Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Dougal Dixon's Dinosaurs 12 New Dinosaur Discoveries and More Feathers Than Ever by Dougal Dixon What are some books explaining dinosaurs evolution and extinction? The question of dinosaur evolution and extinction has been addressed in numerous books. The following are some examples the reader might want to check out: Alvarez, Walter. T. rex and the Crater of Doom. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1997. This is the classic work by the man who began the dinosaur extinction controversy by suggesting a link between a certain type of rock and the extinction of the dinosaurs. Bakker, R.T. Dinosaur Heresies: New Theories Unlocking the Mystery of the Dinosaurs and Their Extinction. Reprint. New York: Kensington Publishing, 1996. Another classic dinosaur book that dispels common misconceptions about dinosaurs, presenting new evidence that the creatures were warm-blooded, agile, and intelligent. Larson, Pedro, and Kenneth Carpenter, eds. Tyrannosaurus Rex, The Tyrant King. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2008. Covers the most famous of dinosaurs, with a CD included. Long, John, and Peter Schouten. Feathered Dinosaurs: The Origin of Birds. Oxford University Press, 2008. All youve ever wanted to know about the controversial subject of bird origins. Poinar, George, and Roberta Poinar. What Bugged the Dinosaurs?: Insects, Disease, and Death in the Cretaceous. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2008. The authors offer evidence of how insects directly and indirectly contributed to the dinosaurs demise. Are there any books about dinosaur expeditions and paleontologists? There are numerous books describing exciting dinosaur expeditions and the fascinating scientists in the field of paleontology. The following is a representative sampling of the books on these subjects: Colbert, Edwin H. The Great Dinosaur Hunters and Their Discoveries. Reprint. New York: Dover Publications, 1984. Includes chapters on first discoveries, skeletons in the earth, two evolutionary streams, the oldest dinosaurs, Jurassic giants of the western world, Canadian dinosaurs, and Asiatic dinosaurs. Doescher, Rex A., ed. Directory of Paleontologists of the World, 5th ed. Lawrence, Kansas: International Palaeontological Association, 1989. Lists more than 7,000 paleontologists by name, office address, area of specialization or interest, and affiliation. There are numerous resources available for the amateur paleontologist to learn about discovering his or her own fossils, as well as university and other programs that train people to assist on digs without needing an advanced degree (Big Stock Photo). Horner, John R. Dinosaurs under the Big Sky. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing, 2003. World-famous paleontologist John Horners book about his knowledge of Montanas dinosaurs and geology. Jacobs, Louis L. Quest for the African Dinosaurs: Ancient Roots of the Modern World. New York: Villard Books, 1993. After discovering a major fossil site in Malawi (Africa), Jacobs and his team went on to identify 13 kinds of vertebrate animals that give a window into the world of this part of Africa one hundred million years ago. Manning, Phillip. Dinomummy: The Life, Death, and Discovery of Dakota, a Dinosaur from Hell Creek. New York: Kingfisher, 2007. The story of the most amazing mummified dinosaur ever found from the Hell Creek formation in North Dakota aptly dubbed Dakota. Novacek, Michael. Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs. Illustrated by Ed Heck. New York: Anchor Books/Doubleday, 1996. Chronicles the groundbreaking discoveries made by one of the largest dinosaur expeditions of the late twentieth century. Psihoyos, Louie, and John Knoebber. Hunting Dinosaurs. New York: Random House, 1994. This book recounts the experiences of paleontologists who have scoured remote lands in search of dinosaur fossils, with full-color photos, charts, and maps. Are there any dinosaur books that are suitable for children and families? There are a large number of books that are suitable for the whole family and children of all ages. The following is a listing of some of these books: Bergen, David. Life-Size Dinosaurs. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2004. If you want to see the size comparison of dinosaurs with what we know today, try checking out the illustrations in this middle-reader book. Chaneski, John. Dinosaur Word Search. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2004. If you ever wondered how to pronounce some of those dinosaur names, this is the book for you. Dixon, Dougal. Dougal Dixons Amazing Dinosaurs: More Feathers, More Claws. Big Horns, Wide Jaws! Boyds Mills Press, 2007. One of many Dougal Dixon dinosaur books for kids look for several others, too. Johnson, Jay. Dinosaurs. Learning Horizons, 2005. A book about dinosaurs for ages five through eight. Malan, John, and Steve Parker. Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003. A book that introduces the young reader to 250 different ancient species. Norman, David. Eyewitness Dinosaur. New York: DK Publishing, 2008. One of many David Norman books this one is heavily illustrated with a CD and wall chart. Parker, Steve. Dinosaurs and How They Lived. