h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

{I admit I got gastornis and phorusrhacos from Walking with Beasts}

Sounds more like something you get from Sleeping With Goats.

I've heard of people getting killed by emus.

I saw "Jurassic World" last night. Plenty of scales, hardly any feathers. The velociraptors came off as good guys at the end.

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2012/03/strange-tales-of-thunderbird-photos/

What a coincidence! I happen to be reading "Monster hunters" by Tea Krulos. Thunderbirds are mentioned on pages 68 and 223.

There are two north American groups, a giant bustard with a white collar reported along a flyway between Labrador and Mexico's Sierra Madre Mountains (the Mexican extension of the Rockies), and another without the collar reported from Alaska to California.

Southeast Asia's Roc (a once widely reported giant eagle) apparently went extinct with the volcanic explosion reported by Marco Polo that took place during his homeward journey from the court of Kublai Khan.

Meanwhile, back to ancient dinosaurs, I've seen well preserved skin fossils of T Rex that clearly showed a scaly hide.

Current thought, last I noticed anyway, is that while they initially hatched all covered with down feathers, T Rex finally shed their feathers when they passed puberty, maturing into scaly monsters.

Considering that they were pack hunters, hunting in family groups rather similar to those of wolf packs, that must have been quite a sight.

I've never heard that T-Rex were pack hunters. Only ever just the opposite.

Who said this?

The debate has been going on for a while. Groups of bones of tyrannosaurs of different ages have been found together, implying a family pack, while more recently footprints have been discovered too: http://news.discovery.com/animals/dinosaurs/new-t-rex-tracks-add-to-pack-hunting-theory-140724.htm

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How many tyrannosauri does it take to change a lightbulb?

No one knows! If you see a tyrannosaurus coming at you, you don't stay around long enough to see what it does.

I'd want to see it. With those short arms they have, I bet it would look hilarious.

The recent death of composer James Horner reminds me of how he did the music for 'The Land Before Time'.
Did animated cartoons like this or others (such as Godzooky) inspire anyone's love of dinos?

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By the time cute cartoon dinosaurs arrived, I was past the age where I'd be interested in them. In fact, I found them unappealing. The only cartoon dinosaurs I ever enjoyed were the ones in the Rites of Spring segment of Disney's Fantasia.

If anyone can think of any other realistic cartoon dinosaurs, please say so. The ones in Fantasia are the only ones that come to mind.

I only discovered 'The Land Before Time' series by watching it with my kids (I get annoyed that the characters only age in the first film and then stay the same age for ever). I also didn’t see 'Fantasia' until after 'Fantasia 2000' - we didn't buy Disney videos growing up as they always thrice the price of anyone else's...

In fact, the only cel-animated dinosaurs I remember seeing growing up were either in 'The Flintstones' or 'Godzilla and Godzuki' (sp?). Then there was the Jim Henson 'Dinosaurs' television series, but we weren't allowed to watch that at home.

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Breaking news: scientists have finally been able to put a face to Hallucigenia, a primitive creature that lived 500 million years ago, long before dinosaurs.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33262884

Creatures like this, found in the Burgess Shales, have fascinated me for almost as long as dinosaurs. The book Wonderful Life by Stephen Jay Gould is a very good history of the discovery and analysis of these fossils.

I enjoyed "Land before time," though it was too late by then to make me love dinosaurs. My inner child loves children's movies. What can I say?

I gave my nephew a stuffed dinosaur when he was born and he's gotten some more dinosaur things since. Including a rocking horse dinosaur. It doesn't seem to have had an effect yet though.

When my great-niece was four, I was advised by her mother that she loved dragons and dinosaurs, so I gave her lots of dinosaur-themed books and toys for Christmas.