Dinosaurs Galore

[poliphilo]

Spinosaurus was like some kid's composite idea of a really scary dinosaur. It had a bipedal stance, a crocodile snout, teeth sticking out every whichaway and an odd sail-like thing on its back. It could swim- and was the biggest land-based predator we've yet identified- considerably bigger than T Rex- a fact that has yet to seep through into popular culture. It was also ungainly- the animations last night had it teetering about like a bent-backed granny- which will probably stop it muscling T Rex aside in the popularity stakes.  It seems to have lived mainly on fish, hunting them by crouching on river banks with its ever-so-sensitive snout in the water. It also ate pterosaurs.

Planet Dinosaur is a new series highlighting recent discoveries in palaeontology. A later programme will feature Predator X- the biggest  marine predator ever- a find so new (it's still being assembled by its finders) that it hasn't yet aquired a proper zoological name.

I've often wondered whether stories of giants and dragons and sea monsters had anything to do with our ancestors trying to make sense of the fossils they came across. According to Tom Holland- whose show- Dinosaurs, Myths and Monsters- followed right on from Planet Dinosaur (but on another channel)- the answer is "Of course". One and a half hours of up-to-the-minute dino-programming in a single evening- Yes!

Holland's programme touched upon the career of Richard Owen- the Victorian anatomist who gave us the word "dinosaur" and created the Natural History Museum.  He was already in my mind because I'd been leafing through a Museum guide-book earlier in the day. Owen is in the dog-house because he was a creationist-  and  his statue- which used to preside over the great hall of his museum- has recently been replaced by Darwin's. Darwin was a better scientist and a nicer man but does he really have to have all the glory? Owen was a great man too- and there's something Stalinist about his demotion. 

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I take your point.

But there is some confusion- at least in the popular mind. People regularly report seeing huge winged critters in the American West- some of which resemble giant condors and some of which resemble pterosaurs. Both types get called "thunderbirds".

The griffin thing was new to me. Yes. I think that thesis is very likely.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I think, setting aside the vagueries of cryptozoology in general, if there were such a thing as the thunderbird it almost certainly was not a flying reptile. Such a thing simply could not survive the seasonally low temperatures typically experienced throughout the American west. You might as well imagine it nesting on the crags of Ben Nevis. I would also guess that any alleged sightings of the thing as a leathery-winged beast post-date Doyle.

On the other hand, kongamato does indeed seem a much better fit and reports reach us from just the sort of environment one might expect.