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2004. A hundred facts with artwork about the dinosaurs for young readers. Stevenson, Jay, and George R. McGhee. The Complete Idiots Guide to Dinosaurs. Alpha Books, 1998. Although somewhat dated, the book offers a guide to dinosaurs, including descriptions of more than 300 known species. The New Dinosaurs. The New Dinosaurs: An Alternative Evolution is a 1988 speculative evolution book written by Scottish geologist Dougal Dixon and illustrated by several illustrators including Amanda Barlow, Peter Barrett, John Butler, Jeane Colville, Anthony Duke, Andy Farmer, Lee Gibbons, Steve Holden, Philip Hood, Martin Knowelden, Sean Milne, Denys Ovenden and Joyce Tuhill. [1] The book also features a foreword by Desmond Morris. The New Dinosaurs explores a hypothetical alternate Earth, complete with animals and ecosystems, where the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event never occurred, leaving non-avian dinosaurs and other Mesozoic animals an additional 65 million years to evolve and adapt over the course of the Cenozoic to the present day. Contents. Summary Development Reception Legacy References. The New Dinosaurs is Dixon's second work on speculative evolution, following After Man (1981), which explored the animals of a hypothetical world 50 million years in the future where humanity had gone extinct. After Man used a fictional setting and hypothetical animals to explain the natural processes behind evolution whilst The New Dinosaurs uses its own fictional setting and hypothetical wildlife to explain the concept of zoogeography and biogeographic realms. It was followed by another speculative evolution work by Dixon in 1990, Man After Man , which focused on climate change over the next few million years through the eyes of future human species genetically engineered to adapt to it. [2] Some of Dougal Dixon's hypothetical dinosaurs bear a coincidental resemblance to dinosaurs that were discovered after the book's publication. As a general example, many of Dixon's fictional dinosaurs are depicted with feathers, something that was not yet widely accepted when the book was written. [2] [3] Summary. The New Dinosaurs explores an imagined alternate version of the present-day Earth as Dixon imagines it would have been if the Cretaceous- Paleogene extinction event had never occurred. As in Dixon's previous work, After Man , ecology and evolutionary theory are applied to create believable creatures, all of which have their own binomial names and text describing their behaviour and interactions with other contemporary animals. Most of these animals represent surviving dinosaurs, pterosaurs and plesiosaurs, which Dixon discusses through biogeographic realms, divisions of the Earth's land surface based on distributional patterns of animals and other lifeforms. In total, about sixty animals are described in the book, about half of the amount featured in After Man , with examples including a widespread group of tree-climbing coelurosaurian theropods called "arbrosaurs", huge striding and terrestrial pterosaurs such as the giraffe-like "lank", colonial pachycephalosaurs, descendants of the Mesozoic hadrosaurs called "sprintosaurs" adapted to a new lifestyle on the grass-covered plains of North America, amphibious hypsilophodonts, flamingo-like coelurosaurs and iguanodonts capable of jumping like kangaroos. In the far north, large migratory birds such as the "tromble" with legs almost like tree trunks, roam the land. In terms of predators, the coelurosaurs dominate in terms of number and diversity, often having unique adaptations. For instance, the apex predator of the South American pampas, the coelurosaurian "cutlasstooth", has evolved huge, cutting teeth to allow it to prey upon large sauropods. The pampas is also home to the last of the tyrannosaurids, the large scavenging "gourmand". There are also various dromaeosaurids, including the "jinx", adapted to mimic larger herbivorous dinosaurs through scent and appearance. The world's oceans are home to various pterosaurs, such as seagull-like and penguin-like forms. There is also the "whulk", a massive whale-like pliosaur that feeds exclusively on plankton. The "kraken", an enormous ammonite, uses specialized tentacles to entangle and sting anything that comes near it. Development. Following the success of his previous speculative evolution book After Man in 1981, Dixon realized that there was a market for popular-level books which use fictional examples and settings to explain actual factual scientific processes. After Man had explained the process of evolution by creating a complex hypothetical future ecosystem, The New Dinosaurs was instead aimed at creating a book on zoogeography, a subject the general public was quite unfamiliar with, by using a fictional world in which the non-avian dinosaurs had not gone extinct to explain the process. [2] The dinosaurs and other animals in The New Dinosaurs were heavily influenced by the paleontology of its time. The ideas of the Dinosaur Renaissance – replacing the older ideas of dinosaurs as dumb and slow