I've added restorations of _Scutellosaurus lawleri_ and a rather unusual lambeosaur (You've been warned!) at my website.

http://www.geocities.com/mesozoicdinosaurs
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 15, 2001

I suppose so, but again I point out the fact the mammals would not have had the chance to ascend had the dinosaurs survived. Had they survived, I believe that the dinosaurs would have adapted accordingly throughout the millenia; such as the ability to ingest grass, survive the ice ages, possible sentience, etc.
from Sauron, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 15, 2001

yeash you Sean S I think you don't have good spelling
from Natalie S, age 10, Prince George, BC, Canada; May 15, 2001

Lets stop this silly battle between the T-Rex and Deinonychus I want to vote whithout making 10 votes for Deinonychus just in case it falls behind again we all should be able to d that and to top it all of they were basicly the same they bothe eat meat they were both dinosaurs they both were created by God and if this battle dosn't stop T-rex is just as good as Deinonychus
from Natalie S, age 10, Prince George, BC, Canada; May 15, 2001

VOTE FOR DEINONYCHUS
from COLLIN S, age 7, ?, ?, ?; May 15, 2001

listen Andrea and Collin, I stand a better chance on the T-rex team but I am going to set these guys right , tell them that the only reason they have soo many votes is because the T -Rex is popular.
from Natalie S, age 10, Prince George, BC, Canada; May 15, 2001

If you like raptors even the littlest bit, send 10 votes for deinonychus!PPPLLEEESSSEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
from A Deinonychus fan, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 15, 2001

what is your best Dinosaur
from kevin hn, age 9, IND, 36203, unitedstates; May 15, 2001

Wow, Leisie, your post on Tyrannosaurus is piercing. Here, I'd add a little in to help you: Conclusive studies from the single Tyrannosaurus Rex footprint and tibulae studies in T.Rex fossils has revealed it T.Rex had a walking speed of 11 - 17 kph. Which is extremely fast for an animal it's size. Elephants clock 8 - 10 kph in a walk and humans amble along at a porky 4 - 5 kph. Tyrannosaurus most probally would have managed to reach speeds of 50 kph for short bursts, which is about the same speed or even faster than the adverage medium sized raptor which most probally read a max speed of 45 - 50 kph.

To the contary of what most people believe, the raptors were built more for agility then speed. Raptors lack the running equipment that you'll find in fast running animals and their leg bone ratios suggest they are more built for nimbleness then speed. The adverage duckbill woudl have easily outpaced any raptor if it didn't have the element of surprise. Besides, I hardly think Tyrannosaurus (or the raptors as some suggest) could have been big time scavengers at all, biologically speaking, there is no 100-percent flightless large land or the simple reason that full-time scavenging is simply not as efficent as a generalist hunter-scavenger design. Of course, any dinosaur would have been pretty silly to pass up a dead carcass, and I suspect the raptors, being smaller and more fragile then bigger predators, might have prefered scavenging then taking on a large duckbill mano-a-mano. I'm sorry, but the idea of raptors swarming an animal about 50 times their weight is biologically da! ngerous. If anything, we have mroe reason to suspect the raptors did more scavenging then other predators of it's time.

Thank you and have a nice week.
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 15, 2001

Hey everyone!
I have studied dinosaurs for about as long as I've been alive, and the discoveries that have been made concerning Tyrannosaurus have been amazing. When I was young, the view of the Tyrant was that he was fairly slow, bulky, and still decidedly a carnivore, although scavenging wasn't out of the question. HOWEVER, these days, the view, and I tend to share it, was that T-Rex was an efficient hunter and definitely a fast mover.

If you were to study its bone structure, you could decipher that based upon its bone mass, density, etc.. that it ws built for speed. Just look at its jaws, too. Those jaws are the thickest and strongest of the jaws of ANY carnivorous dinosaur, not to mention the second longest, next to Giganatosaurus, a bigger-than-T Rex dinosaur related to Allosaurus. Even the Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus, two earlier and slightly smaller cousins of Tyrannosaurus have those heavy, thick jaws.

With its running speed and those jaws and 6-inch (15 cm) teeth, all T-rex would have had to do to a large herbivore was ambush it, take one huge bite or two, and back off, waiting for the prey to succumb to blood loss and shock. Even the Triceratops would have stood little chance in such an attack.

Few predators today even will attack a healthy, full-grown bull animal, so it seems unlikely that T-Rex would have done the same, except with a few possible species exceptions, like the smaller herbivores like the Anatotitan and the local raptors (if he could catch one)...T-rex was build for speed and power, but he may not have had super endurance, or was unwilling to exhaust himself to kill something. Thus, he would be weakened for another Tyrannosaur to take his food...

Anyways, this is what I believe, in response to a few earlier messages left here. Tyrannosaurus Rex was and still is, the "King of the Tyrant Lizards"!!!
from Leslie N., age 27, North Vancouver, BC, Canada; May 15, 2001

I agree with Natalie the t-rex was bulky slow and a scavanger. its hip bones show us all these things. Deinonychus on the other hand was slim fast and a terrific hunter PLEEEEEEEESE vote Deinonychus
from Andrea S, age 16, Prince George, BC, Canada; May 14, 2001

beleive it or not the T Rex is not what people are saying it is the tryant lizard(T-Rex) is bulky slow eats dead dinosaurs and you could walk faster than it!
from Natalie S, age 10, Prince George, BC, Country; May 14, 2001

I happen to disagree Saurian. I do not think Dinosaurs are superior to modern day mammals. Dinosaurs you might remember, are adapted to an ecosystem that vanished a long time ago, while mammals are adapted to a modern ecosystem. But I suspect that if the mammals squared off in competition with dinosaurs in regard to food (say, a big tuna sandwich), the dinosaurs will be at an extreme disadvantage from the quick thinking mammals. Brain almost always beat brawn! The mammals don't have to go mano-a-mano with the dinosaurs, but they can always fight the war on different fronts. Sure...a T.Rex can beat any land based predator today, but I think T.Rex is going to have a hard time trying to put the chops down faster than the lion in getting a meal.
from Billy Macdraw, age 19, ?, ?, ?; May 13, 2001

I agree with Brad, can we get off of the cloning dinosaurs topic? It's getting nowhere.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 13, 2001

I'm not taking sides, Sean S. I think you both have good points.
from firebird, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 13, 2001

Well, I do think that dinosaurs would destroy ecological stability by preying on mammals and disrupting the natural balance. But it's nothing worse than what humans are doing anyways.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 13, 2001

I disagree with what some of you have been saying. Dinosaurs have proven to be superior to mammals in every respect save overall brain power. Case in point: 220 some-odd million years ago, dinosaurs and mammals (or the closest facsimile) were on an equal level, both were in a position to vye for ecological dominance. We all know how that turned out. For the next 160 million years dinosaurs diversified, multiplied, grew to the largest land animals ever seen, and ruled the planet unchallenged. Mammals in the meantime, became constrained to largely nocturnal activities and skulked in the underbrush and in their burrows. Basically, they (mammals) spent 160 million years developing different teeth and getting no larger than a beaver. The only reason mammals became what the are today is because dinosaurs were wiped out. "The meak shall inherit the Earth."
from Sauron, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 13, 2001

Sean, if you are really serious about recreating dinosaurs, it would be better if you start researching about reptilians and studying the methods used in bringing about artificial mutations (changes in the pattern of the chromosomes). In this method you are very likely to create something which looks more like the desired dinosaur than any other animal. With a little more hard-work, you might get to create a dinosaur identical to the one which lived in the mesozoic era.

