How to make a dinosaur

Barney is only scary to those who have children...

where can i get the money to have a hobby like that!?

Quick, no one tell the http://xkcd.com guy!

wow. i need to quit my job and get into dino-animatronics. that looks like awesome fun.

You'd probably lose some of the effectiveness without the soundtrack blaring. You'd need some undergrads with a boom-box to proceed you into the room.

I like everything except the raptor. His hands are deformed- and where are his feathers?

Robot dinosaurs. What an age we live in.

Somehow, I think you'd be playing into Kent Hovind's hands on this one... On the other hand, the NEW Dr. Dino would be much more interesting.

Who are these people? Why are they building giant dinosaur robots?

Maybe it's odd, but I really find myself liking humanity a lot when I watch a video like that. Lots of people, working together with state of the art technology, to put together beautiful (and presumably educational) dynamic art. I end up saying to myself, "Wow - that's the way people should be acting all the time."

Now I'm waiting for the DI version of this. An actor dressed as Noah wrestling a muppet dinosaur onto a balsa wood ark.

This video is of the preparations for "Walking with Dinosaurs: The Live Experience" which is currently in Australia.

That triceratops was the coolest!

Imagine driving one of those through the AIG Musuem parking lot.

They are truly putting on a magnificent production. But sadly, they are doing "the stage version of Walking with Dinosaurs 1999", rather than "an updated live action dinosaur show." Hence some of the errors that were there in the original documentary are being repeated. Some of these errors--the lack of feathers on the dromaeosaurids, for instance--were due to limitations of the CGI at the time. Others--such as the incorrect position of the dromaeosaurid hands (palms inwards, guys! palms INWARDS)--were less excusable (especially as we consultants tried to get them to do it correctly...).

But still, as I said, magnificent as a stage show!

I, for one, welcome our new Robot Dinosaur overlords.

You could fight crime in the evenings.

What would they call you? Pteryngula, obviously!

I like everything except the raptor. His hands are deformed- and where are his feathers?

Yeah. Look how it moves its tail: It must be broken since maniraptorian tails are stiff, yuck...

The thing they're showing off there definitely isn't a triceratops.

People would stop calling me a mild-mannered professor if showed up at speaking engagements wearing one of those.

When did they start?

By the way, did anyone happen to catch this article on CNN.com?

i: I think it's supposed to be a Torosaurus.
The bigger-than-a-human dromaeosaur, I dunno.

from the article David Livesay linked to:

"Whether the bishop likes it or not, Turkana Boy is a distant relation of his," Leakey, who founded the museum's prehistory department, told The Associated Press. "The bishop is descended from the apes and these fossils tell how he evolved."

Is Leakey being a little imprecise, or just trying to pull the bishop's chain? I thought that biologists were usually very specific in stating that humans and apes share a common ancestor, and that humans are not descended from apes.

Looks like fun until you have to go to the 'little boys room'.

"The bishop is descended from the apes and these fossils tell how he evolved."

Is Leakey being a little imprecise, or just trying to pull the bishop's chain? I thought that biologists were usually very specific in stating that humans and apes share a common ancestor, and that humans are not descended from apes.

Maybe you'd have to know Bishop Adoyo to understand Leakey's statement.

Uh, whoa. Whoa! That is so cool, I don't have words for it. I sooo want one. No stegosaurus though? They are my favorite.

z.

I used to have the model of joystick they're using about 3/4 of the way through the clip...They break down after about 3 months of use.

"Is Leakey being a little imprecise, or just trying to pull the bishop's chain? I thought that biologists were usually very specific in stating that humans and apes share a common ancestor, and that humans are not descended from apes."

Not only are we descended from Apes; we are Apes. We share common ancestry with many of the the apes that are not extinct such as gorillas, chimps, etc.

When I was watching this last night I got teary-eyed and very emotional about the raptor suit.

Some people get to have the greatest jobs.

When I was watching this last night I got teary-eyed and very emotional about the raptor suit. Some people get to have the greatest jobs.