creatures with active, agile and bird-like animals – are heavily used in the book. [3] Dixon extrapolated on the ideas of paleontologists such as Robert Bakker and Gregory S. Paul when creating his creatures and also used patterns seen in the actual evolutionary history of the dinosaurs and pushing them to an extreme, such as with the creation of the "gourmand", an armless and massive scavenger descended from the tyrannosaurids. [2] Reception. Like its predecessor After Man , The New Dinosaurs garnered positive reviews from critics. William F. Allman, writing for the U.S. News and World Report , praised the fact that Dixon had extrapolated his designs from real dinosaur ancestors and concluded that although whimsical at times, most dinosaur researchers would agree with the book insofar that had the asteroid that brought their extinction not hit the planet, dinosaurs would probably dominate the planet to this day. Reviews in Smithsonian , School Library Journal and Booklist were also positive, with reviewers calling the book an "alternative history of the world" and a "quintessential 'what if' book for dinosaur enthusiasts". [4] Many of the animals featured in the book were criticized by paleontologists and science writers, particularly in that so many of the animals are entirely convergent with actual modern day animals. In this capacity, the "lank", a four-legged, terrestrial and grazing pterosaur derived from the Cretaceous family Azhdarchidae, has been seen by some writers as perhaps the worst offender. In a 1990 review of the book, researcher Gregory S. Paul called the creature "perhaps the worst beast in the book" and "unbelievable", pointing out that he thought it was infeasible that pterosaurs would evolve into giraffe-like animals before the more dominant and already terrestrial dinosaurs. In 1992, researcher David Unwin echoed the same sentiment, viewing four-legged and grass-eating pterosaurs as highly unlikely. In 2008, British paleontologist and science writer Darren Naish offered a more redeeming look at the animal, pointing out that if pterosaurs were to become terrestrial, azhdarchids were the most likely group to do so and that azhdarchids would have used a gait similar to that of giraffes when walking. Paul, Unwin and Naish all pointed out that the sheer diversity seen in pterosaurs within the book is somewhat unlikely as the group was low in diversity at the point of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event, the azhdarchids being the only living group. Paul even went on to state that he considered pterosaurs surviving into the Cenozoic "doubtful" even if the extinction event had not happened. [5] Legacy. Many of the hypothetical animals created for The New Dinosaurs ended up resembling actual Mesozoic creatures that have since been discovered. [3] Many of the hypothetical dinosaurs featured in the book are covered in fuzzy integument, which in modern times have been discovered in dinosaurs of most groups. The tree-climbing arbrosaurs are similar to actual tree-climbing small theropods such as Microraptor (described in 2000) and the large terrestrial pterosaurs, such as the aforementioned "lank", resemble some animals in the actual pterosaur group Azhdarchidae. [2] Peter Jackson's 2005 film King Kong featured a complete ecosystem populated with descendants of Mesozoic animals. The designers of these animals (Weta Workshop) were inspired by Dixon's works, in particular The New Dinosaurs . [6] In 2008, The New Dinosaurs was adapted into a Japanese manga series by Tokyo-based company Diamond. [4] Related Research Articles. The Mesozoic Era is an interval of geological time from about 252 to 66 million years ago . It is also called the Age of Reptiles and the Age of Conifers . The Phanerozoic Eon is the current geologic eon in the geologic time scale, and the one during which abundant animal and plant life has existed. It covers 541 million years to the present, and it began with the Cambrian Period when animals first developed hard shells preserved in the fossil record. The time before the Phanerozoic, called the Precambrian , is now divided into the Hadean, Archaean and Proterozoic eons. Pterosaurs were flying reptiles of the extinct clade or order Pterosauria . They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous. Pterosaurs are the earliest vertebrates known to have evolved powered flight. Their wings were formed by a membrane of skin, muscle, and other tissues stretching from the ankles to a dramatically lengthened fourth finger. Quetzalcoatlus is a pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous of North America and one of the biggest known flying animals of all time. It is a member of the family Azhdarchidae, a family of advanced toothless pterosaurs with unusually long, stiffened necks. Its name comes from the Aztec feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl. The type and only species is Q. northropi . The Late Cretaceous is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous geological period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series. The Cretaceous is named after the white limestone known as chalk which occurs widely in northern France and