticus) might be a better fit. Not only is it a closer fit in size, the claw and muscle structure fit better too. With Deinonychus, their middle claws are focused to a sharp, jagged blade on the inside curve (unlike the Velociraptors' presented in the video), suggesting that they used them for strong, slashing attacks. Utahraptors, however, have a strong piercing point, but a dull interior. This combined with their disproportionately strong back muscles suggest that they used their claws mainly to afford purchase as they climbed, similar to crampons. The fight at the end of JP 1, with the T. Rex in the lobby, has the raptors jumping at the Rex, trying to climb it. In JP 2, in the long grass, we see them use their powerful leaps to pin their opponent, not slash them. With these repeated themes, I think that the Utahraptor is the closest we can get to our Hollywood monsters. Also, I'd like to say thank you for not using the pop-culture "distance raptor / time raptor = Velociraptor" as we all know the raptors would cancel out and we'd only be left with Velocity.

I know how you can defeat Velociraptor: You should rend his head from his shoulders You should smite him where he stands Make him rue the very day he stole your kingdom from you

8:02 Kyle definitely enjoyed that shot

One thing to remember when fighting against predators is that they have far faster reflexes than we do. Like the reflex arc of a tiger if you were to reach up and grab the tiger's tale it can turn around and bite you before you realized he moved. Sometimes making lots of noise and making yourself bigger is helpful, sometimes backing away slowly facing a predator and not running away which makes you look like prey activating there Chase mechanism. you need to understand the Predators and the situation you're dealing with before you start employing tactics. By the way the Raptors in Jurassic Park are approximately the size of Utah Raptors but they were discovered just after Jurassic Park the movie came out.

I would definitely lose to a velociraptor, I’d keep trying to pet them as they eat my face off. “You’re so precious! That tickles hahahaha *death sounds*”

This is the video that I've been waiting for for ages!

As has been mentioned- Utahraptor would be closest to the movie version. Now do that one!! 😁 Great job on all your vids- I am making my way through all of them. You are fun to watch and learn from!

How to fight a titanboa Time sensitive question plz respond

Hi Kyle, After watching the episode “How far can Sauron see?”, I had a question in mind. In the episode, how far Sauron could see was limited to 130km due to Earth’s curvature, but he had a ridiculously tiny angular resolution, hence seeing in high detail (20/0.002 vision). I was wondering on how to swap the two things, if Sauron was looking at outer space, if he could, how far could he see and how clear?

It weighs 12 pounds just punt it.

That was a cool video. I’d love to see a follow up video about how to fight a deinonychus, Utah raptor, mega raptor and win. I’d be interested on how we’d fair against a larger size raptor.

I was wondering if a "scare them off" tactic would be effective. You know, by pretending you're bigger than what you really are and making some loud noises. But then I remembered that they used to hunt animals several times bigger than humans, so maybe not so effective. Loving your show, Kyle! Keep at it!

Very useful info for my life, my cat is crazy

Damn, I've been working on a fantasy novel taking place millions of years where there are dragons protecting the world and because of that the meteor never hit and dinosaurs never went extinct and I had a scene planned for the protagonist to use crude alchemy mixing together stuff he found in the wild to buy time and get away from a velociraptor alive but I guess now its a deinonychus. Although I do love the idea of having him trying to get away from a plausible pack of sharp danger turkeys.

2:18 Actually, the reason he called it Velociraptor instead of the Dienonychus was because Crichton seemed to based them on Gregory Paul's study of the animals, who referred to the Dieonychus as "Velociraptor antirrhopus". Of course, nowadays the term Velociraptor is generally applied to Velociraptor mongoliensis.

A turkey sized Velociraptor would still deal out lethal damage very quickly. Far worse than a cassowary would. Think more along the lines of 4-legged golden eagle.

So, I basically just watched Kyle strangling an extinct animal to death... *NICE*

7:00 There’s another T-shirt idea for you “velociraptors: basically just turkeys with a lot of sharp stuff”

3:24 Ive always wanted to see a velociraptor t posing

I fought a rooster once and lost. This won't be any different.

You should do an episode on how to beat a movie velociraptor too! I’d be very interested 😉

"Handsome guy" 😂😂 Kyle is the best.

Note that at the time of writing the novel, velociraptor in jargon referred to not just the mongoliensis, but all dromeosaurs (which included the larger deinonychus and utahraptor). Also, Alan Grant mentions that he's skeptical of the Doctor's claim that the velociraptors on Nublar were of the mongoliensis species (the Doctor wasn't a paleontologist after all. So no, the writer did NOT use the name because it was cooler, just that deinonychus used to belong to the velociraptor genus once upon a time. Thank you for reading.

How to fight a quiet place monster ??

So, basically, they where large ground predatory birds with some nasty claws and teeth, not something you'd want to mess with, especially in groups, but you could probably overpower and kill one or two if you had to with your bear hands. Sounds about right.

