1. clock
  2. Dinosauroids

Dinosauroids

By clock on November 4, 2006.

i-e3f1901806a6389635b774efbe7b2c8f-dinosauroid r&s.jpgI took a class with Dale Russell a few years ago. It was one of the most memorable classes ever, mainly because of Dale's overwhelming enthusiasm for the subjects of dinosaurs and evolution (as well as the coolest field-trip to the vaults of Carnegie Museum, getting to touch and hold and discuss fossils never seen by general public).

But I was always uneasy with Dale's overly-anthropomorphic depiction of 'alternative' evolution, i.e., what if dinosaurs did not go extinct. First of all, there is no reason to believe that anything as intelligent as us would ever have evolved. But even if it did, and even if it evolved out of dinosaurian ancestors, there is no reason why it would ever look similar to us in morphology. Now Darren Naish explains why and provides (in the comments) some examples of fish and birds (parrots, of course) with large brain:body ratios comparable to ours.

Tags
evolution
paleontology

More like this

Troodon sapiens?: Thoughts on the "Dinosauroid"
Regardless of whether it was gradual or happened in a geologic instant, non-avian dinosaurs went extinct by approximately 65 million years ago, but the question of what they might be like today had they survived makes for some entertaining fiction. Most of such imaginary works are set on isolated…
Dinosaurs! Friday night at the Museum
Every first Friday of the month, there is something fun going on at the NC Museum of Natural Science. This week, Friday December 7th, the theme is Dinosaurs!!! 6 PM Parenthood and Life's Hazards for Dinosaurs - presentation by Dr. Dale Russell, Senior Curator of Paleontology I took a class on…
Come back Lank, (nearly) all is forgiven
Long-time readers will know that I am an unashamed fan of both speculative zoology, and of Dougal Dixon's hypothetical 'alternative' animals. Inspired by a comment made here in August by Jenny Islander, I have been having a re-think about the possible evolution of flightless pterosaurs: the fossil…
Birds Come First - oh no they don't!
In the previous article we looked at the Birds Come First, or BCF, hypothesis. It goes without saying that BCF has not won acceptance in the community, nor - in fact - is it even familiar to the majority of archosaur workers. Here, we take a critical view of BCF: does it stand up, or does it fail…

I'm intrigued by the thought of it. Also the 'Squidworth' thought experiment. Aliens, however remote their existance may be (no pun) may have evolved from squids, look like and carry themselves about like Squidworth of Sponge Bob fame.