is seen in the white cliffs of south-eastern England, and which dates from this time. After Man: A Zoology of the Future is a 1981 speculative evolution book written by Scottish geologist Dougal Dixon and illustrated by several illustrators including Diz Wallis, John Butler, Brian McIntyre, Philip Hood, Roy Woodard and Gary Marsh. The book also features a foreword by Desmond Morris. After Man explores a hypothetical future set 50 million years from now, a time period Dixon dubs the "Posthomic", which is inhabited by animals that have evolved from survivors of a mass extinction succeeding our own time. Dougal Dixon is a Scottish palaeontologist, geologist, educator and author. As a science writer, Dixon has written more than 210 books, most of them about dinosaurs. These dinosaur books, many of them for children, have been credited with attracting many to the study of the prehistoric animals and have won Dixon several awards. The Maastrichtian is, in the ICS geologic timescale, the latest age of the Late Cretaceous epoch or Upper Cretaceous series, the Cretaceous period or system, and of the Mesozoic era or erathem. It spanned the interval from 72.1 to 66 million years ago . The Maastrichtian was preceded by the Campanian and succeeded by the Danian. Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future is a 1990 speculative evolution and science fiction book written by Scottish geologist Dougal Dixon and illustrated by Philip Hood. The book also features a foreword by Brian Aldiss. Man After Man explores a hypothetical future path of human evolution set from 200 years in the future to 5 million years in the future, with several future human species evolving through genetic engineering and natural means through the course of the book. Dr. Darren Naish is a British vertebrate palaeontologist, author and science communicator. As a researcher, he is best known for his work describing and reevaluating dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles, including Eotyrannus , Xenoposeidon , and Azhdarchid pterosaurs. Much of his research has focused on Wealden Group fossils from the Isle of Wight. He is founder of the vertebrate palaeozoology blog Tetrapod Zoology, and has written several popular science books. Naish also makes frequent media appearances and is a scientific consultant and advisor for film, television, museums and exhibitions. Naish is also known for his skepticism and work examining cryptozoology and sea monster sightings and beliefs from a scientific perspective. Azhdarchidae is a family of pterosaurs known primarily from the late Cretaceous Period, though an isolated vertebra apparently from an azhdarchid is known from the early Cretaceous as well. Azhdarchids included some of the largest-known flying animals of all time, but smaller cat- size members have also been found. Originally considered a sub-family of Pteranodontidae, Nesov (1984) named the azhdarchinae to include the pterosaurs Azhdarcho , Quetzalcoatlus , and "Titanopteryx". They were among the last known surviving members of the pterosaurs, and were a rather successful group with a worldwide distribution. By the time of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, most pterosaur families except for the Azhdarchidae disappear from the fossil record, but recent studies indicate a wealth in pterosaurian faunas, including pteranodontids, nyctosaurids, tapejarids and several indeterminate forms. In several analyses, some taxa such as Navajodactylus , Bakonydraco and Montanazhdarcho were moved from Azhdarchidae to other clades. Azhdarcho is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the late Cretaceous Period of the Bissekty Formation of Uzbekistan, as well as the Zhirkindek Formation of Kazakhstan. It is known from fragmentary remains including the distinctive, elongated neck vertebrae that characterizes members of the family Azhdarchidae, a family that includes many giant pterosaurs such as Quetzalcoatlus . The name Azhdarcho comes from the a dragon-like creature in Persian mythology. The type species is Azhdarcho lancicollis . The specific epithet lancicollis ,(اژدر) Persian word azhdar is derived from the Latin words lancea and collum ("neck"). Hatzegopteryx is a genus of azhdarchid pterosaur found in the late Maastrichtian deposits of the Densuș Ciula Formation, an outcropping in Transylvania, Romania. It is known only from the type species, Hatzegopteryx thambema , named by Buffetaut et al. in 2002 based on parts of the skull and humerus. Additional specimens, including a neck vertebra, were later placed in the genus, representing a range of sizes. The largest of these remains indicate it was among the biggest pterosaurs, with an estimated wingspan of 10 to 12 metres. Nyctosauridae is a family of specialized soaring pterosaurs of the late Cretaceous Period of North America, Africa, and possibly Europe. It was named in 1889 by Henry Alleyne Nicholson and Richard Lydekker. Alanqa is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of what is now the Kem Kem Beds of southeastern Morocco. The .al-‘Anqā’ , for a mythical bird of Arabian culture اﻟﻌﻨﻘﺎء name Alanqa comes from the Arabic word The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to