Nannotyrannus

[Stephan Pickering <stefanpickering2002@yahoo.com>]

The late writer W.G. Sebald sent me in 1996 a line
from one of his books on a post-card:
And so they are ever returning to us, the dead.
In 1965, Bob Dylan wrote: Forget the dead you've left,
they will not follow you.
Alas, "Nannotyrannus" follows us. It is a juvenile
tyrannosaur skull, carefully re-examined within the
past few years, the plaster removed. I shall not share
my opinion re: hype which never meets the standard of
evidence. The claim a "new specimen" has been
discovered means nothing, in that theropods had/have
variable growth rates, dwarfism remains a question
about some specimens. A small adult theropod is just
that: a small adult theropod. For me, the genuinely
significant discoveries -- other than "the
stump-tailed swell-brained flying theropods" emerging
from China (forgive me, Thomas Holtz for adopting your
elegant phrase) -- are elsewhere, not an isolated
small theropod excavation yearning for a television special.

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