Good luck!
from Vikrem S, age 17, ?, ?, ?; May 13, 2001

Who's fighting with Sean? He's just hurling insults at everybody. Apparently "contradict" critics in his books means insulting them with all the childish stuff his mind can come up with. And no, I do not think we could keep the dinosaurs under control if we recreated them. The whole idea will be out of control.
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 13, 2001

I don't think Dinosaurs are in any way superior or inferior to modern day animals, less adapted you might say. But I suspect you cannot contain dinosaurs on an island for long. No matter how isloated it might be. Biocontainment measures, no matter how strict, almost always fail because we don't know enough about nature yet. Dinosaurs don't have to take over the world, they can affect us in many different ways, and some of them will be for the very worse. I am quite certain bringing back dinosaurs into our modern world will be disasterous. Note that they don't have to physically escape to affect us at all!
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 13, 2001

Okay firebird i'm pretty sure that the abor day foundation will help us land scape simulated jurassic forest. And if want to be a skeptic...go ahead and join that Jeff Goldblum wanna be!(Often Wrong or should i say Honkie Tong...whatever you want to call him) Any way why don't the both of put a plug in it if you don't have anything good to say!!? I honestly cant believe you listen to his ridiculous statements! You know together we could make these dullusions of mine become reality! So...where do you stand fire bird? With us...or Often Wrong. Or perhapps you'r like Chandler in between..and maybe you just don't care. Take you'r side!
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 13, 2001

Really cooooooool site!!!
from Lyndsay "C", age 8, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; May 12, 2001

PROSAUROPODA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How about discussing them istead of fighting with Sean?
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 12, 2001

What if dinosaurs did escape? They are not superior to modern animals, we just like them more. And anyway, Sean wants his dinosaurs to live on an island. An island ruled by dinosaurs is not a worldwide disaster.
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 12, 2001

The only dino servivors are BIRDS!
from Margaret D, age 8, Naperville, IL., USA.; May 12, 2001

I think the oldest dinosaur is Staurikosaurus. Eoraptor is more primitive, but it lived at the same time as Hererrasaurus. There are also those 'Middle Triassic' prosauropods that still haven't been named yet, but that site could only be dated by the types of animals present. I'm not sure it is Middle Triassic. And those animals need names!
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 12, 2001

1.we were planing on locating the dinosaurs to an island. 2.We were going to buy an island by having investers, funds,etc. 3. Arbor day foundation will supply us with conifers.
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 12, 2001

How do you know all this will happen, Sean S. Arbor Day foundation? What makes you so sure Arbor Day Foundation will help you?!

-firebird
from firebird, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 12, 2001

Well, you don't know anything about genetics though.
Become a geneticist and then "exploit" the idea.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 12, 2001

Is Herrerrasaurus the 1st dinosaur that ever lived?
from Mike, age 11, ?, ?, USA; May 12, 2001

Did we know anything about dogs when we trained them. We saw them in the wild and decided to train them. We knew some facts so we just took what we knew and tried our luck so dinosaurs may be bigger and stronger but inside it's just a big baby. It only fights when it needs to eat or to defend itself we live them alone they leave us alone. And about not being able to keep them under containment, we have zoos right? The lions, and tiger and bears are the T-rex's of today. We contain them also snakes, gators, birds, elephants, and fish. We can control them so why not dinosaurs. And if you clone them with promblems you just try again. You ever heard the saying learn from your mistakes. Well, then learn from them. Try something a little bit different from last time. Dinosaurs are over grown reptiles/birds. Just cause they're bigger and stronger than us doesn't mean we can't control them. Jurassic Park was a movie of Fiction. Fiction is not real. So maybe we can keep them under control. Mainly we would bring them back just to see them not to study them. We would make one at a time and see what happens in our envirement. Learn from our mistakes to make things better. And who knows. That 13 year old may be clonning dinosaurs right know and we don't know it. Or he could be talking to scientists and/or getting government fundings. Who knows?
from Joshua, age 13, ?, La, USA; May 12, 2001

Well at least the crocodiles,alligators,monitor lizard,the tortoises and turtles and perhaps birds are here today so the decendnts of dinosaurs still ruled the world.
from DONOVAN R., age 10, ?, SINGAPORE, ?; May 12, 2001

Hey Often Wrong..yeah i'm talking to you! I don't think you understood me.(Of course a 13 year old could'int recreate the dinosaurs!)(DUH!?) 1.we were planing on locating the dinosaurs to an island. 2.We were going to buy an island by having investers, funds,etc. 3. Arbor day foundation will supply us with conifers. This is'int first grade math class! You seem to think that critacising people is an art! Well i have some tips if you would like to make a habit of it. Why don't you just take you'r mickey mouse opinion and start a rust farm! What horrible prefessionleism! No offense but if everybody was as skeptical as you...we would'int be able to invent the internet that you'r on right now!
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 12, 2001

Okay "Honking Tongue!" i'll just put that in my gaurage whith all the other junk i don't use!
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 12, 2001

No, the danger does not persits from dinosaurs eating us. But I say that the danger will come in the form of disasterous ecological impact such animals can have. I am also convinced (and this is not taken from Jurassic Park) that it is impossible to keep dinosaurs captive in a large enclosure. They will escape. Bringing back dinosaurs will put a lot of factors into a dynamic, nonlinear system we call our world and I'm afraid simple extrapolation shows that the system can easily digress to our doom. Anyway Chandeler, you are right, a rude 13-year old doesn't stand a whilt of a chance of bringing a dinosuar back, no matter how fanatic he might be. I've resolve to keep cool during this event...no need for another BBD is there?
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 12, 2001

Any self respecting dino would not be brought down by hand guns. Large elephant type guns would do the trick. Problem is that there would be too many for one person to shoot unless they had a M-2 50 cal Browning MG at least. The Rapters would sround you guickly. Result....dino food. Then there would be night time. A whole different group of critters would be trying to make a meal out of you. Just be glad we didn't live when they did. Would I be willing to go back to that time with a heavy hunting rifle. YOU BET YA !!!!! :-)
from beetown, age 56, Beeville, Tx., USA; May 11, 2001

Well Chandler. I didint say that i was going to recreate the dinosaurs my self. I said i was going to expliot it.(Which i am)
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 11, 2001

A dinosaur created in a lab wouldn't even be a true dinosaur. It would need parents to teach it how to act, and a cloned animal has no parents. Also, cloning could result in abnormalities in skin color, texture, or behavior, so how would we know if we had the real thing?
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 11, 2001

People know things about dogs. We know nothing about dinosaurs. How could we possibly know what to expect?
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 11, 2001

