History Literature / RaptorRed

* SeldomSeenSpecies: ''Gastonia'', ''Aegialodon'', ''Trinitichelys'', ''Ornithodesmus'', ''Platypterygius'', ''Astrodon'', and ''Bernissartia''. The White Dactyl's species is never given, but most depictions of him imply that he's an unspecified species of ornithocheirid.

* StockDinosaurs: Pretty much limited to ''Deinonychus'', ''Iguanodon'' and arguably ''Utahraptor''. The other dinosaurs are much less familiar -- ''Acrocanthosaurus'' (a big theropod possibly related to ''Allosaurus''), ''Astrodon'' (a smallish-by-sauropod-standards relative of ''Brachiosaurus''), and the ankylosaur ''Gastonia'' (which hadn't even been described at the time the book was published).

** The taxon ''Ornithodesmus'' shows up in the book as a pterosaur. Turns out that it was actually a misidentified dromaeosaurid, the first named. The pterosaur material with the fossil has been named ''Istiodactylus''.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: ''Gastonia'', ''Aegialodon'', ''Trinitichelys'', ''Ornithodesmus'', ''Platypterygius'', ''Astrodon'', and ''Bernissartia''.

* SomewhereAPaleontologistIsCrying: Mostly averted, since the author actually ''is'' a paleontologist. If anyone's crying, it's probably because they don't agree with Bakker's views or because [[ScienceMarchesOn Science Has Marched On]] - the book came out in 1995, and was pretty accurate up to that year.\\
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There was one flaw, but its only one that someone who really pays attention to paleontology would notice. ''Utahraptor'' was from the Barremian stages of the Early Cretaceous. ''Acrocanthosaurus'' was from the Aptian and Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. While most people (with the exception of some incredibly pedant paleontologists) will allow some overlap of dinosaur taxa from neighboring stages due to the patchiness of the fossil record, ''Acrocanthosaurus'' rose to prominence ''after'' ''Utahraptor''. Thereby making the ending where the Acros were nearly wiped out by plague allowing ''Utahraptor'' to dominate the continent temporally inconsistent. If anything, ''Utahraptor'' would have been the one to go first.
** Ammonites were probably filter feeders rather than having biting jaws like other cephalopods.

** Note that this is an IncrediblyLamePun.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids

* Mockumentary: The serious kind.

* DeadGuyJunior: In spirit, even though no one has any names. [[spoilers: Raptor Red's sister's oldest chick grows up to resemble her mother so strongly that, as Raptor Red sees the remains of the pack approaching after a hunt, she briefly thinks her sister has come back to life.]]

* CoolOldGuy: The white dactyl. He's old even by dactyl standards, and has chosen to spend his golden years dicking around with the land-based predators. He and Raptor Red's clan have a friendly, if distant, relationship.
** Even enters BadassGrandpa territory at one point, saving the chicks from a predator.
*** Actually he's just doing it for the fun of it, although it's mentioned he did keep predators away when Raptor Red and her sister were chicks.

* DeadGuyJunior
* ADogNamedDog: Every single character is named like this.

* RedOniBlueOni: Ironically, Raptor Red is the blue oni to her sister's red.

* UncannyValley: The Yellow Snouts evoke this reaction in Raptor Red. [[invoked]]

'''''Raptor Red''''' is the story of a young female Utahraptor by paleontologist Robert T. Bakker, who served as one of the fact-checkers for the film version of ''Film/JurassicPark''. It was written as a sort of companion novel to his non-fiction book ''The Dinosaur Heresies'', in which he exposed his then-revolutionary ideas about dinosaurs being a little more active and birdlike than the popular imagination's vision of them as [[DinosaursAreDragons big, stupid lizards]]. It's written as a kind of nature documentary that allows some insight into the animals' thoughts.

Raptor Red and her kin may or may not be sapient, but they definitely aren't human; they're much more olfactory creatures, and communicate in birdlike calls and gestures. Even Raptor Red's "name" is a TranslationConvention - she attaches the concepts of "raptor" and "red" (for her species' red snout-markings, as opposed to the yellow snouts of a rival Utahraptor species) to her concept of "myself". The other major characters are either 'named' in relation to Raptor Red or by their species, like with the [[GiantFlyer ancient white dactyl]] who considers Raptor Red's pack as the moving centre of his territory.

* BigDamnHeroes: Raptor Red's consort [[spoiler:saving her from a pack of deinonychs, after the whip-tail battle.]]

