Mariomassone

L'esemplare dei "dinosauri combattenti, scoperto nel 1971, conserva un ''Velociraptor mongoliensis'' e un ''[[Protoceratops|Protoceratops andrewsi]]'' nell' atto di combattere, così mostrando prove dirette di comportamenti di caccia. Quando fu prima scoperto, si ipotizzò che i due animali morirono affogati.<ref name=barsbold1974/> Siccome gli animali furono conservati in una duna di sabbia, si ritiene ora che furono infatti seppeliti vivi da una [[Tempesta di sabbia|tempesta di sabbia]] o da una frana sabbiosa. La sepoltura era molto veloce, considerando le posture degli animali. Parti del ''Protoceratops'' sono assenti, probabilmente a causa degli animali spazzini.<ref name=carpenter1998>{{cite_journal |last=Carpenter |first=Kenneth |authorlink=Kenneth Carpenter |year=1998 |title=Evidence of predatory behavior by theropod dinosaurs |journal=Gaia |volume=15 |pages=135–144 |url=http://www.mnhn.ul.pt/geologia/gaia/9.pdf}}</ref> Un confronto tra gli anelli sclerotici di ''Velociraptor'', ''Protoceratops'' e gli uccelli e i rettili moderni indica che ''Velociraptor'' fosse probabilmente un [[animale notturno]], mentre ''Protoceratops'' potrebbe essere stato catemerale (attivo durante il giorno in intervalli brevi), così indicando che la battaglia avvenì durante il crepuscolo.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Schmitz, L.; Motani, R. |year=2011 |title=Nocturnality in Dinosaurs Inferred from Scleral Ring and Orbit Morphology |journal=Science |volume=332 |issue= 6030|pages= 705–8|doi=10.1126/science.1200043 |pmid=21493820|bibcode = 2011Sci...332..705S }}</ref>

[[File:Black Kite I- Kolkata IMG 6499.jpg|left|thumb|Alcuni studiosi ritengono che ''Velociraptor'' usasse gli artigli posteriori per ristringere le prede mentre li mangiava, come fanno oggi i rapaci, come questo [[Milvus migrans|nibbio bruno]].]]

 

Remains of ''[[Deinonychus]]'', a closely related dromaeosaurid, have commonly been found in aggregations of several individuals. ''Deinonychus'' has also been found in association with a large herbivore, ''[[Tenontosaurus]]'', which has been seen as evidence of cooperative hunting.<ref name=maxwellostrom1995>{{cite_journal |doi=10.1080/02724634.1995.10011256 |last=Maxwell |first=W. Desmond |authorlink2=John Ostrom |last2=Ostrom |first2=John H. |year=1995 |title=Taphonomy and paleobiological implications of Tenontosaurus-Deinonychus associations |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=707–712 |url=http://vertpaleo.org/publications/jvp/15-707-712.cfm}}</ref><ref name=brinkmanetal1998>{{cite_journal |last=Brinkman |first=Daniel L. |last2=Cifelli |first2=Richard L. |last3=Czaplewski |first3=Nicholas J. |year=1998 |title=First occurrence of ''Deinonychus antirrhopus'' (Dinosauria: Theropoda) in the Antlers Formation (Lower Cretaceous: Aptian-Albian) of Oklahoma |journal=Oklahoma Geological Survey Bulletin |volume=146 |pages=1–27|url = http://www.ogs.ou.edu/pubsscanned/BULLETINS/Bulletin146.pdf}}</ref> The only solid evidence for social behavior among dromaeosaurids comes from a Chinese trackway of fossil footprints, which shows six individuals of a large species moving as a group, though no evidence of cooperative hunting was found.<ref name="Lietal2007">{{cite journal | first=Rihui | last=Li | last2=Lockley |first2=M.G. |last3=Makovicky |first3=P.J. |last4=Matsukawa |first4=M. |last5=Norell |first5=M.A. |last6=Harris |first6=J.D. |last7=Liu |first7=M. |title=Behavioral and faunal implications of Early Cretaceous deinonychosaur trackways from China | year=2007 | publisher= | url =http://www.springerlink.com/content/v1u455854212404r/ | pmid=17952398 | journal=Die Naturwissenschaften | volume = 95 | issue=3 | pages = 185–191 | doi = 10.1007/s00114-007-0310-7 |bibcode = 2008NW.....95..185L }}</ref> Although many isolated fossils of ''Velociraptor'' have been found in Mongolia, none were closely associated with any other individuals.<ref name=norellmakovicky2004/> Therefore, while ''Velociraptor'' is commonly depicted as a [[pack hunter]], as in ''Jurassic Park'', there is only limited fossil evidence to support this theory for dromaeosaurids in general, and none specific to ''Velociraptor'' itself. The pack hunting theory was based on a discovery of several specimens of ''[[Deinonychus]]'' found around the remains of a ''[[Tenontosaurus]]''. No other group of dromaeosaurids has been found in close association.<ref>Long, John, and Schouten, Peter. (2008). ''Feathered Dinosaurs: The Origin of Birds''. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537266-3, p. 21.</ref>