Scientific Sepculation

In a thought experiment published in 1982, paleontologist Dale Russell, curator of vertebrate fossils at the National Museum of Canada in Ottawa, conjectured that, had the Chicxulub meteorite not exterminated the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, bipedal predators (theropods) which existed at that time, such as Troodon, would have evolved into intelligent beings similar in body plan to humans. Troodontids had semi-manipulative fingers, able to grasp and hold objects to a certain degree, and binocular vision. Like most dinosaurs of the troodontid family, this imaginary creature, which Russell called the "Dinosauroid", would have had large eyes and three fingers on each hand, one of which would have been partially opposed. As with most modern reptiles (and birds), its genitalia would have been internal. Russell speculated that it would have required a navel, as a placenta aids the development of a large brain case, however it would not have possessed mammary glands, and would have fed its young, as birds do, on regurgitated food. Its language would have sounded somewhat like bird song. Russell's fanciful speculation has been met with criticism from other paleontologists since the 1980s, many of whom point out that Russell's Dinosauroid is overly anthropomorphic. Gregory S. Paul (1988) and Thomas R. Holtz Jr., consider it "suspiciously human" (Paul, 1988) and argue that a large-brained, highly intelligent troodontid would retain a more standard theropod body plan, with a horizontal posture and long tail, and would probably manipulate objects with the snout and feet in the manner of a bird, rather than with human-like "hands". Darren Naish (2006) pointed to the ground hornbill as a better model for an intelligent dinosaur. Artists have used these new approaches to the original thought experiment to re-interpret the Dinosauroid, going so far as to create "Dinosauroid cave art", which depicts sentient, tool-using troodontids and other dinosaurs and pterosaurs, painted using sticks and feathers. 

SOURCE: http://www.skepticworld.com/cryptozoology/reptilians.asp
 

The Return of The Dinosauroid Man
Wednesday, December 14, 2005

I’m busy working at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Gatineau, Quebec, this week, and I’ll be doing a few postings of some of interesting sights in and around the collections, including a phenomenal computer animation of the Chasmosaurus irvinensis skeleton… but more on that later.

For now, some photos of Dale Russell’s ‘Dinosauroid Man’ (above) currently tucked away in one of the hallways of the Museum. Most people only know of this model as fodder of the supermarket rags, but Dale actually had the model built and wrote a ‘thought experiment’ paper to speculate on the direction that dinosaur evolution might have gone if the ‘brainiest’ small theropod, Troodon, (at the bottom) had of continued to evolve to man-like proportions.

When Dale Russell later wrote his wonderful book, An Odyssey in Time: The Dinosaurs of North America, the artist Eli Kish did some excellent paintings of a number of the well-known dinosaurs of Alberta. Before she started each painting she built a small maquete of each dino which she then based her artistic recreation on. These models are now curated at in the CMN collections and I’ll be posting some photos on these later in the week. Of interest to readers of this blog is that Kish also did at least one beautiful painting of a family of ‘dinosauroids’ that was to be included in the book but was excluded at the last minute. I remember seeing the painting about 15 years ago, but as far as I know it’s never been published anywhere. These are the maquetes she used for her painting, the tallest being about 12 inches high. 

SOURCE:  PALAEOBLOG by Michael J. Ryan, Ph.D.

A hypothetical look at how dinosaurs could have evolved into sophistocated dinosauroids had the meteoroid not wiped them off the planet. Brilliant video from BBC show Horizon - My Pet Dinosaur. Watch more high quality videos from YouTube channel Explore with BBC Worldwide here: http://www.youtube.com/BBCExplore

• Intelligent Dinosaurs - David Darling
• Troodon sapiens?: Thoughts on the "Dinosauroid" - October 23, 2007 - by Brian Switek
• "Dinosauroids Revisited" - Tetrapod Zoology [Blog], November 02, 2006 - Darren Naish
• Speculations on the Evolution of Intelligence in Multicellular Organisms - Dale A. Russell - NASA CP-2156 Life In The Universe - (Archived)
• The Return of The Dinosauroid Man - December 14, 2005 - Michael J. Ryan, Ph.D.
• Reconstruction of the small Cretaceous theropod Stenonychosaurus inequalis and a hypothetical dinosauroid. Syllogeus 37, 1-43. - Russell, D. A., & Séguin, R 1982.  - (N/A)

Silurian period 443.7 - 416 million years ago

Mean atmospheric O2 content over period duration  ca. 14 Vol % (70 % of modern level)
Mean atmospheric CO2 content over period duration  ca. 4500 ppm (16 times pre-industrial level)
Mean surface temperature over period duration  ca. 17 °C  (3 °C above modern level)
Sea level (above present day)  Around 180m, with short-term negative excursions

The Silurian is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Ordovician period, about 443.7 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago), to the beginning of the Devonian period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Ma (ICS, 2004). As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the exact dates are uncertain by several million years. The base of the Silurian is set at a major extinction event when 60% of marine species were wiped out. See Ordovician-Silurian extinction events