dinosaurs: Gareth John Dyke is a palaeontologist whose work is concerned with the evolutionary history of birds and their dinosaurian relatives. His specific research interests include the phylogenetics of birds, the functional morphology of aves and non-avian dinosaurs, and the palaeoenvironments of fossil vertebrates. Eurazhdarcho is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of what is now the Transylvanian Basin of Romania. Speculative evolution is a genre of speculative fiction and an artistic movement focused on hypothetical scenarios in the evolution of life, and a significant form of fictional biology. It is also known as speculative biology and it is referred to as speculative zoology in regards to hypothetical animals. Works incorporating speculative evolution may have entirely conceptual species that evolve on a planet other than Earth, or they may be an alternate history focused on an alternate evolution of terrestrial life. Speculative evolution is often considered hard science fiction because of its strong connection to and basis in science, particularly biology. Greenworld is a 2010 speculative evolution and science fiction book written by Scottish geologist Dougal Dixon and primarily illustrated by Dixon himself, alongside a few images by other artists. Greenworld has, unlike Dixon's previous works on speculative evolution, only been published in Japan, where it was released in two volumes. The book features a fictional alien planet and a diverse biosphere of alien organisms. The evolution of dinosaur art. A visual history of humans’ depictions of terrible lizards. From the primeval ooze rises an era of dinosaur art of new creativity. Dinosaurs have intrigued the imagination for a long time; they are deadly reminders of a world gone, untouched by humanity. They are depicted in many ways; as monsters, to be scared of; beasts to be tamed; as animals, part of our ecosystem. They fuel our imagination, and inspire us to dream. Dinosaur art is as diverse as the animals themselves, and has evolved alongside people’s understanding of the animals. 1. The primordial reptiles: the mid-19th century. The study of what we recognize as paleontology began in the Enlightenment and post Enlightenment, but the classifications of dinosaurs proper did not begin until the 19th century. Naturally their existence is best understood in the era following Darwin’s On the Origin of Species . This led to the classification of Reptilia and Mammalia, an understanding of evolution, and began what we call today the Bone Wars — a rush of explorers finding these old skeletons. The 19th century perception of dinosaurs was, of course, inaccurate; nonetheless, it holds its own set of assumptions and artistry that still echo and influence today’s art. In the above image is portrayed an Iguanodon and a Megalosaurus locked in combat. Of course everything about their portrayal is erroneous; their skulls, their limbs, dragging tails, the texture and scales, their bizarre proportions. However, it is, of course, easy to ridicule in hindsight; keep in mind this was the first proper study of these creatures, with only some bones. The title of the piece does not refer to evolution, but the Biblical flood; this is an interesting detail. Another detail: as skeletons cannot display fatty cells, it is a correct assumption animals can be as fat as they come without a trace; hence their chubbiness. The illustration of Dryptosaurus above is totally wrong, of course. The theropod has too many fingers, and a completely erroneous posture (also a dumb grin). Elasmosaurus is literally backwards: its head is actually where its tail should be. And below it, the drawing of another Megalosaurus . Thick with fat, with a crocodilian grin, a dragging tail, and almost hippopotamus-like proportions. However, they’re still, to me, riveting images. There’s a mysticism and an occult about these drawings: they imply a knowledge that this is a primeval earth, beyond human knowledge or understanding, leading to rough surroundings, and the surreal environment of all the sketches. The rough seas and dull skies with no sun show a gravitas and a seriousness somewhat ended by the grins of the beasts. But they too are surreal; since it was not known how they were, they almost look like old, mythological depictions of lions: Out of understanding, legendary, old serpent-like monsters. The following eras would have a deeper understanding, and a more naturalistic outlook. 