Thinking About: Dinosaurs 

If you’re anything like me (but then again who is?) you’ll have a favourite dinosaur. When I was growing up, maybe around 9 or 10, I had a plastic model Stegosaurus that I’d put together. I really loved that guy. For some reason I painted it pink with, if memory serves, grey top ‘fins’. I can only imagine I did that through basic ignorance coupled with the fact that those colours might have been the only ones available to me at the time. For some reason, a movie appearance maybe, my love of all things land-based dino shifted from the Stegosaurus to the Triceratops where it has remained to this day. Much, much later the original movie Jurassic Park introduced the world to the cool Velociraptors – although as I understand it MUCH bigger than the real ones – and, of course, the half-blind T-Rex (yeah, right) - but neither of these impressive creatures shifted my admiration of the humble Triceratops. 

Typically, I split my favourite dino’s into Land, Sea and Air (because it's me and I can). Aquatic dinosaurs are very cool, you could even say mega-cool, in part because of their size. Having all that water around to support your weight made gaining said weight quite easy, just ask the whales while they’re still around. In this category I have a favourite and an almost favourite which, growing up, occasionally flipped places. My favourite is the Plesiosaur – just think the standard idea of the Loch Ness Monster – with its LONG bendy neck and impressive paddle ‘feet’. My almost favourite runner-up is the more fish/dolphin like Ichthyosaur with the impressive line of teeth and equally impressive name.  

Moving into the air my initial favourite was the Pterosaur, a kind of living glider with a BIG beak and equally big crest to compensate. Who couldn’t love that ugly mug... Things, and love affairs move on however, and these days my heart is all for the poetically tongue twistingly named Archaeopteryx. I can certainly see why it was seen as a fake, having bird and reptile elements but I think it's a pretty cool creature and, if such things ever became possible (for real, rather than the fake versions being talked about today – and showcased in Jurassic Park) and they could actually bring such a creature back I’d definitely have one (or two) as pets. They’d certainly keep the rodent population down if released into the wild! 

So.... Do you have a favourite dinosaur or are you a normal sane person?