And that, in a nutshell, is why I love this blog :)

The sweet, sweet geekery of it all.

And yes, the animated beasties are wonderful.

My apologies, this is off topic.

PZ, I'm with you on Obama. Not impressed and don't like his pandering to the religious.

But if it's true Edwards fired Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, he's off my list as well!

Do you know what the deal is?

See TPM or Salon for news of this.

Dinosaurs, feh. A nicely scaled Anomalocaris or Wiwaxia suit would be even better!
No necks to do that seemingly mandatory head tilt thing though...

Dinosaurs, feh. A nicely scaled Anomalocaris or Wiwaxia suit would be even better!

Cambrian Park! It has a nice ring to it!

Kind of hard to imagine a Land Rover being chased by an Opabinia though, but Michael Crichton could come up with something visually thrilling, if implausible.

I WANT THAT CHASMOSAURUS. Possibly more than I have ever wanted anything.

I am definitely in agreement with gg, comment #10. But I don't think it is odd at all for someone to take delight in productive, creative, challenging work that looks like a lot of fun. Having fun is a strong clue that whatever you are doing while being productive, imaginative, capable and motivated is just the sort of thing you are well suited to. What is instructive is that this is exactly the sort of stuff done by scientists, especially young ones. To my literal way of thinking there is no surprise here and there is a distinct reward that can be shared not only by young (and not so young, of course) scientists, but by those who merely understand a bit of what they are doing. Very democratic.

But how 'bout them Dinosaurs! I would really dig building a robot that walks. I'll get my tool box.

Is Leakey being a little imprecise, or just trying to pull the bishop's chain? I thought that biologists were usually very specific in stating that humans and apes share a common ancestor, and that humans are not descended from apes.

Well.

Here's the tree (keep in mind that the vertical axis is meaningless and the horizontal axis is not to any scale):

..,--New World monkeys
..|
--|
..|..,--Old World monkeys
..|..|
..`--|
.....|..,--gibbons
.....|..|
.....`--|.....,--Sumatra orang-utan
........|..,--|
........|..|..`--Borneo orang-utan
........|..|
........`--|.....,--Eastern gorilla
...........|..,--|
...........|..|..`--Western gorilla
...........`--|
..............|.....,--Bonobo
..............|..,--|
..............`--|..`--Chimpanzee
.................|
.................`--us

Draw your own nomenclatural consequences. I'm comfortable with us being apes; this saves the word "apes" from being meaningless.

Thanks for the comments at 24, 27, and 35. I also have no problem with being an ape (or a monkey: hey, 'Dance like a monkey'); I was curious as to what the accepted nomenclature is, since it seems that 'I weren't come from no ape!' is the rallying cry of the creationists. I suspect Leakey was trying to say a little something about the bishop in question, as 24 suggested...

I would SO visit Cambrian Park. It would be the best thing ever.

Incredible! I hope this show ends up coming the U.S. While I recognized the limitations of Walking With Dinosaurs, I also thought it was a beautiful look at what life was like back then.

Is Leakey being a little imprecise, or just trying to pull the bishop's chain? I thought that biologists were usually very specific in stating that humans and apes share a common ancestor, and that humans are not descended from apes.

Well.

Here's the tree (keep in mind that the vertical axis is meaningless and the horizontal axis is not to any scale):

..,--New World monkeys
..|
--|
..|..,--Old World monkeys
..|..|
..`--|
.....|..,--gibbons
.....|..|
.....`--|.....,--Sumatra orang-utan
........|..,--|
........|..|..`--Borneo orang-utan
........|..|
........`--|.....,--Eastern gorilla
...........|..,--|
...........|..|..`--Western gorilla
...........`--|
..............|.....,--Bonobo
..............|..,--|
..............`--|..`--Chimpanzee
.................|
.................`--us

Draw your own nomenclatural consequences. I'm comfortable with us being apes; this saves the word "apes" from being meaningless.