* CurbStompBattle: The ''Utahraptor'' vs. ''most'' of the things they decide to hunt, [[spoiler:the whip tail vs. the ''Utahraptor'', the aegi vs. the scorpion, ''Kronosaurus'' vs. ''Acrocanthosaurus'', ''Gastonia'' vs. almost any predator (unless the ''Gastonia'' is weakened and has its abdomen exposed)]], and the ''Utahraptor'' vs. ''Deinonychus'' (unless the ''Utahraptor'' are already severely weakened).

* NoGuyWantsAnAmazon: There's a scene in which the normally isolated Utahraptor packs are drawn together by flowers that smell of carrion, during which time a giant red-snout female attempts to woo Raptor Red's consort. Raptor Red takes issue with this, and the consort is more than a little freaked out about the whole thing. When he and Raptor Red make it very clear that she isn't welcome, the giantess sadly leaves; the narration informs us that her size meant she'd been dealing with rejection the whole day.

* ScienceMarchesOn: The book came out ''just'' before dromaeosaurids like Raptor Red and her kin were confirmed to have feathers. To be fair, it's just about the only birdlike trait the Utahraptors in this book ''don't'' have.

** Therizinosaurs are depicted as featherless quadrupeds, and are referred to as "segnosaurs".

* SomewhereAPaleontologistIsCrying - More or less completely averted, since the author actually ''is'' a paleontologist. If anyone's crying, it's probably because they don't agree with Bakker's views or because [[ScienceMarchesOn Science Has Marched On]] - the book came out in 1995, and was pretty accurate up to that year.
** There was one flaw, but its [[{{Natter}} only one that someone who really pays attention to paleontology would notice]]. ''Utahraptor'' was from the Barremian stages of the Early Cretaceous. ''Acrocanthosaurus'' was from the Aptian and Albian stages of the Early Cretaceous. While most people (with the exception of some incredibly pedant paleontologists) will allow some overlap of dinosaur taxa from neighboring stages due to the patchiness of the fossil record, ''Acrocanthosaurus'' rose to prominence ''after'' ''Utahraptor''. Thereby making the ending where the Acros were nearly wiped out by plague allowing ''Utahraptor'' to dominate the continent temporally inconsistent. If anything, ''Utahraptor'' would have been the one to go first.

* StockDinosaurs: Pretty much limited to ''Deinonychus'', ''Iguanodon'' and arguably ''Utahraptor''. The other dinosaurs are much less familiar - ''Acrocanthosaurus'' (a big theropod possibly related to ''Allosaurus''), ''Astrodon'' (a smallish by sauropod standards relative of ''Brachiosaurus''), and the ankylosaur ''Gastonia'' (which hadn't even been described at the time the book was published).
* TailSlap: The whip-tail's devastating main weapon.

* ZergRush: Both the ''Utahraptor'' and ''Deinonychus'' use this hunting method.

!!Tropes present in this novel:

* BewareMyStingerTail: ''Gastonia''.

* ApeShallNeverKillApe - Averted by the ''Utahraptor''. Raptor Red's consort would kill Raptor Red's sister's chicks if it weren't for the fact that Raptor Red would never let him. That, and the fact that either Raptor Red or Raptor Red's sister would probably kill ''him'' afterward. Nothing ever actually happens, but there are several close shaves.
* AttackAttackAttack - Raptor Red is fairly calm and methodical, but her sister is best described as manic and slightly nuts, especially when her chicks are in danger. Or even when she just thinks the chicks are in danger. [[spoiler:This eventually proves to be her downfall.]]
* AuthorAvatar - interestingly enough, the Old Dactyl.
* BabiesEverAfter
* BadassFamily - Well, they ''are'' a pack of Utahraptors.
* BewareMyStingerTail - ''Gastonia''.
* BigDamnHeroes - Raptor Red's consort [[spoiler:saving her from a pack of deinonychs, after the whip-tail battle.]]
* ChickMagnet - Raptor Red's consort.

* CoolOldGuy - The white dactyl. He's old even by dactyl standards, and has chosen to spend his golden years dicking around with the land-based predators. He and Raptor Red's clan have a friendly, if distant, relationship.

* CurbStompBattle - The ''Utahraptor'' vs. ''most'' of the things they decide to hunt, [[spoiler:the whip tail vs. the ''Utahraptor'', the aegi vs. the scorpion, ''Kronosaurus'' vs. ''Acrocanthosaurus'', ''Gastonia'' vs. almost any predator (unless the ''Gastonia'' is weakened and has its abdomen exposed)]], and the ''Utahraptor'' vs. ''Deinonychus'' (unless the ''Utahraptor'' are already severely weakened).

