In his amusing new book “My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, And Our Favorite Dinosaurs”, writer Brian Switek shatters myths and childhood memories with the latest in dinosaur science. Lots of renaming and reimagining gets reported but one idea in particular caught my attention. Switek takes the creatures that we call dinosaurs (T.rex & Friends) and calls them “non-avian” dinosaurs. Meaning, today’s birds are not just related to the stars of Jurassic Park, they’re bona fide dinos themselves! Stay tuned for more details in a future post but…hey, why the duck is my coffee cup jiggling so badly?! What is that loud, thumping…what the…arrrrrghhhhhhh…….
Copyright 2013, Lori Fontanes (gulp!)
What the Ducks! 
Scientists are discovering so many bird fossils much older than they expected to find that they are having to rewrite the science books completely. No matter how many times this happens, and it happens a lot in every branch of science, scientists tend to be adamant that what they say today is the way it was, until they discover the next thing that forces them to start over again. What we know about this planet is like a thimble of water when compared to the planet’s oceans.
You’re right–science is more fluid than I think we realize. Or the world is. Or both!
They don’t seem too dangerous. It must be their disguise. 🙂
Yeah, remember how cute velociraptors looked at first… 😉