2. The roaring beasts of Knight : the turn of the 20th century. Charles R. Knight, famous paleoartist, took the rough sketches of the past, and gave them style, grace, and color. His primordial beings and landscapes are beautiful, and now mythic. They’re inaccurate, but does it matter? Brontosaurus was not aquatic. Dryptosaurus has too many fingers, and crocodilian scales and ridges; all posture and proportions are way off. But — the art itself is brilliant; Charles R. Knight was responsible for impassioning a generation of scientists to explore the ancient world. Less surreal and mythological than the drawings of before, his art evokes animals and beasts truly alive. They are depicted in the middle of actions, an attack, eating, or swimming. The watercolors are beautiful — they are impressionistic, as per the trend of the era, which causes the animals to stand out even more. Though it remains unrealistic, the Dryptosaurus also showcases the large progress made in the depiction of these animals. Compare it with Cope’s dinosaur of 30 years prior: Knight’s looks much more believable, of course, with the frame of reference that they were indeed lizards, or crocodilian. This depiction of animals in action would inspire more research and more works beyond. “Not since the Lord himself showed his stuff to Ezekiel in the valley of dry bones had anyone shown such grace and skill in the reconstruction of animals from disarticulated skeletons. Charles R. Knight, the most celebrated of artists in the reanimation of fossils, painted all the canonical figures of dinosaurs that fire our fear and imagination to this day. King’s rendition of these animals, the theropods such as Allosaurus specifically, would become so ingrained in the public eye that they would define our perception of these animals for decades to come. The image of the predator — slim, muscular, crocodilian — would be here to stay for a long time. 3. Apocalyptic monsters and moving pictures: the mid 20th century. The art form changed in the mid-20th century: motion pictures became a recognized, established, and mostly respected art form. Of course, this ushered in a new era of dinosaur art in this new medium. Walt Disney’s Fantasia brought drawings dinosaurs to the screen for the first time, to Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”. This portrayal of dinosaurs was clearly in homage to Knight — but now introduces some of the increasingly popular ideas of dinosaurs in this era. One is the popularization of Tyrannosaurus rex as the biggest, baddest of them all. The animals are clear, Disney representations of Knight dinosaurs. Different stylistically due to being cartoons, of course, but in proportion and color, all Knight. (Arguably even more unrealistic — T. rex and Stegosaurus did not live any time near each other, with a difference of millions of years.) But there is a change. The difference is all in the background. Where before we had gentle, natural impressionist water colors of scenery we recognize as nature, the backgrounds are now deadly, surreal, and post-apocalyptic. This depiction came due to increasing evidence of the calamity that would drive these animals extinct. The meteor theory was not as conclusive as it is today: many claimed it was due to the climate. Thus the surroundings are gassy and barren, showing a primeval earth no longer able to sustain life. Live-action portrayals were even more blatantly Knight. Filmmakers and special effects artists such as Ray Harryhausen were not paleoartists or biologists in their own right, per se, but were deeply influenced by the depictions of the past . These dinosaurs are Knight brought to real life — Harryhausen fully respects his homage. This, along with increasing knowledge of science and biology, would pave the way to a renewed interest in paleobiology… 4. The dinosaur renaissance — the late 20th century. Increasing influence, pop culture, and science discovery culminated in an explosive revelation: dinosaurs were not lumbering, slow, and cold- blooded. They are birds’ progenitors. In fact — birds are dinosaurs, and the animals were fast, quick, and incredibly diverse. The dragging tails gone, any lumbering beasts disappeared. Above, we see a dinosaur with a mostly accurate posture — and there’s even a raptor with (a few) feathers! This new explosion of dinosaur discovery affected the media, and particularly films, as never before. They were suddenly everywhere by the late 1980s. “The Land Before Time”, which would become a shockingly long multi-film children’s series, held the old apocalyptic visions of Disney, while attempting to be (slightly) more true to new discoveries (such as the lack of dragging tails, although different era species still cohabit). This led to a marketing rush of dinosaurs for children and families, and soon we had all sorts of dinosaur-related craziness, everywhere in the media. All of this, of course, exploded by the insane popularity of “Jurassic Park” in 1993. The BBC documentary, Walking With Dinosaurs, released in 1998 to great acclaim, was the most expensive documentary ever shot in its time: The fad came and went. Dinosaurs just…slowly, but suddenly, dropped out of popularity. Until now… 5. The postmodern dinosaur: the modern day. We are at the edge of a new dawn. An era of unparalleled dinosaur creativity and potential. We know they not only had feathers, but lots of feathers. We’ve come to realize some of our literally century-long misrepresentation, of muscular, skinny dinosaurs, are inapt. You can’t capture fatty cells in skeletons, so dinosaurs can range in shape. Who knows what colors or combinations they really had? The introduction of feathers raises all sorts of creative potential. Dinosaur paintings are suddenly exploding in quality and popularity, due to the internet. They are no longer exclusively for children, because those children who grew up during the 