The Utahraptor was formally described in 1993, but its existence had been awkwardly predicted two years earlier — paleontologist James Kirkland was mid-excavation when Jurassic Park hit theaters, and the film's oversized, scientifically upgraded "Velociraptors" were closer to the animal he was digging up than to any true Velociraptor. The DRC has leaned heavily into paleontological and wildlife themes for its collector silver program, producing for a market with essentially no domestic collector base — these are struck entirely for export to European and North American distributors.
The Utahraptor was formally described in 1993, but its existence had been awkwardly predicted two years earlier — paleontologist James Kirkland was mid-excavation when Jurassic Park hit theaters, and the film's oversized, scientifically upgraded "Velociraptors" were closer to the animal he was digging up than to any true Velociraptor. The DRC has leaned heavily into paleontological and wildlife themes for its collector silver program, producing for a market with essentially no domestic collector base — these are struck entirely for export to European and North American distributors.