3:23 even velociraptors must T-pose to show dominance

Best quote: (6:59) turkeys with a lot of sharp stuff

The one scenario you didn't mention was if you found yourself looking at each other about 10 feet away and you were unarmed. With the speed and jaws, I don't see you coming out alive assuming you both go for each other around the same time where both of you were ready to fight by the time you were in attacking range. I can see best case scenario in that situation is the dino goes for your leg, it would hurt like heck but you can fall ontop of it and it would be like the previous situation but you would come out a lot more damaged. Worst case scenario (since we know that they are smart enough to go for the neck on other creatures) it would jump up and go for your neck. This fight would be more complex, all depending on speculation which is probably why you didn't include it, but in order to survive, you would have to first grab it's neck and bring it to the ground as quick as possible before it can sink it's claws into you. Then you would have to try pinning its limbs to prevent it from fighting back too much before going back to pounding it's head and choking it. The one thing I will say, though, is judging by it's features, we might as well say it is a large cat with bird feathers and a crocodile's mouth, so lets just rename it to the Caturkodile.

Cant wait for the Southern Cassowary Park cinematic universe

6:34 Mr. Velociraptor: i want a mustache!

I would probably be most fearful of a mossasaur, because ya know, big thing in deep water

Would be cools if the next one is about Aquatic Creatures.

What about an carnotaurus? They're big, quick and agressive af

Love that d/t raptor pun

the part when you grab the neck and hitting it is the most fun part i click like immediately keep up the fun videos from one of your subs in Indonesia

Next year on Because Science...how to fight an ankylosaurus.

Now this is good content rock climbing thor.

2:27 lol

Hey Kyle, love the hair! You've mentioned that you use Argon Oil after showering (thanks for the recommendation btw), but what kind of shampoo/conditioner do you prefer? I typically use horse mane shampoo.

Easy treat them like dogs but as well as Emus.

You could probably just look big and make a lot of noise to make it go away. My labradoodle can make a whole pack of coyote stop their yipping with one bark. They could take him in a fight, sure, but they don't want to take the risk. Heck my other dog is only 25 pounds but he chased at least one bear away in his lifetime.

Kyle, since I am an aspiring paleontologist, it makes me happy to see that you haven’t given into believing pop culture and their outrageous beliefs.

Finally, some useful knowledge in my recommendations

Just a pedantic correction, it's pronounced eemyou not eemoo. Also, if you want to see a big dangerous bird look up a Cassowary. Now that's akin to a movie velociraptor.

Thanks for this, Kyle. One of the reasons I have soured on the Jurassic Park movies is that they haven't kept up with the science, particularly regarding T. Rex and Velociraptor (they had feathers, people!). Real discoveries are more exciting than cynical summer cash-grabs, anyway.

Not gonna lie. I watch this channel for two reasons, 1: I’m a nerd and this science is fun 2: you look like Thor without Moljnir and I support you keep up the good work

(3:23) *ASSERT YOUR DOMINANCE*

6:32 Kyle Hill, Veliciwhisperer

Great episode, I love the show! The only question I would have is, if you are back in time with those Dino’s wouldn’t the last thing you would want to do while trying to get away from them is run into a body of water? In the water you would have much bigger, meaner, and hungrier Dino’s that would for sure end your problem with the V. Raptor. I would think up a tree would be safer but even then you got to look out for what Jeff Goldblume would say is perfect biting hight.

Velociraptor's most horrifyingly efficient method of hunting was its fantastic t pose capabilities, truly fascinating

Sorry dude i can't fix your car *BUT I NOW HOW TO FIGHT A VELOCIRAPTER*

Hey Kyle, long time viewer, first time commenter. Always love educational content mixed with humor you create. Quick question. You mentioned that their necks aren't particularly strong? If you were going up against several of these little guys, wouldn't it be best to grab their necks and snap them as quickly as possible? This way you're not wasting precious seconds waiting for the oxygen depletion to knock them out. Of course you're probably still going to become dino-meat, odds aren't in your favor as you said, just throwing out my two cents since you say you always try to read every comment after you upload your videos. :)

A single one? Punt it. A pack? You're screwed. Deinonychus? Royally screwed.

7:15 If your unarmed then why are you alone. How would you tie your shoes.

As for most “how to survive animal attack” questions I like to refer to Nintendo when describing a certain character, “for his neutral special joker has a gun”

Hey Kyle, love your show. I was wondering, if dinosaurs existed now as they did millions of years ago, what would they taste like? I know there is conflicting information on whether some were warm or cold blooded, so would that affect the flavor palate? Would a stego steak pair well with fava beans and a nice chiant?

I have to disagree with your small Velociraptor fighting methods. Because you have height you also have reach and the brain power to get even more. assuming you're in a forest look for a large branch if you're about to face off with one of these little guys. swing it in a manner that sends it away from you. it'll likely become discouraged after a few swings but if not just keep hitting the thing tills its immobilized then crush its head. If you don't have access to a branch (or club like object) punt the thing like a baby in south park. use your long legs to give you a range advantage. basically if the thing has five appendages ending in blades, don't let it get close. pinning down one of these guys gets rid of your size advantage and also blocks its escape. cornering dangerous creatures is a big *NO* it will then try anything to get away or take you down with it. Also, If facing a group of them look for an environment that forces them to attack you head on.

That fight scene is glorious.

That Velocityraptor joke was absolute genius.