Raptor Red

By: Robert T. Bakker

Book Report By: Anton Vishnyak

Raptor Red

"A pair of fierce but beautiful eyes look out form the dull green undergrowth of the conifers

        that bound the edge of mud flats and river beds.  The eyes follow every movement among the great

        herd of plant eating dinosaurs that mills around in the open meadows, feeding high in the trees

        and sniffing the air for danger. The eyes belong to a female Utahraptor. "  The female Utahraptor

        from the book called Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker is an amazing creature that can think, feel,

        and understand everything that happens around it.  This book follows the life of this Female which

        gets the nickname Raptor Red, for the crest on her nose (not blood), through out one very trying

        year of her life.  During this year she goes through danger, happiness, and a lot of other emotions.

        Thought this book is a fictional writing it is very good. 

Raptor Red is a very smart young Utahraptor that has just gotten a mate.  They cross the berring

        straight to a far away land where their instinct does not provide any protection.  These animals

        must learn of all the dangers of the new land without being killed.  Unfortunately Raptor Reds mate

        is crushed by a 20 ton herbivore which they were hunting.  Now she is all alone.  Raptor Red uses

        her brain, which is very capable of learning,  to solve problems by means of using things she knows

        and applying them to things she does not know. Then all the information she gathers is stored forever

        in her memory sorted by separate thoughts. Like a tree diagram. 

Utahraptors are so smart that they can feel emotions much like a human.  When Raptor Red looses her

        first mate she is so upset she stays by his side for days and risks her life protecting him from flying

        creatures.  She is very disturbed by her mate's death and wonders around alone for a long time.  Until

        she finds her sister who has two chicks with her.  Now Raptor Red must prioritize and puts off getting

         a mate and helps her sister raise her chicks. We usually think of this as a human only quality.

Raptor Red, like most Utahraptors, is problem solving intelligent.  She can figure things out very fast

        and is very efficient at it.  Raptor Red is a very smart creature. When she hunts, she and the other one

        or two Utahraptors communicate without any language.  Yet they manage to bring down the animals that are ten

        times bigger than they are.  These dinosaurs hunt in packs of one to three animals.  They have instinct that

        tells them where to attack from and how to coordinate their attack to other dinosaurs.

 

        Raptor Red is a great book about Utahraptors.