Honkie Tong is very right with his "Karate master" analogy, which is from "Jurassic Park." Sean, I am split on the issue. I'm not as radically against it as Honkie is, but I'm not exactly for it either. It's not like a 13-year-old can actually clone a dinosaur anyways, so what's the big argument?
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 11, 2001

Eotyrannus is very new, and it is real. Mike Keesey probably hasn't gotten to updating his list yet, that's all.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 11, 2001

Ok about that Dino powder thing. I don't think I was too clear on that. What I meant was like DNA is what makes us up and also our bone structure. So I don't know how but take a full Dino skeleton and somehow find the DNA code for it. I know it's possible. Then like get it on a computer screen or something and sart to structure it. Then find the animal, reptile, whatever most closely related to it and carefully fill in the loose strands of DNA. The reptile DNA should fill in the skin, organs ect. and if you need extra well they'll figure it out. Then I guess just use Bio-enginerring or something. Or maybe De-evovle a reptile or something. If any of that makes sense. I really didn't mean to add Dino DNA to pot some blood just add water and mix well and pre-bake to 360 degrees and in a 1 your dinosaur will be ready.
from Joshua, age 13, ?, La, USA; May 11, 2001

is t-rex stonger then deeinychus? what is your favortie dino???
from the deinonychus president, age 29, North Haven, connecticut, u.s.a; May 11, 2001

Thats right Joshua throw the book at them! Thanks Josh i owe you one! I dont realy want to kill the dinosaurs i'm just trying talk some sense into all these skeptics. You always seem to know what to say what a pair you and i make!
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 11, 2001

How would it be dangerous to our own species to clone dinosaurs? Just from them eating us? Danger would arise for individuals, but I think our species as a whole is safe. Dangerous meat-eating animals already exist, without causing much of a problem. And dinosaurs would not instantly take over established ecosystems and rule the earth. Don't underestimate modern animals, they would have the advantage.

I don't think there is anything wrong with cloning a dinosaur, but I don think its pointless. We wouldn't learn anything about natural dinosaurs by studying one manufactured in a lab. It wouldn't be real.

I agree that using ground up fossils wouldn't be helpful- if I were ground up into a powder, I doubt that I could be cloned- especially not if the DNA of other mammals was mixed in!

I've never heard of Eotyrannus. It isn't on the Dinosauricon. I'm extremely surprised that any tyrannosaurs lived in Britain, especially the first ones.
from Brad, age 14, Fenelon Falls, ON, Canada; May 11, 2001

Hey Honkie Chandler, I didn't say to clone birds or anything. I said take a look at them. They are so much like dinosaurs why can't we use them with reptile blood. You know a couple of DNA transferring until we get it right and CHAOS? If we can create dinosaurs don't you think we can kill them. DUH? C'mon people it would take advance technology to create them and then we would probaly have the weapons to kill them. And why can't we tame them when they're growing up. We trained dogs from the wild so why not dinosaurs. And if that doesn't work just make the pigmy. I mean, would it really hurt to try. I like dinosaurs and I don't know all the facts about clonning, or DNA, or ancestors but I do know COMMON SENSE. we could make one dinosaur at a time, start small and work our way up. Like I said before we should be working together not putting each down with,'birds may be related but you can't clone the''it won't work''you need support'' GEEZ! I may not make ends meat with all this DNA stuff but I do know one thing. Anything's possible if you set your mind to it and atleast try. Peace.
from Joshua, age 13, ?, La, USA; May 11, 2001

Okay Honkie Tong you win.. you were right all along....you'r a ridiculus person!!(laughter)And about that stuff you said about the evils of cloning... well i for one think you'v been watching to many bad soap oprahs!Okay you dont have to agree with me but you dont have to be such a jerk about it though! Now Often Wrong im going to tell you the same thing you told me..give it up alreay! because i dont like you and you dont like me obviousley. Its much better if we just go our separate ways.
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 11, 2001

Hello Vikerem.s. It was my idea to modify birds into dinosaurs. I didint mention grounding up bones and adding reptile D.N.A . Thank you for you'r support!
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 11, 2001

By the way Often Wrong(Honkie Tong) the plan was not to release dinosaurs into the wild. we were going to put them in large enclosures. And for the love of god shut up...for good!!!
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 11, 2001

Destroyed Honkie Tong? You wish!!! To me it looks like you'r the evil one!! For...you must be..president of the extinction fan club!! Dinosaurs would be nothing that the U.S army could'int handle. You'r just using this as an excuse! Sure this would indeed make our lives more difficult but as powerful as we are we could still handle it though. The romens killed the horses pulling the celts cheriots. Im going to kill the horses coming out of you'r mouth! Whith our weapons and technology i'ts not like we could'int fight back.(not to mention that we could make them extinct again!)The good news is that dinosaurs would'int be able to conquer us. The bad news is that i'm gonna conquer you!(Spare me the embaressment that i did'int ounce mention the word "nuclear") Now Often Wrong lets get down to internal affairs.Geeze Honkie Tong when i first met you i thought you were a decent person. But now i think you deserve to be ground up and spit on! What kind of no good sick punk are you!!? Any excuse to start trouble! And how dare you accuse me of being irresponsable!And how dare you call raptors over glorified turkeys! what kind of country fried idiot do you think i am!? Now its personale... were enemies now! you'r just trying to find something wrong whith my believes so you can criticice me are'nt you!? As of the momment it look's it's going to be another edition of msnbc's hardball.
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 11, 2001

Russell, your question is a good one. Rabies is a viral disease which first affects mammals. Considering the fact that viruses (along with the other micro-organisms) were the most primitive living organisms, there is a reasonble chance that some dinosaurs could have been affected by rabies.
from Vikrem S, age 17, ?, ?, ?; May 10, 2001

Hello Sean! Wonderful idea of yours to recreate dinosaurs (Though Michael Chrichton gets the credit) I would like to see a live dinosaur (at a safe distance). For that matter who wouldn't? So, keep thinking. You never know, you might stumble upon what might actually lead you to this miraculous resuscitation.(But for heavens sake, do not come up with bizzare ideas like adding reptile D.N.A to crushed dino bones- it may seem a good idea but all you would get is a mess)
from Vikrem S, age 17, ?, ?, ?; May 10, 2001

Wow! I always argued that raptors like Deinonychus were nothing more than overglorified chickens and it looks liek I was wrong... now they are overglorified turkeys! Anyway, I don't see birds carrying rabies so I don't think dinosaurs had them too. But they probally had a host of other nasty diseases that are probally long gone by now. Also, given the syombic relationship between dinosaurs and the baterial of their time, any recreated dinosaur will lack this important feature and die minutes minutes of birth. Well, I know I'm not into "why Sean's idea cannot work" but this is an intresting point.
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 10, 2001