80s and 90s renaissance suddenly are able to create their own art, using digital tools, easier to disseminate, and to research, than ever. Massive new dinosaur found inside a museum. Nicknamed 'Max', this gentle giant, which measured 30 meters in length and weighed up to 15 tons, would have been capable of stripping entire branches from trees with its huge peg-like teeth. Dating back more than 150 million years, the species was very similar to Diplodocus with its long whip-like tail, long neck, small head and four huge pillar-like legs. Officially known as Galeamopus pabsti, the dinosaur was discovered after experts realized that a specimen held for years at a museum in Switzerland actually belonged to a new species. "Diplodocids are among the best known sauropod dinosaurs," said Dr Emanuel Tschopp, a palaeontologist from the University of Turin. "Numerous specimens of currently 15 accepted species belonging to ten genera have been reported from the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous." "The highest diversity is known from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of the western United States: a recent review recognised 12 valid, named species, and possibly three additional, yet unnamed ones." The Dinosaurs That Never Were. If the non-avian dinosaurs hadn’t died out 65 million years ago, what would they look like today? In Slate’s recent poll for 2011′s “Question of the Year,” dinosaurs came in third. “Why are smart people usually ugly?” was the winner. Spoiler: the answer is, “they’re not.” But my favorite Mesozoic archosaurs were respectable runners-up with the question: “Let’s say that a meteor never hits the earth, and dinosaurs continue evolving over all the years human beings have grown into what we are today. What would they be like?” There is an easy answer for this. Dinosaurs truly did survive the end-Cretaceous extinction and continued to evolve. Birds, the descendants of one lineage of feathered maniraptorans, carry on the dinosaurian legacy. But I imagine this isn’t what the reader who posed the question had in mind. Birds seem categorically different from the collection of impressive, non-avian dinosaurs that roamed the planet prior to 65.5 million years ago. Had Tyrannosaurus , Triceratops and their ilk been given an indefinite stay of execution, what would their descendants look like? Pondering the form of future dinosaurs has been a long tradition in paleontology. Charles Lyell, one of the 19th century founders of modern geology, thought that the progression of life through time was so closely tied to certain climatic conditions, in turn created by geological changes to the continents, that one day habitats appropriate for prehistoric organisms might reappear. At some future time, Iguanodon , Megalosaurus and others might return to lush, primordial forests created by a replay of Mesozoic conditions. Early 20th-century paleontologist William Diller Matthew suggested a different path by which dinosaurs might return. If mammals suddenly disappeared, today’s lizards, turtles and crocodiles might evolve into dinosaur-like creatures. Naturalist John Burroughs disagreed. “Does not the evolutionary impulse run its course? Can or will it repeat itself?” he asked, and he pointed out that evolution does not run according to pre- determined pathways. Even if reptiles someday rise to dominance, we would expect the descendants of modern forms to be distinct creatures substantially different than anything that has come before. It is not as if there is some vacant “dinosaur niche” in the evolutionary ether that reptiles will fill as soon as they get the chance. Of course, paleontologists batted around these ideas before the full catastrophic magnitude of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction was discovered. The more we learn, the more mysterious the disappearance of the non-avian dinosaurs becomes—how could such a widespread, disparate and successful group be driven to extinction in a geologic instant? Dinosaurs showed no sign of slipping into evolutionary irrelevance or becoming outmoded, as was the traditional 20th century belief. They seemed to thrive right until the end. The shift in our understanding of dinosaur extinction—as well as a refreshed image of dinosaurs as highly active, behaviorally complex, intelligent animals—generated at least two different thought experiments. In 1982, paleontologist Dale Russell collaborated with artist Ron Séguin to create the “Dinosauroid,” a speculative vision of what the small and relatively smart deinonychosaur Troodon might look like had the dinosaur survived the mass extinction and continued to evolve. The result was similar to the Sleestaks on The Land of the Lost , or the big-headed alien archetype that is ubiquitous in science fiction. Since Troodon was a relatively brainy dinosaur, and Russell believed that the human body was the optimal physical manifestation of a highly intelligent creature, he molded the dinosaur into humanoid form. But there’s no reason to think that our bodies represent the best possible conveyance for smart organisms. Crows, for one, are exceptionally smart, tool-using birds that demonstrate that dinosaur descendants