My standard question for any guest
on our shows---or anybody standing within 10 feet of me is, “What’s your
favorite dinosaur?”
I have asked that all over the
world: in England’s Crystal Palace, on a dig in Drumheller, Alberta, at a
paleontologists’ conference in Berkeley, CA, at a statue unveiling (and ice
cream social) in Albuquerque, N.M. or closer to home at Los Angeles’ Museum of
Natural History’s Dinosaurs Ball. (You may recall the legendary actor Jimmy
Stewart told me he was “a brontosaurus fan.”)
Well, most folks say T. Rex or one
of the other raptors, but for me the dinosaur of choice is stegosaurus. First
of all, I like the nickname “Steggie”, but mostly I relate to his lifestyle. He
was a plant-eater. That’s a healthy way to go. He lived in a herd, possibly in
a family unit. (We have found tracks of large and small stegosaurs walking
together. That says family to me.) He wasn’t aggressive, but had the tools to
defend himself if attacked. Those 17 triangular plates on his back were not for
fighting (most likely they helped with temperature control and to impress a
mate), but his spiked tail was a mighty weapon. Imagine the punch he could
deliver! Plus his skin was a type of armor, like today’s crocodiles and
alligators. No matter how sharp his teeth a predator would have trouble penetrating Steggie's
tough-as-nails skin and quickly figure out there was an easier meal down the road. Finally, I like the fact that stegosaurus could be found mostly in North America and Europe. Me too.
Wouldn’t be great if we could go
back to the Late Jurassic Period (150 million years ago) and get to know
Steggie better? I’d grab a nice bunch of
ferns for my favorite dino’s lunch. A really big bunch. Those guys were 30 feet
long and weighed close to 7000 pounds, so you know he had quite an appetite.
Oh, and by the way…what’s your
favorite dinosaur?
ERIC BOARDMAN
It wouldn't surprise me one bit if those plates were able to move up and down with some sort of flashy inner color that would confuse the heck out of predators and act as a movable armor that would prevent Allosaurus from hitting the one spot to take down a Stegosaurus: the back of the leg. Since the top predator at that time was a slasher and not a bone crusher, and if he tried to bite a stegosaurus in the neck he'd wind up jabbing himself in the palate, he'd have to immobilize Steggie like you would a tank, take out it's locomotion. Only problem is that in doing so he'd be trapped between the folding plates in their down position and the thagomizer while trying to slash at the back of Steggie's leg. I would love to see what that fight would look like and how the real blood and thunder of the Mesozoic was more phenomenal than anything in comics or movies.
ReplyDeleteStill say my favorite is Tyrannosaurus Rex, since it drove every other predator into extinction in it's environment and was a far better engineered animal that any other large carnivorous dinosaur. With jaws powerful enough to crush bones (strongest jaws of any land animal last I checked), pack hunting capabilities with the younger members flushing prey like greyhounds towards the adults, binocular vision, arms that could individually dead lift 426 lbs (and when the load is balanced on a wishbone able to lift over half a ton), and most recently that they were likely covered in some sort of bright colored feathers I say that Tyrannosaurus Rex would be my favorite. Steggie though was a dinosaur to be respected by anyone it was around.
Haha, I think you asked me this at Jurassic Con this year on camera, but I stick by my original answer. The Tyrannosaurus Rex has and will always be my fave. Not so much for what it was, a apex predator, but just the symbolism. Especially in an age with supposed bigger and badder predators such as Giganotosaurus, Spinosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus and so on....I stick by Rex even when he wasn't trendy anymore back in the early 2000's when these other incredable animals were being discovered, because he was the most iconic. He was the symbol that drove the wonder of dinosaurs into our society via litterature, film, magazines, cartoons, and he continues to do so even now.
ReplyDeleteBut if ya wan't to know my second best, it has to be one of the first offical "Coined" dinosaur, as named by the Reverend William Buckland it was part of the first "Three" to be coined "Dinosauria" by Sir Richard Owen in 1842, Megalosaurus. Of the big three "First" dinosaurs (Hylaeosaurus, Iguanadon, Megalosaurus) I got to go with Megalosaurus. I mean, any animal named "Megalosaurus" is just begging to be favored ha ha.
But yes, Steggie also rules!
~Josh
Allosaurus is my top favorite. Been so since I saw the Dinamation one in the early 90's. He may not have been as big as other theropods but he seems to be quite numerous in the fossil record so still ruled the Jurassic landscape he inhabited..the " Prince of all Predation " as Don put it.. lol
ReplyDeleteMy 2nd favorite is Suchomimus whereas most would say Spinosaurus. I guess the underdogs sort of appeal to me..heh
Chris