My goodness, how can somebody promote his idea by thinking so shallowly? I'm telling you, all our nuclear bomb and weapons whatsover will not be able to save us from extinction if we have recreated the dinosaurs. I suggest this idea be dropped immediately and that the recreation of animals gone more than 2 million years ago be banned. Heck, with all our nuclear bombs and missiles, we couldn't even control the jackrabbits and cain toads in australia, let alone an ecological disaster caused by bringing bacy animals that do not belong here anyway. Mabye now I'm starting to see the evils of cloning. Power comes with responsibility, a karate master does not beat up his wife or kill people for the heck of it. As his training trains him in his skills, it also gives him the displine to be resbonsible for his power. But for scientific power, its immediately avaiable to the person who has enough money to buy it. Power can be purchased like a saturday night sp! ecial. There is no hard work or disipline involved in having this power and people misuse it. Standing on the shoulder of giants like science people have made many horrible mistakes. It's not the problem with science alone, but by the people who have no responsiblity for its power. This idea must die. This idea of bringing back dinosuars made akin as dangerous to reheating a frozen pizza is false, and should be destroyed. Oh well, that's anothe rone of my Ian Malcom speeches again...
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 10, 2001

If you want to see a very... strange picture of Deinoycus, go to
http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~luisrey/html/deino.htm it looks like a combination of a mentally ill grandmother and a turkey. scary stuff. there is a new genus indentified, named eotyrannus lengi. you may have heard about it. It was a basal tyrannosaur about 15 feet (5 meters) long. it was named for the fossil hunter gavin leng, who found the first bone. It was found in Britain, and about 40% of the skeleton was unearthed. I have a question;
do you think that some dinosaurs could have carried rabies?
from Russell p., age ?, seattle, wa, usa; May 10, 2001

Injustice Chandler? Since when is justice simple as a book!!? Don't you want to experience the glory of see'ing live dinosaurs? I'v been very patient whith you.....AND TO BE BRUTALLY HONEST I REALY DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY!! Don't you have anything good to say about my philosphy!? I'f you want keep playing susey home maker whith captiain cunumdrum" Thats fine whith me!"(Honkie Tong)
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 10, 2001

Ian? O'h yeah! Well i guess i'm John Hammond!Why don't you shut up!!!?(Honkie Tong)
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 10, 2001

Hello Joshua. Im sean and i fully support you'r comment. I agree a 100 percent whith you. But they won't coporate. But hang in there were in this together!I'll always be there for you! I don't like the situation any more than you do. But we'll keep trying to recruit people thuough! I'ts just as you said what would happen to the romens if they just gave up when they were having trouble whith the celts?
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 10, 2001

Just because an Emu is related (distantly) to a Velociraptor does not mean we can clone a Velociraptor from it. Where on Earth did you get that idea? These days, cloning is BARELY possible and requires the exact species you want to clone. So if you want to clone a Velociraptor, you need an intact Velociraptor, or at least its DNA. Now, since cloning is based on DNA, you need the whole DNA sequence for cloning. That's the only way. Reverse-engineering birds isn't possible--MAYBE if you understood the way evolution works (which no one does) you could create a "proto-bird" but you'd never get a Velociraptor since it is an evolutionary offshoot.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 10, 2001

Stegosaurus means "roof lizard," probably in reference to its shingle-like plates.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 10, 2001

Why the ethics? Because no matter how "cool" a living dinosaur would be, it would be an injustice to both the created creature (people not knowing anything about it, and it probably dying an unjust and painful death) and to people that could be hurt. It's just like "Frankenstein," no one could take enough responsiblity for a living dinosaur and destruction would be the result.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 10, 2001

I guess I am the "Grant" on this issue.
I would be amazed and excited to see a live dinosaur, and I guess it would be cool. But as Honkie said it would be a destruction of nature. It wouldn't provide any real benefit to us, except to satiate our curiosity, I guess. But it isn't very ethical.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 10, 2001

Chao's? Ha! We'll just get one of our guys in the white house! This was the plan all along! He can supply us whith our weapons and technology to keep the park under controll.Honkie Tong you'r the only one who doesin't know!If we can talk our idea's into the president of the united states why we could do just about anything we want! I believe our tax'es should go to nasa for research on an astriod defense system, And of course research for recreating the dinosaurs. "seriosly" do think that even the dinosaurs whould be a match for us!?(because of all our missles and bombs) but that's not the case (fortunatey)So who do i choose?Both! Of course i know what you'r going to say."I can't choose both sides. (Humans and dinosaurs) You must realy be full of it! I don't know how you found out about my made up person (Jeff.h) (I used it to get on you'r nerves and take the blame) In any case it doesin't matter any more!
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 10, 2001

"The Velociraptor was mimicked after the emu bird"

Velociraptor lived before the emu, so how can that be true? An emu is a true dinosaur anyway, so we don't need to mimick dinosaurs from it (what does that mean?).
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 10, 2001

Don't listen to Mike! Vote Velociraptor! Listen to Sonny C!
from ??????, age ???????, ????????, ????????, ????????; May 10, 2001

What does Stegosaurus mean?
from Brandon D, age 7, Mastic NY., NY., U.S.A.; May 10, 2001

Well Jeff (how I know is actually Sean), in theory, your bird method doesn't even work, and I won't even start on the pratical expects of your "method". What I am stating in my eariler post is not theory, but rather a application of a well documented and extensively proven and reserched area of science into this issue. And it tells you that your method, even if it works, would be fatal for us. Ironic huh? We bring back dinosaurs and cause our extinction... But I wouldn't worry about it at all. No paleontologist I have seen so far thinks we can OR SHOULD bring back dinosuars at all. And there are alot of reasons for that. But really, there really is no need to "create" your own characters if you don't have enough support.
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 10, 2001

It never surprises me how people can ignore the implications of chaos in their life. I'm afraid the idea is simply unworkable not because it involves many steps, but because it's simply IMPOSSIBLE. If we recreate the dinosaurs, we spell our own doom. No, in that case, I rather select my species to survive then a bunch of lizards that have already died before anyway. Bringing back dinosaurs is not exciting, anybody with a fundemental grasp of chaos theory will know that it will be a nightmare...

Well, I am rapidly become the Ian Malcom of this issue. But my stand is clear. Bringing back the dinosaurs will mean the extinction of humans...
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 10, 2001

i have to do a project about dinos and i find them to be really ok. I wanted to do the report on the Ankylosaurs because he is so cute. you should do a repor ton him if you ever get a chance, they have interesing facts that make them stand out.
from hannah, age 14, troy, ohio, U.S.; May 10, 2001

Actually I would have to take Seans' side. Hi I'm Josh I've been reading your discussion(Sean,Brad,Chandler and Honkie Tong) but really I think it is possible to bring back a dinosaur. "But the process...so MANY steps....IMPOSSIBLE" Nothing is impossible unless you try. I mean yah it would be hard but when the Americans fought the British in the Reveloution, Who won? The British out numbered them 100 to 1. But the Americans never said impossible. I mean I could go on forever like this. Another thing, the birds. NOT the flying ones but the ones on the ground. The Emu. He would move just like a dinosaur. The Velociraptor was mimicked after the emu bird so why can't we mimick the dinosaurs from the emu bird? Now your going to say but some dinosaurs didn't move... I know. Then just take the way the reptiles move or some of the land mammals. Clonning Dinosaurs would be hard but not impossible. Crush a dinosaur's bone into fine powder, add the DNA of the reptile it's most closely related to and maybe some of the bird and VWALA. you may just get a dinosaur. Instead of aruguring about it we should be working together to make it come sooner.
from Joshua, age 13, ?, La, USA; May 10, 2001