evolved a high degree of intelligence in a body quite different from our own. If dinosauroids evolved at all, they would probably look like the raptor-like, feather-covered beings envisioned by artist Nemo Ramjet. Dougal Dixon considered a similar idea in 1988 in his book The New Dinosaurs , although he entirely canceled the Cretaceous extinction and played with a wider variety of dinosaurs. Published before paleontologists confirmed that many coelurosaurs were covered in feathers, Dixon’s colorful creatures were often coated with fuzz or similar hair-like coatings, and many were cast as counterparts to modern day mammals. The small “Waspeater” was the dinosaur answer to the tamandua, a tree-dwelling anteater, and the tiny “Gestalt” was effectively one of the dome-headed pachycephalosaurs refashioned to be a naked mole rat. A few of Dixon’s dinosaurs maintained the monstrous forms that we adore, though. Dixon’s “Lumber” was effectively a Diplodocus with a short, fleshy trunk—an idea that was actually kicked around and ultimately discarded by paleontologists—and the “Gourmand” was a tyrannosaur that had entirely lost its forelimbs and took the appearance of a giant, two-legged crocodile. Many of Dixon’s speculative animals suffered from the same problem as Russell’s dinosauroid—they were dinosaurs molded to fit the natural history of creatures we see around us today. It is impossible to say whether such creatures might have ever existed had history took a different course. As Stephen Jay Gould pointed out in Wonderful Life , we cannot go back to some critical moment in evolutionary history and “replay life’s tape” to see how nature might be altered. We can be certain of one thing, though—modern dinosaurs would be significantly different than anything we know from the fossil record. As John Burroughs rightly pointed out in his argument with William Diller Matthew, evolution does not proceed along a pre-set course. The major patterns of evolution are not predictable. Contrary to once-popular, non-Darwinian evolutionary mechanisms, there are no internal driving forces that cause evolution to repeat itself or force organisms along ladders of progress toward some ideal type or form. Nor is natural selection so demanding that all lineages are constantly being fashioned into a small handful of forms. The fossil record clearly shows that the big picture of evolution is a fantastically branching bush of diversity and disparity in which chance, contingency and constraint all have significant roles to play. Some lineages will rapidly and drastically change, and others will remain in relative stasis over millions and millions of years. Perhaps some dinosaur lineages, like sauropods, would remain more or less the same, while horned dinosaurs might undergo dramatic changes into something different. After all, 65 million years is about the amount of time that separated Late Triassic dinosaurs like Coelophysis —a small theropod which lived alongside various other wonderful archosaurs before the onset of dinosaur dominance—from Allosaurus , Stegosaurus , Apatosaurus and other titans of the Jurassic. Sixty-five million years is plenty of time for spectacular changes to transpire. How lineages might change is squarely within the realm of speculation. But we can expect that new dinosaur species would continue to evolve, just as they had been since the Late Triassic. Dinosaur species did not last very long—even the longest-lived species were around for only about two million years or so—and if we are working from the premise that dinosaurs would have survived to the present, we would expect to see an entirely different cast of dinosaur species. Some might look familiar, and others might be entirely alien to us, but all the surviving dinosaurs would be different from their Cretaceous ancestors. This is why I’ll be watching Pixar’s upcoming dinosaur film with interest. The film fleshes out the premise that I’ve been prattling on about, although, in the animated fantasy, the dinosaurs live alongside humans. (That’s fine for the movies, but, had non-avian dinosaurs actually survived, mammal evolutionary history would have been severely altered. If the end-Cretaceous extinction was canceled, our species would not have evolved to debate the question of what would have happened in alternate timelines.) I hope that Pixar fashions a new dinosaur cast. Tyrannosaurus , Barosaurus , Centrosaurus and Edmontosaurus do not belong in the alternate present. They would have disappeared long ago, ultimately replaced by different genera and species. Even if we can’t know how non-avian dinosaurs changed during the past 65 million years, we should at least recognize that the survivors would have undoubtedly evolved into new species, and new species would have branched off from those, and so on and so on until the present day. So, to answer Slate’s question, we don’t know what dinosaurs would be like. All we know for sure is that at least one variety of dinosaurs is still here, and that’s a wonderful thing. About Riley Black. Riley Black is a freelance science writer specializing in evolution, paleontology and natural history who blogs regularly for Scientific American .