Evolution of My Dinosaurs
My Dinosaurs have changed!
Like all the other guys in this world, I’ve been a dinosaur fan since I was four. I knew most of the names by heart, and could draw them from memory. This of course culminated when I watched Jurassic Park, where I saw living, breathing, and moving dinosaurs.
Of course, adulthood and work forced the dinosaurs to take a backseat. However, their names, appearances, and general personas remained the same in my head.
Until today.
With nothing else to do, I checked out my favorite dinosaurs on Wikipedia and was immediately shocked with what I saw. They don’t look like those Dinosaurs I once knew and loved. It has only been 12 years since I stored my books and what-not’s in the storeroom and they have changed so drastically! Check out these two examples:
Deinonychus
I first encountered and loved this Dinosaur when I was a big fan of Dino-Riders. In reference to the cartoon and the toy, it was about 9 feet high and could carry a fully-grown man on its back plus arms and armaments. Even with creative licenses considered (it was in fact, barely 3 feet tall), I was still shocked with my recent discovery:
Dino-Riders toy (top), Wikipedia (bottom)
Velociraptor
This is undoubtedly my favorite of all time and was broadly popularized by Jurassic Park. Here’s a comparison of how it looked in the movie, and how scientists “see” it today.
Jurassic Park (top), Wikipedia (bottom)
I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised with how different they really looked, considering the huge amount of creative license artists took to make them more appealing as both a consumer toy and a movie creature. But what really shocked me is the undeniable resemblance to modern day birds. I knew since Jurassic Park that they are seriously considering this possibility but I didn’t know that they now believe it to this extent.
According to Wikipedia, “Fossils of dromaeosaurids more primitive than Velociraptor are known to have had feathers covering their bodies, and fully-developed, feathered wings. The fact that the ancestors of Velociraptor were feathered and possibly capable of flight long suggested to paleontologists that Velociraptor bore feathers as well, since even flightless birds today retain most of their feathers. In September 2007, researchers found evidence of quill knobs on the forearm of a Velociraptor found in Mongolia. These bumps on bird wing bones show where feathers anchor, and their presence on Velociraptor indicate it too had feathers.”
This really puts science and discovery into perspective. Well, unless they change the Ninja Turtles I guess It’s okay.
Bibliography
Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia. “Velociraptor.” Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia. 30 March 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velociraptor>.
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