Is Oviraptor still believed to have stolen the eggs of other dinosaurs? A recent discovery shows that the fossilised eggs near this fossilised lizard did belong to this little monster.
from Vikrem S, age 17, Madras, Tamil Nadu, India; May 10, 2001

In theory you are correct. (Honkie Tong)About Sean.S's bird's into dinosaurs theory. In theory communism WORK'S!! That's right i'm one of sean.s's FOLLOWERS! There's no such thing an innocent person! You'r either part of problem or part of the solution. I'm a dedicated advocate of my friend's theoy. judging by how conservative you are you could'int lead a horse to water!
from Jeff . H, age 15, ?, K.S, U.S.A; May 10, 2001

Sean, I'm afraid raising dinosuars and recreating them involves dealing with dynamic, nonlinear systems... there will be problems, the problems cannot be controlled, and they cannot be beaten. Mabye you might be able to bring the dinosaurs back, but bringing them back will involve the workings of so many dynamic, nonlinear systems that I believe controllign such an idea is no only impossible, but it'll probally spell our own doom. There is no clear cut problem to solve when you are working with recreating dynamic, nonlinear systems, and you don't have a wisker of hope to even control it. I'm sorry, but great ideas also need to be based on good scientific bases, and the idea of bringing back dinosaurs will probablly be more of a bad thing then a good thing...we can't even control our own GM foods already, talk about dinosaurs...Even if it could be done, I don't think it should if humans were to want to exist as a species. I think dinosaurs are good where they remain...in the dust.
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 10, 2001

I hope we all can agree to disagree agreeably, but Sean looks like he's gonna join the hall of fame filled by by people who believe they can fly by simply flapping their arms, making machines that run forever, and directly, physically travel faster then the speed of light...
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 10, 2001

Hey Chandler if you would like to see a live dinosaur why all the ethics?? Does it realy matter? I'f you realy want to see live dinosaurs why dont you join the clan?(support) you seem to aggree whith me. Go ahead and give in! No court is going to convict you. Now Mike you seem to be interested in this too"! If you are don't hide it. Great minds think for them selves! Keep in mind that whether or not the dinosaurs remain extinct depends soley on us human's!
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 9, 2001

This time i would like to talk about something else. How did carnivores defeat an ankylosaurus? One last comment. Sorry Honkie tong but were getting the last word! No offense" (Brad) but that stuff you said about i can't recreate the dinosaurs by using my bird method that's.. BULL! Sure we don't have the technology...YET. But i'm conviced that i't will arrive...SOMEDAY.Now let's leave i't. But don't forget this debate!! And if anyone think's im going to give up my idea there sadley mistaking!! And if anybody has any question's about either of them post it and i will be more than happy to answer. i don't care how the dinosaurs are recreated the important thing is that there recreated. W'e may never live to s'ee it. but we'l never recreate the dinosaurs whith skeptecism. leaving the facts in our hands is the best way aquire true knowlege. End of story!
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 9, 2001

****************NEW GENUS********************

_Draconyx loureiroi_
"Dragon Claw"
Mateus and Antunes, 2001
Ornithischia: Ornithopoda: Iguanodontia: Camptosauridae
Late Jurassic
Lourinha, Portugal
Holotype: Maxillary teeth, 3 caudal centra, chevron, distal epiphyses of right humerus & femur, epiphyses of tibia & fibula, manual phalanx, 3 manual unguals, various pedal elements
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 9, 2001

I love Dinosaurs and I like Zoom Dinosaurs! I Know alot about Dinosaurs

and I try to study them. I loved dinosaurs since I was in PRE.K.
from Amanda R, age 10, North Richland Hills, Texas, Tarrant; May 9, 2001

Actually, In JP the raptors were as big as us so they were probably really Deinonychus.
from Mike, age 11, ?, ?, USA; May 9, 2001

Also, any synthetically made dinosaurs would need to live in a "bio-chamber" since during the Mesozoic the Earth had much more Oxygen in the atmosphere. It bleeds off gradually, and the difference from then to now is big enough to be a health hazard to a Mesozoic animal. Remember the Stegosaurus in "Jurassic Park" (the book)? It was dying because it couldn't breathe in the "thin" modern air.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 9, 2001

Of course I would like to see a real dinosaur.
But seeing one would kinda take the fun out of it, at least a part of it. And dinosaurs were not killed off by people, so we don't owe it to them to bring them back, even if we could, it would be a corruption of nature. I'm not saying I wouldn't be excited to see it happen, though...hehe.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 9, 2001

Don't vote for velociraptor, vote for Scutellosaurus!
from Mike, age 11, ?, ?, USA; May 9, 2001

please vote for the velociraptor!!!!!!!!
from sonny c., age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 9, 2001

Imagin a giant mesqueto.
from ?????????????????, age ???????, ????????????, ??????????????, ?????????????; May 9, 2001

Sorry Loenard. In my last message i made a mistake. I thought you were Chandler until i saw the bottem of you'r message.(It's too late now)forgive me chandler.
from Sean.S, age 13, ?, MO., U.S.A; May 9, 2001

I didin't say it was going to be in my lifetime. I said it will happen! I'n any case i'm not giving up my (birds into dinosaurs theory)Alright Chandler you told me to name some risks. here are some i'v taken into consideration 1. water of today may be too acidic . 2. dinosaurs don't care who they eat and armed guards must be present at all times. 3. most plants at that time went extinct. 4. D.N.A rots over millions of years.Dinosaurs may not be able abapt.5 This may come at the expense of other animals.6. it takes countles money.7. It will take decades of research.8. Or in jurassic parks case a spy from another company may infiltrate our facilities and shut off main power allowing some dinosaurs to escape meanwhile he trys give us the slip. Lots of things could go wrong however most of these problems can be beaten though! I'm going to pass on something my dad always told me( Dreams will come true if you want them bad enough) Besides the kind attitude you have about this isn't going to get you any where. You have to have courage to make this achievement. You have to let all you'r doubts go. I'm also fan of conifers and ferns. In'fact i even have dawn redwood just outside my house! And whoever mentioned geneticly modifying birds in'to dinosaurs before identify you'r self the instant you see this message!
from Sean.S, age 13, Thayer, MO., U.S.A; May 9, 2001

Well, Dinocloning can work, but not easily. HEY! they said they would clone it from a frog & it would not work. Of Course! Frogs are amphibians, unlike dinos, which are reptiles! Why not use a Crocodile instead of a frog?!?!
from Mike, age 11, ?, ?, USA; May 9, 2001

I am not being 'ethical'. I didn't say that you shouldn't recreate dinosaurs by modifying birds, I said that you can't. Big difference.

I would rather have the _novel_ Jurassic Park set in 1989 than 2089. If something like Jurassic Park occurs in our own future, I wouldn't object to it.

