Dinosaurs - what's the big deal?

It's all part of learning and having an enquiring mind.

What's wrong with a zebra? Nothing whatsoever and there is more than one species and sub-species of zebra but obviously there is less to learn about them than there is about dinosaurs.

Learning about evolution and the earth's history is fascinating - in fact there is quite a lot you can learn about dinosaurs that could be relevant today. Why and how did some survive catastrophic climate change?

Don't discourage them, petitpois

It is queer, Petispois. I am old enough to have seen pics and info about dinosaurs only in the old Arthur Mee Children's Encyclopaedia. I was fascinated by them and learned their names. My interest was not shared by anyone else that I can remember.

I think that I found dinosaurs horrifically exciting. I was also fascinated and horrified by the photograph in the same old books of
that classical statue of the man with his little sons being squashed by a huge snake.

How I agree with Princesspamma. My Geology group spent yesterday at Kimmeridge in Dorset and were shown round the recently opened Etches Fossil Collection by Steve Etches. It was brilliant and I thoroughlt recommend a visit for anyone who loves dinosaurs & fossils, and dor those who don’t yet. (There’s also a great restaurant/cafe opposite if you can’t bring yourself to go in.) Steve is one of the many amateur fosail hunters who have, by their regular searching and recording contributed so much and also find new species. They help a wide range of scientists - evolutionary biologists, climate change scientists, ecologists etc. One crocodile fossil had been renoved for a study on hearing. The display included ammonite eggs (similar to present day cuttlefish eggs) and Darwin’s missing link barnacle.
Then today we viaited Old Forge Fossils in Charmouth and talked to the guy on David Attenburgh’s recent programme who discovered a large part of a new species of ichthyosaurus, before seeing the actual fossil in the Charmouth Heritage Centre (free entry) by the beach. My only disappointment was there were no Dippy on Tour tickets left at Dorchester Museum.

Much of the attraction of dinosaurs is that so many of them were so BIG, and scaly and like nothing in the world now. They are scary and many children enjoy the scariness of them, while knowing they are completely safe because they do not exist now.

Dinosaurs occur on so many children's clothes etc because shops know these will sell. If they tried promoting clothes. toys, books with pictures of wasps on them, I doubt many would sell.

My dgd loves dinosaus too and she is fascinated by mummies she has a toy pyramid filled with mummied. Her ma used to watch jurasic park and i have memories of wasting a good cotton sheet dressing her ad s mummy. These things come around every genrstion

I also think young children enjoy looking at scarey things, hearing scarey stories etc.I,m not sure why though. One of my children , aged 5-6, and her friends used to dare eachother to walk through the cemetery to challenge the "ghosts".
I was watching a programme about Longleat earlier and the rhinos looked like dinosaurs.

My sister told my 8 year old grandson ( in all seriousness ) that dinosaurs were “ about the same age as Jesus” .

“Oh I don’t think so auntie d” he said “there wasn’t a T Rex in the stable with the cows and the lambs” .

He then proceeded to do his best T Rex impression complete with “ I bring you gold, I bring you frankincense, I bring you a T Rex”

We’ve never let her live it down .

Hi little pea! I think the fascination with dinosaurs is nothing new. I remember my son, now in his 40s, learning a poem at infant school - Hocus Pocus I'm a diplodocus etc. Over the years he has maintained an avid interest in fossils, amber, ancient civilisations - his imagination was stirred by the idea of creatures roaming the planet so long ago. I still feel quite excited myself if a find an ammonite or 'devil's toe nail' on the beach!