The Dinosaur Renaissance
They are still with us
The dinosaur Renaissance occurred much like the historical
Renaissance: people began to question traditional views, scientists investigated
using new methods and technology and artists brought the scientific discoveries
to the public. Bakker is one of the leaders of the Dinosaur Renaissance movement.
His book, The Dinosaur Heresies, calls into question all of the former
beliefs of dinosaurs, from their swamp existence to their slow sedentary lifestyle.
Bakker claimed that the history of the dinosaur was "tainted
by extinction". (15) (How is it impossible for a successful creature to
have gone extinct?) Bakker, and others who readily joined his view, argued that
the dinosaurs were warm-blooded relatives of birds, who were so successful that,
even despite a cataclysmic asteroid strike, they are still with us today. Bakker's
gift for illustration brought his controversial new ideas into the public light
and changed cultural perceptions of the dinosaur forever. For the first time,
people saw the dinosaur as an active pack hunter, caring mother, and bird-postured
animal unlike another. This is all thanks to Bakker's ideas, new technology
in the field and discoveries in Asia and South America.
To explore the areas in which the dinosaur is changing, click
on the page links (left) or read the summaries of each page (below)
Long standing views of the dinosaur as a swamp creature are
being abolished as more and more evidence surfaces that they were creatures
of the plains and forests. Closer looks at dinosaur bone structure have led
to the reconstruction of most skeletons, including those in the Museum of Natural
History in New York, which has one of the largest dinosaur displays in the world.
Computer simulations are giving us a more accurate idea of how huge animals
like Apatosaurus could support themselves and move. Discoveries of feathered
dinosaurs and proto-birds in China are making the bird-dinosaur link an accepted
fact instead of simply a theory.
The view of the dinosaur as a solitary creature is also vanishing
quickly. Although Marsh and Cope often found several similar skeletons together,
this early evidence of herding was dismissed until more recent dinosaur tracks
were found in Texas and Alberta Canada. Mass graves as well as community nests
are causing scientists to rethink many of their old views on dinosaur behavior.
It is now believed that dinosaurs traveled and even hunted in herds. They also
nested communally, laying their eggs and protecting their young. CT scans of
a dinosaur skull suggest that some dinosaurs communicated with each other by
calls resonated through fancy crests on their heads. The idea of herds, caring
dinosaur mothers and complex communication shatters orthodox beliefs in slow
and stupid reptiles.
Our cultural views of the dinosaur have also changed. It is
no longer safely extinct, but now it is recreated for us through movies like
"Jurassic Park" and "The Lost World". The miracle of cloning
makes the dinosaur the final challenge and the ultimate frontier for human creation.
The sheer reality of the dinosaur frightens us today, as does the possibility
of its re-creation. Although the dinosaur is becoming more and more real to
us today, it also inhabits the realm of fantasy. James Gurney's Dinotopia
series portrays dinosaurs and humans living in a harmonious coexistence. His
colorful illustrations preserve the fantasy and wonder of the dinosaur for children
yet to come.
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