I'm at the uninversity right now, so I have access to some cool paleontology books as papers. I read some of Seeley's _Dragons of the Air_ earlier today. What a neat book! The terminology 100 years ago is very different- pterosaurs were called 'ornithosaurs', and Pteranodon was called 'Ornithostoma'. And I saw 'Archæopteryx'. I also read Russell's stenonuchosaur/Dinosauroid article. Gotta go now.
from Brad, age 14, Peterborough, ON, Canada; May 9, 2001

Are you sure you know all the risks? We know so little about dinosaurs and you are saying you know the risks of recreating them? Ok, can you list some of them?

Anyway, these are some problems with bringing back dinos as stated in Bill's story Old Blood (Start writing it already Billy Macdraw!)

Everybody's dying to see an authentic live dinosaur. Remember Jurassic Park? They took a dinosaur DNA sample from the gut of an amber-sealed Jurassic mosquito, filled in the gaps in the dinosaur DNA with frog DNA, and placed it in a viable host egg, then they've got big lizards for their tourist attraction. The procedures done in the film is almost the actual thing done in cloning life forms. However, back in reality, there are missing a part, which are vital for dinosaur cloning and makes it questionable or impossible to do such. Here are some of the things that make mass-production of dinosaurs a big question mark.

AMBER ENCRUSTED MOSQUITO - amber, a hard yellowish-brown fossilized tree resin, is a good preservative medium. There are lots of amber-sealed insects retrieved and scientists had already drawn DNA from these insects, but only insect DNA, not the DNA of it's last victim. The fossils were so tiny, and so as the information gathered. Even if the stone-age mosquito did have a big bite on a dinosaur, the process of digestion would easily damage the dinosaur DNA. Lastly, the fossilized insects are no more than 40 million years old, 20 million years after the disappearance of dinosaurs, and 95 million years after the end of the Jurassic period.

DNA or Deoxyribonucleic Acid - the very precious, but fragile cellular substance that is responsible for hereditary instructions and input in every complex organism. Dinosaur DNA will not be clear and intact for the 65 million years that have passed since the dinosaur has gone to extinction. This is because of the fact that while humans and animals are alive, the DNA gets damaged 10 times every second. However, this is not much of a problem since there are special biological processes that repair damaged DNA. When life ceases, the reparation processes stop, and the DNA breaks down. If a mosquito feasted on a dinosaur and immediately gets trapped in tree resin and is preserved, the deterioration will slow down, but it will not stop. After 65 million years, the dinosaur DNA will be messed up and would be very difficult to decode.

DINOSAUR BLUEPRINTS - All DNA structures, be it human or animal or dinosaur, is made up of the same components, but they differ in sequencing. To find a piece of bird DNA, you would have to compare the sequences to an authentic bird DNA. In relation to the dinosaurs, there are no more existing dinosaurs, so whose DNA can be used for the identification of dinosaur DNA? The identification of dinosaur DNA would be quite an impossible task.
CLONING MEDIUM - there are no eggs fit for raising a dinosaur clone. A dinosaur egg is needed, of the same species and DNA to enable the clone to develop, but we don't have such.

The cloning of dinosaurs is within the point of possibilities and impossibilities. Yes, we have the technology of cloning animals, which was recently concluded by Dolly the Sheep, the first successful animal clone, but what we don't have are the biological raw materials that will take us to the rebirth of dinosaurs. As of now, the scene of having a Apatosaurus as a pet is still beyond the mist.
from Leonard, age 13, ?, ?, ?; May 9, 2001

Sorry, Sean, but I decline...the dinosaurs are indeed gone forever...in your lifetime that is.

Well, it's highly probabble that in the future, we might have advanced far enough to bring back the dinosaurs, but by then me, you, Sean, will be an old man... and probabbly be dead...okay, cut the fatalism...

Face it, the prehistoric dinosaurs are gone forever and no amount of technology (save for time travel) can bring them back. And besides, I harldy think it's a good idea to bring back a dinosaur...how can we make it survive? What about biocontainment? What about possible ecological effects the dinosaurs may have on the enviroment? Bringing back animals like the saber tooths is possible as they are not too long gone and we have a good portion of their genes... but the dinosaurs... too much has changed and too much lost in those 65 million years, we will never recover the enitire code (or even a small part of it) to make an animal. And we can't reverse engineer a bird to make a dinosuar (we have to know every single step) there are simply too many problems and complexities to bring back a dinosaur... here's my suggestion, it's far easier to see a dinosaur then bring back one, go to the zoo or to the park to see them in action...the birds.

I'm sorry, but this is where I throw down the final word... Give It Up Already!
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 9, 2001

No offense. but that stuff you(chandler) said about dinosaurs being gone forever is all a bunch of hogwash!I know all the risks of recreating the dinosaurs. But I think there worth it! You don't spend 5 years learning about dinosaurs whithout knowing a few things about the risks of recreating the dinosaurs! sorry to sound so rude. (this applies to you to Brad!)
from Sean.S, age 13, Thayer, MO., U.S.A; May 8, 2001

Thank you Honkie Tong. But I'v thought about a time machine. In fact if i had 3 wishes i'd wish for a time machine, A few trillion dollers, And finaly ownership of the north island of new zealand. So Honkie Tong will you join my service? Why and why not?Now as for you Chandler you seem to be pretty smart too.I'm about to ask you the same question I asked Honkie Tong will you join me? Now Brad i personley think you'r mistaking that you don't want jurassic park set in the future. you know that you want to see live dinosaur. Why do you resist? And why must you always be so...ethical?
from Sean.S, age 13, Thayer, MO., U.S.A; May 8, 2001

Well, there are a numnber of ways to bring the dinosaurs back. But none of them involve genetics. I propose that you get a bunch of neuron stars, arrange them into a cylinder 2 kilometers long and a kilometer wide, and spin it rapidly up to about 50 revoultions a second and it should drag the space time contiunium along with it. If you pop into one end of the cylinder, you should pop back into the past. By varying the length of the cylinder and the speed of revolutions, you can adjust the effect and prehaps get back 65 million years? Well, unfortunately this involves very heavy duty engineering (moving neuron stars) so we will not be able to do it for quite some time. About your idea about modifying birds: I'm sure many genetists have thought about your idea before (as a matter of fact, if you look back here in the archives, somebody else mentioned modyfing birds too to bring back the dinosaur). I sorry, but I'm afraid your idea is hardly new, nor i! s it workable. Try something else...
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 8, 2001

This is my list of objectives. 1. recruit as many people possible. 2.exploit in the easiest manner. 3. contradict skeptics.4. spread idea to other people.
from Sean.S, age 13, Thayer, MO., U.S.A; May 8, 2001

I read your latest post, Sean, and I wondered that even if cloning dinosaurs were possible, how smart it would be. Did we learn anything about corrupting nature from "Jurassic Park"? Part of the wonder about dinosaurs is that they aren't here anymore--we'll never know exactly everything about them.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 8, 2001

Despite our efforts to re-create them, dinosaurs are lost forever. Cloning will never be accurate enough to completely restore a true dinosaur, and unless time-travel is developed no one will ever see a living one. And of course, time-travel would certainly mess up the "time space continuum" so that is out of the question even if it were possible.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 8, 2001

