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| Art by Paperiapina |
I can't remember if I've posted about how interesting I think Troodons are, so I'm going to start fresh with this post.
Lets start with what they are, yeah? Troodons are these neat raptor like dinosaurs with feathers, ranging in size between a small turkey to upwards into the Deinoychus size, which are pretty damn big. Those are the raptors the Jurassic Park raptors were modeled after, for those who don't know random movie trivia. (I'm pretty sure everyone knows this)
They lived during the late Cretaceous in Alaska, parts of North America, and some really awesome specimens found in China. They were most likely little carnivores with sharp teeth, probably eating insects, smaller dinosaurs, and probably our tiny furry ancestors.
What's really interesting about these guys is their brain cases. They have one of the largest brain to body ratio in dinosaurs, with huge eyes and small graspy hands. They were most likely very smart for small little creatures. What makes them really unique is not just the big brain they make have rocked, but the fossils found have some preservation of the inner ear, which is really fasenating.
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| Best picture I could find to show a good ratio of brain size. |
There haven't been a lot of fossils found, and unfortunately the Troodon classification have been somewhat muddy. This is one of those odd clades that end up being a "trash bin" or "catch all" for small dinosaurs they don't know how to really fit into other classifications. It's frustrating because I feel like these dinosaurs are truly unique and had the potential to have evolved into more intelligently complex beings.
Yeah, yeah. Sci-fi stuff. But think how how cool they would have been if they got to evolve like humans did?? We could be dinosaur people, guys!!
There's some models of what Troodons would have looked like if they evolved into more human like creatures. It's scary and so I'm not gonna post a picture. It made me uncomfortable.
What got me really delving into Troodons lately was the latest episode of I Know Dino, where they interview a Troodon master and an expert in Dinosaur Reproduction. Dr. Dave Varricchio from Montana State University talks in length about different dinosaur nests and even a burrowing dinosaur, Oryctodromeus. I thought that this was a Troodon, but it doesn't look like it. Seems it's a similar type of dinosaur, but different clade.
Anyway, the burrowing dinosaur was really interesting, since burrowing under the ground is a very mammal habit, and probably what saved our mousy ancestors from going extinct. Trace fossils have been found of the burrowing dinosaur, along with a fossilized mommy and two babies inside a burrow. How cool is that?
As far as Troodons go, Dr. Varricchio explains that Troodons may have grown pretty fast, getting to full size at about 3 years old. Granted, these aren't the massive giants that roamed around them so they didn't have to get terribly big, but knowing they were able to get mature fast is still interesting.
Considering that eggs and breeding habits of dinosaurs in the fossil record are so incredibly rare, finding any information about how dinosaurs may have raised their young or mated is always an amazing find. I really hope some strapping up and coming paleontologist finds out more information about this stuff. Curious minds want to know.
I haven't been reading a lot of dinosaur books lately, mostly just keeping up with I Know Dino and science articles online. I did start The Tyrannosaur Chronicles by David Hone, and it's really good, but I've been distracted by other non-dinosaur related fluffy books. Perhaps when I get pull my head out of the clouds I'll dig back into it and finish, so I can post a review about it.
There's some dinosaur related awesome stuff happening close to my neck of the woods, which pointed me in the direction of a company who makes life-size, theme park grade dinosaurs for events and educational things! October 1st, Grapevine Mills is having a Fossil Fest out at a park with giant dinosaur attractions and educational digs for kids. I plan on going to check it out, though I'm painfully aware I'm not a kid and don't have one I could use as an excuse to go.
The company that is bringing the big dinosaur models is The Dinosaur Company, which apparently is based out of Allen, Texas. I had no idea they even existed until I saw this ad for the Fossil Fest. It looks like they do some amazing work, and I even reached out to them for employment. Cause why not, right? If I'm able to do stuff dinosaur related as my means of making money, then that's what I want to do!
I'm going to go check it out that Saturday, so I'll take pictures and report back.
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| The Dinosaur Company's Pachyrhinosaurus |
Sorry it's been quiet lately on the blog. I could blame this on a thousand things, but really it's been me being distracted by my own tiny attention span. I've been neck deep in other fandoms that I'm obessing over that I haven't been cracking out about dinosaurs in blog form. In my head I have, but not putting digital pen to paper.
I'll make an effort to try and geek out more here so I can spam my Facebook feed demanding my friends read my blog.
Until then!
- M
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