Dinosaurs - what's the big deal?

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!

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 .

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 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

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.

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.

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.

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

I still have my boys box of dinosaurs which my grandchildren also enjoy playing with.

My son is 45 and has always been interested in dinosaurs since childhood...he was never frightened of them and many of his school projects included them. He always had an enquiring mind which is why he is a journalist now. Don't knock it embrace the fact that children are interested in something other than celebrity!

I completely get it, I remember my parents taking us to the Natural History Museum and being fascinated by the diplodocus skeleton, not having the knowledge that my son had when I took him years later, I thought that it would have been fearsome and savage rather than a passive grazing creature. My son went through quite a long love affair with dinosaurs and educated me on the different species. I think some of the Jurassic Park films hightened that interest. Nevertheless I do find the fact that there were these very different forms of life on earth millions of years ago and for whatever reason died out interesting, and their very existance ought to disprove the creationist theory, but doesn't seem to

Suspect....appealing. ..I should preview b4 posting!

I susoect the particular thing about little boys particularly and dinosaurs is twofold - firstly they are scary monsters which is always appalling, and secondly they have really exciting-sounding names that grownups can't seem to learn, so it gives a sense of power! I do have to take issue with OP's assertion that 'Unless you become a palaeontologist, there's precious little you can learn about them that is relevant today'....I am a geologist so that is the worst heresy to me!! What these skeletons tell us is more about how species evolve, how niches are exploited, what it is to be warm- or cold-blooded.....also the sediments in which we find them plus the state of preservation and the spatial dispersion of the bones gives information about the environment, possible cause of death and post-mortem predation. It horrifies me to hear someone say that fossils have no relevance to non-academics. Even if for most people they have little appeal, they spark the imagination of children.....surely this is of supreme relevance. ....or would you prefer your grandchildren to be dullards incapable of independent thought?

Just watching Jurrasic world so I can understand his fascination in them

The dinosaurs lived on earth for millions of years which is probably much longer than the human race will survive so they could prove to be this planet's most successful species. They are fascinating and should be respected and if it wasn't for natural catastrophes they could still be here. Humans, who supposedly have greater intelligence, will probably wipe themselves out either by war or overpopulation.

Have just ordered tickets to see 'Dippy' who is touring the country.....a life-size dinosaurs. We will take our little 4 year old GD and cannot wait for her to stand next to this HUGE chap. I think that she will certainly have a wow moment and lets be honest we have to grab those moments when we can. Anyway, Grandma here wants to meet Dippy too and please don't ask me what kind of dinosaurs he is, just to say he is one of those ......saurs

There is money behind every marketing ploy.
Pugs in tiaras, unicorns, and so on. Ugh!

You can buy dinosaur cake moulds in Lakeland.

They are an intriguing part of Earth's history, however, perhaps the modern 'obsession' with them started with Jurassic Park.

Forgive me for being cynical but I believe there is money behind this dinosaur obsession. Huge marketing opportunities were spotted and are now being exploited. My grandson has dinosaur pyjamas, T-shirts, plates and mugs, a rucksack and a box full of plastic dinosaurs.
Also, there are stickers everywhere – not necessarily with dinosaurs – but sticking has become a widespread activity. And 'lift the flap' books. Mind you, anything that encourages young children to read must be a good thing.

My husband and GS are decorating biscuits with help from around 40 dinosaurs at this very minute! They go everywhere

Grannyactivist I once taught a reluctant reader who was so into dinosaurs that I utilised them and got him reading with enthusiasm.

My DGS has gone to the O2 today, there’s a dinosaur thing on. He’s seven but still loves dinosaurs.
Educationally they are brilliant, I used to love hearing the extremely long names coming out of the mouth of such a little boy.
There was an episode of pointless that had a dinosaur ? question . I was brilliant.

I find them fascinating.

I can understand the fascination with dinosaurs
They were so big and fierce, like monsters in storybooks, except they actually existed.
The t.rex skeleton in the natural history museum is amazing!

DGCs 1_and 2 have bored me to death with them, but I did my duty! Thankfully DGD 2 is not yet interested, but it's noe horses, horses, horses! This I can engage with whole heartedly.