I would like to hear dino sounds for a class project?
from kyle k, age 12, milwaukee, WI, ?;

To honkie tong: I respect you'r anylictical skills. however if you'r so sure what isn't going to work tell me what will! I look forward to hearing more from you. Don't forget to tell you'r buddies about my theory.
from Sean.S, age 13, Thayer, MO., U.S.A; May 8, 2001

YOU jest!! Brad you have good point. But you see I have a profound respect for dinosaurs and I absolutely hate extinction!! the truth is i don't plan on participating in this even't. I'm trying to spread my suggestion around. and if you don't respect the dinosaurs why are you here!? I'm not going to assume this is a wonderful thing. Dinosaurs would not want to eat you or me more than anything else. I'm not going force you to join. I'm happy to see that i'm getting everybodie's attention. And yes I agree carnataurus should be in jurassic park3.
from Sean.S, age 13, Thayer, MO., U.S.A; May 7, 2001

Well, I have been staying in the shadows for this modifying birds into dinosaur debate, but now i shall speak up. Well Sean, your idea wiould be unworkable for 1 reason: Chaos Theory.

To recreate a dinosaur by modifying a bird, you will first have to know how the entire DNA strain of the dinosaur species you wanted to recreate look like in the first place. Actually, you could modify any animal, not just a bird, into a dinosaur by Sean's method, but any modern genenist will tell you his idea is unworkable. Why? Chaos Theory.

Lets say we want to make Velociraptor by modifying say... a chicken. Even if we managed to modify most of the chicken genome to resemble a Velociraptor genome, a error of 0.003 percent (and that's very little) would cause you to come up with something very different. Due to Chaos Theory, small errors will be reflected largely. And there's no way in a long time we can retrieve an entire Velociraptor genome, and if we could, we wouldn't need to modify a bird to make a dinosaur by then; we would just need to whip up the dinosaur from scratch. Either way, Sean's idea to recreate (and the word here is recreate) the dinosaurs by the bird method will not work.
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 7, 2001

If you found a way to "reverse" evolution through experimentation then again, in theory, you could make a "dinosaur." But it would be impossible to then simulate evolution in the laboratory and create evolutionary offshoots. You would only get the core of the family tree leading from birds, then through early theropoda and into the "Protodinosauria." No Ornithischians or Sauropods.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 7, 2001

The idea of genetically altering birds into dinosaurs is not very new, but it has its problems. You could hypothetically create a dinosaur-like thing, but it would not be a true dinosaur. It would be a new "species" that had never lived before.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 7, 2001

No, she wasn't cloned by a company, but it doesn't matter. Companies can get ahold of the latest technology no matter if they started the research or not.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 7, 2001

You might have heard my critical comment, but I don't think you undestood it. The birds would already be dinosaurs before you modified them! I don't think there is anything wrong with what you are doing, though. Dinosaurs didn't mindlessly attack (but a planned, intelligent attack is worse!), but you will need to feed them. Tell me if you hav any progess with your genetic experiements!
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 7, 2001

Hello brad. i heard you'r ever so critical comment! look if we can't clone a dinosaur we might as well geneticly modifie bird's into dinosaur's. and i don't care whether or not you have a problem whith a real jurassc park. and even if dinosaurs where already reacreated do you think they'ed just mindlesly attack you from behind? I personlely think that what i'm doing is right. I have cousin whith the same name as you. this is whear you'r world of si-fi get's it right dinosaurs werent mindless killing machines!!
from Sean.S, age 13, Thayer, MO., U.S.A; May 7, 2001

i like t.rex
from erik, age 8, great falls, mt, u.s.a; May 7, 2001

Hey if stegosaurus had its brain in its tail, wouldn't it just be walking backwards all the time?
from Thomas P, age 13, Topeka, Kansas, USA; May 6, 2001

Since the birds already are dinosaurs, genetically modifying them would make them less of a pure dinosaur.
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 6, 2001

But Dolly wasn't cloned by a company, was she?

I wouldn't want Jurassic Park to be set in the future either.
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 6, 2001

I'm in 9th grade and in my science class were doing a 20 page report
on the history on earth and all the era's ane periods and i just want to say that this page really helped me out and if you want to see other cool earth history stuff go to www.ucmp.berkeley.edu
from Chad, age 15, ?, ohio, ?; May 6, 2001

i have an earth shattering idea that i would like to share whith all you dino fans. i would like to exploit the amazing method of recreating the dinosaurs by geneticly modifieing birds into dinosaurs. i hope to spread this theory throughout the world.maybe in the headline news.and i realy hope somebody see's this message and tell's his/her friend's.i'm devoted to infleunzing people to make acontributian's to the recreatian of the dinosaurs.
from Sean.S, age 13, Thayer, MO., U.S.A; May 6, 2001

It took scientists months to clone Dolly, a sheep. And that was in the 90s. I doubt a company could successfully clone ANY animal during the 80s, let alone a dinosaur. But it's just science-fiction:) Jurassic Park would be messed up if it was set in the future.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 5, 2001

How come everyone is talking about web sites all of a sudden? Well, I downloaded a lot of pictures from http/www.search4dinosaurs.com
from Mike, age 11, ?, ?, USA; May 5, 2001

The only problem is, Jurassic Park movies have to work with the dinosaurs cloned by Ingen. And I don't accept that Ingen, working for about five yars in the late 1980s, could sucessfully identify and clone the DNA of over 70 dinosaur genera! Stick with the 15 or so dinosaurs originally in Jurassic Park, and don't add any more.

(www.geocities.com/mesozoicdinosaurs/jpdinolist.html)

It probably isn't wise to have Jurassic Park expose the public to a life resortation of the highly dubious _Altipinax_.

Suchomimus and Baryonyx? Most people wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

I do agree that Carnotaurus should e in Jurassic Park 3!
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 5, 2001

I think that if there was a new JP movie commin in that they should put COOL dinos in it like altispanix and baryonx,suchomimus,sytarsus, carnotaurus pentaceritops and amargusaurus
from Brendan F., age 11, Tulsa, ok, USA; May 4, 2001

Why do ever1 like T-Rex?????? ITS almoust the 3rd largest Carnivore. A Gigantosaurus could give it a nasty WOOPIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! So could a carcharadontosaurs. So could a tarbosaurus
from Brendan F., age 11, Tulsa, OK, USA; May 4, 2001

I REALLY ENJOY THIS WEB SITE. I AM LEARNING ABOUT DINOSAURS AT MY SCHOOL. I ENJOY LEARNING ABOUT FOSSILS AND EVERYTHING ELSE ABOUT DINOSAURS.
from FRANCESCA L., age 8, HOUMA, LA, USA; May 4, 2001

Don't be rude Joe BOB B.If you want respect for example if you are an elder of someone else that someone whose younger will not respect you. But respect is all what me,Honkie tong and firebird plus you deserve Joe BoB B if you don't insult.
from DONOVAN R., age 10, ?, SINGAPORE, ?; May 4, 2001