* ADogNamedDog - Every single character is named like this.
* EatsBabies - All of the predators.
* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods - One chapter focuses on ammonites and belemnites.
* FrogsAndToads - A frog becomes a minor character in the chapters where the ''Aegialodon'' stars. [[spoiler:It ends up getting eaten by an ornithomimosaur.]]
* TheGreatFlood - Visualized [[http://www.luisrey.ndtilda.co.uk/html/1kflood.htm here]].
* HiddenDepths - The sliding-with-Troodons scene. "[[http://www.luisrey.ndtilda.co.uk/html/rapred.htm The concepts do not go together.]]"
* InfantImmortality - Averted. One of Raptor Red's sister's chicks dies from illness, and even before this, Raptor Red and her sister seriously consider abandoning the chicks during a famine.
* KillerRabbit - The tiny furry ''Aegialodon'' is a voracious insectivore that can curbstomp a scorpion.
* MamaBear - Raptor Red's sister.

* MeetCute - There's a clearly-defined protocol for when a male raptor and a female raptor meet. The first two times Raptor Red meets her future consort, circumstances force them to break it.
* MostWritersAreHuman - At one point the story suddenly swerves into a two-chapter subplot about an insectivorous mammal living beneath the notice of the "earthquake animals", mainly because he's one of humanity's ancestors.
* NeverSmileAtACrocodile - A ''Bernissartia'' is a minor character.
* NoGuyWantsAnAmazon - There's a scene in which the normally isolated Utahraptor packs are drawn together by flowers that smell of carrion, during which time a giant red-snout female attempts to woo Raptor Red's consort. Raptor Red takes issue with this, and the consort is more than a little freaked out about the whole thing. When he and Raptor Red make it very clear that she isn't welcome, the giantess sadly leaves; the narration informs us that her size meant she'd been dealing with rejection the whole day.
* PapaWolf - Raptor Red's consort, and over her sister's chick, no less. He has mixed feelings about his actions: the chick isn't related to him, he gets several cracked ribs out of the deal, and Raptor Red didn't even see him help save her. The event keeps her sister off his back for a while, at least.
* PintsizedPowerhouse - The baby ''Gastonia''.
* PteroSoarer - Averted by the several pterosaur taxa featured.

* ScienceMarchesOn - The book came out ''just'' before dromaeosaurids like Raptor Red and her kin were confirmed to have feathers. To be fair, it's just about the only birdlike trait the Utahraptors in this book ''don't'' have.

* SeldomSeenSpecies - ''Gastonia'', ''Aegialodon'', ''Trinitichelys'', ''Ornithodesmus'', ''Platypterygius'', ''Astrodon'', and ''Bernissartia''.
* ShownTheirWork - The book is actually rather up to date on most paleontolgy knowledge, with the exception of a lack of feathers on the theropods. But then again the author ''is'' a paleontologist.

* SnowMeansDeath - [[spoiler:Raptor Red's sister, and nearly Raptor Red herself.]]

* TranslationConvention - The animals in this book have no real language and mostly think in pictures, sounds, and smells. Bakker provides helpful English translations for their thought patterns and communications.
* TurtlePower - One chapter focuses on a ''Trinitichelys''.
* UncannyValley - The Yellow Snouts evoke this reaction in Raptor Red. [[invoked]]
* {{Xenofiction}}

'''''Raptor Red''''' is the story of a young female Utahraptor by paleontologist Robert T. Bakker, who served as one of the fact-checkers for the film version of ''JurassicPark''. It was written as a sort of companion novel to his non-fiction book ''The Dinosaur Heresies'', in which he exposed his then-revolutionary ideas about dinosaurs being a little more active and birdlike than the popular imagination's vision of them as [[DinosaursAreDragons big, stupid lizards]]. It's written as a kind of nature documentary that allows some insight into the animals' thoughts.

--> In her own brain the raptor identifies herself with the symbols she learned as a chick: ''me... raptor... red.'' We can call her Raptor Red, because that's how she labels herself in her own mental imagery.

''Raptor Red'' is the story of a young female Utahraptor by paleontologist Robert T. Bakker, who served as one of the fact-checkers for the film version of ''JurassicPark''. It was written as a sort of companion novel to his non-fiction book ''The Dinosaur Heresies'', in which he exposed his then-revolutionary ideas about dinosaurs being a little more active and birdlike than the popular imagination's vision of them as [[DinosaursAreDragons big, stupid lizards]]. It's written as a kind of nature documentary that allows some insight into the animals' thoughts.