Your favourite dinosaur

[Cicero]

Triceratops.

Mine, too.

 

[Vulcan Princess]

I like triceratops, stegosaurus, and pterodactyl. (Even though they're not dinosaurs, I'm going to have to agree with RJDiogenes and say that trilobites are really cool, too!)

 

[Gepard]

Raptors as birds makes sense if you're opposed to the notion of birds being dinosaurs, but it seems you need to do a lot more shoehorning to make that work than the other way around.

I know there's still controversy, but the evidence aligning birds with dinosaurs seems to be mounting:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8105513.stm

I think it's too early to say if that article affects the raptor idea either way. I was going to bring up the finger issue, but that piece already did so. The thing is, that means the point where birds split off from dinos had to happen very early on, before the earliest dinosaurs lost that fourth finger, which would place the bird/dinosaur split at the late Triassic or early Jurassic at best. That's about 80 million years before Velocirapor.

So the issue will hinge on when feathers evolved--did they show up on early theropod dinosaurs or theropod ancestors before or after birds split off? If before, they could have been carried through to animals like Dilophosaurus, but if it was after, then I find it unlikely that that and the other bird-like features would have evolved again to produce feathered dinosaurs. In that case, the simplest explanation really would be that raptors were flightless birds.

 

[Vanyel]

Although not a dinosaur, I love the pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus.

But if you want an actual dinosaur, I'll pick the Utahraptor.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I like triceratops, stegosaurus, and pterodactyl. (Even though they're not dinosaurs, I'm going to have to agree with RJDiogenes and say that trilobites are really cool, too!)

So the issue will hinge on when feathers evolved--did they show up on early theropod dinosaurs or theropod ancestors before or after birds split off? If before, they could have been carried through to animals like Dilophosaurus, but if it was after, then I find it unlikely that that and the other bird-like features would have evolved again to produce feathered dinosaurs. In that case, the simplest explanation really would be that raptors were flightless birds.

I think that feathers evolved before the split but were more pronounced in birds. Most dinosaurs probably had feathers in the same way that elephants have hair; but in a few species it was a more pronounced trait.

 

[melancholymecha]

Carnotaurus followed by dilophosaurus(without that silly JP neck frill.)

How do you feel about dilophosaurs with feathers: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/JuanBolio/DilophosaurusMuseum.jpg ?

Large dinos with fluffy feathers just looks so odd...but I could get use to it.

LAND BEFORE TIME, right?

nope.

Dinobots?

 

[Lookingglassman]

Godzilla

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Barney

 

[FordSVT]

Wangchungtonightosaurus.

No, I'd have to say T-Rex. Can't go wrong with that choice. Or maybe Diplodocus/Brachiosaurus/some other large sauropod, I always thought standing next to one of them would be quite a trip. That first reveal scene in Jurassic Park still gives me goosebumps!

 

[Mark de Vries]

LAND BEFORE TIME, right?

nope.

Dinobots?

That's what I think. Good choice, by the way

 

[captcalhoun]

yes, the original Dinobots.

Grimlock (T-Rex), Swoop (pteranodon), Slag (triceratops), Sludge (apatosaur) and Snarl (stegasaur)

http://www.unicron.us/tf1985/cartoon/dinobots2.jpg