Dinosaur science in pop culture

[Larry Dunn <majestic_cheese@yahoo.com>]

--- MKIRKALDY@aol.com wrote:

> Continuing dinosaur revisionist measurements, I
> bring you:

> > Among the seven dinosaurs included in the show
> will
> > be a tyrannosaurus, 20 feet tall and 45 feet long.
> 
> > Perhaps the most formidable predator to roam the
> > earth, its seven-ton body could travel at speeds
> up
> > to 75 miles an hour. 

Amazing, but so common.  

I bought the Eyewitness Video "Dinosaur" for my son,
but try to avoid showing it to him now that I've
actually seen it.  

It maintains, among other things: 

A) that some dinosaurs, like velociraptors, were
closely related to birds, while crocodile-like
dinosaurs such as Baryonyx were closely related to
crocodiles;

B) that, until the Wankel rex was discovered,
scientists assumed _T. rex_ had three fingers due to a
forelimb found near the AMNH rex, so it's only been
ten years or so since we realized that _T. rex_ had
two fingers; 

C) that dinosaurs looked the way they are protrayed in
30's-60's Hollywood caveman movies or in that 70's
Godzilla cartoon (both shown as dinosaurs, a bit
tongue-in-cheek, but still ...); and

D) that _Stegosaurus stenops_ had sufficient force in
its tail-swing to punch holes through a piece of sheet
metal, which may be true, but why do I doubt that they
asked a paleontologist first?

So, in my humble opinion, this has to be the worst of
the lot.  Pee Yew.  But my son, who is 2 1/2, loves
the claymation green Gromit-like dinosaur.  And when
the cartoon Godzilla walks through a bridge, he asks
me "what did that dinosaur do?"  

Alas.


=====
Larry

"Atheism: a non-prophet organization."

http://members.tripod.com/~megalania/index.html
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