Well I still think of placodus's tail was main defense.luckily Hendus another placodont evovled with a shell.I have to work on by dinosaur encyclopedia.
from DONOVAN R., age 10, ?, SINGAPORE, ?; May 4, 2001

i will not go to earth to learn about dinos
from tom g., age why, mars, somewhere on mars, mars; May 3, 2001

Hi, I'm a eight grader from McCormick Jr. high. In my science class we are doing stuff on dinos. i just wanted to tell you about the cool stuff we are learning. Our teacher Mr.Sewell is a great teacher and knows a lot about Science. We have done things on fossils and their habitat. We have done speeches on them and I think we are learning a lot about them. Thanks Mr. Sewell for everything you have showed us about these wonderful animals. Thanks, Nicole or Amanda
from Amanda A. or Nicole A., age 15, Cheyenne, Wyoming, Larime; May 2, 2001

All large dinosaurs that were bare-skinned would be secondarily featherless...assuming that their small lagosuchian ancestors were already feathered. Perhaps feathers flashed in and out of the evolutionary line several times througout all of the dinosaurian lineages (in correlation with large and small size mostly).
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 2, 2001

I'd say it is competition from mammals. Until dinosaurs went almost extinct at KT, mammals were in the birds' place. After KT, they switched places, and now mammals are dominant and birds aren't. The ecosystem can only handle so many animals in similar niches, and right now most of the "big" ones are already taken up by mammals. Birds were too specialized (i.e. flight) to take the dinosauria back to its former glory right away. Now they are just starting to diversify again (flightless forms, etc) and if mammals ever have a large-scale extinction dinosaurs could take over again.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 2, 2001

I like dinos
from chadd m., age 10, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.; May 2, 2001

T. rex probably had feathers as a baby, since the babies were smaller and in need of insulation. As Honkie said, perhaps they retained small amounts of "feathers" for display or something, but they probably had totally bare skin otherwise as adults.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 2, 2001

Of course T. rex did not have feathers. Most likely the impressions of the theropods JC named are adult animals, and therefore at least as large as an elephant. Elephants don't have much fur (although they do have some unnecessary remnants). If there was a baby T. rex skin impression, it probably would have "feathers." The fact that an adult T. rex did not have integument reflects nothing about its metabolism.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 2, 2001

There aren't any modern animals that are secondarily featherless- (well, maybe crocodiles- www.dinosauria.com/jdp/archie/scutes.htm )- and it seems like a strange idea. But we don't have any six-ton dinosaurs today. According to the printout on this site, ostriches weigh up to 345 pounds. And that's as big as dinosaurs get these days. Why? Is it competition from large mammals that prevents large dinosaurs, or something else?
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 2, 2001

Intresting Brad. Well, I think being a ground based animal weighting 6 tons and possessing quite alot of latent heat capacity, T.Rex would have regarded a coat of insulation a bad idea, and so would just about any other large animal (example Elephants, Rhinos, Hippos). Besides the fossilized skin imprint, there really are other good reasons to believe that T.Rex may have been without feathers.

Of course, looking at the skin imprint, we also know that T.Rex probally had rough, pebbly skin (if not all over its body), hardly good material for feathers to grow out of. But I do suspect that T.Rex, having decended from the smaller prehaps feather-spotting dinosaurs, may have retained small amounts of feathers for social purposes (I do think that this is highly unlikely though), but a full body coat is surely out of the question. However, like most questions about dinosaurs, this "matter of feathers" with not be concluded for a while.
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 2, 2001

A lot of fossilized T. rex skin? Is there a picture of it?
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 2, 2001
I don't have any photos, but it is reported to be featherless (one recent find was at the Lance Formation in Wyoming in 1992 - found by Dianne Carnell, Craig Sundell et al. - together with an almost complete T. rex). Featherless Albertosaurus skin has also been found. Carnotaurus skin has also been found that is reported to be scaly (or bumpy, depending on who analyzes it). As soon as they find feathered T. rex skin, I'll add it to Zoom Dinosaurs. As an aside, it seems like a huge waste of calories to produce insulating feathers on a gigantotherm - heat dispersal was probably much more of a problem than needing insulation during the relatively warm Cretaceous. JC

Aiyah! Joe Bob B! You insult your elders again! Respect your elders! Mabye you need to be enlisted in the United States Marine Corps to learn some manners! You know, the US Marines? Join the Marines! Get Gulf-War Syndrome! Lose a leg! Die in a helicopter crash! Woops...I didn't paint a flattering picture of your Marines did I?
from Honkie Tong, age 16, ?, ?, ?; May 1, 2001

I was browsing the Q&A page, and saw this-
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Q: Does the T-REX have feathers?
from ?, ?, ?, ?; April 30, 2001

A: No. For information on T. rex, click here.
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The current position of the Tyrannosauridae on the coelurosaur cladogram (see "Classification and Evolution of Dinosaur Groups" Holtz in "The scientific American Book of Dinosaurs" Paul 2000) implies that they did descend from animals with feathers. Who can forget the "Feathers for T. rex?" story in National Geocgraphic? Even without direct fossil evidence of feathers on a tyrannosaurid, "absence of proof is not proof of absence" (anyone want to try to identify that quote?). It's unknown if T. rex had feathers, but not unlikely that it did.
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 1, 2001
Good point, but a lot of fossilized T. rex skin has been found and it shows no evidence of feathers (this is not a conclusive argument, but I do prefer evidence) - so I take the recent speculation as just that until a fossil showing feathers is found. JC

No, I didn't move. I just go to school in a different town.
from Brad, age 14, Woodville (I'm at home now!), ON, Canada; May 1, 2001

I tried using my digital camera, but the pictures look really bad. Did you move, Brad?
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 1, 2001

Jordan, why did you even come here? You should be out playing a sport or something!
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 1, 2001

No, there were primitive mammals during Eoraptor's time, I think. I remember seeing the painting by John Gurche of a Herrerasaurus lurking over a pair of a couple mammals, and Eoraptor was contemporary with Herrerasaurus...I don't know, I always thought there were primitive mammals. They emerged just after the pre-dinosaurs did, in the very early Triassic.
from Chandler, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 1, 2001

Respect your elders, Joe Bob B.
from firebird, age ?, ?, ?, ?; May 1, 2001

Before you get the standard recycled answer form anyone else, Adrianne, yes. Not only were there people that lived with dinosaurs, there are people that live with dinosaurs. We are now almost certain that birds are true dinosaurs, and many species of dinosaurs are not extinct.
from Brad, age 14, Woodville, ON, Canada; May 1, 2001

Shut up, Jordan.
from JOE BOB B., age 10, Menlo Park, ?, ?; May 1, 2001

I am impressed with your knowledge, but I think you all need to play a sport or something
from jordan, age 25, los angelas, ?, ?; May 1, 2001

Were there any people living with the dinosaurs.
from Adrianne, age 12, West Chester, PA, ?; May 1, 2001

Were there any mammals in Eoraptor's environment? I thought it was a bit too early for that.
from Brad, age 14, Fenelon Falls, ON, Canada; May 1, 2001

My scenner is 'broken' too- it always has been, since I tried to install it myself without the instructions. I just used my camera for those pictures.
from Brad, age 14, Fenelon Falls, ON, Canada; May 1, 2001