Philosophy
Robert Bakker is an American paleontologist who was the first to prove that dinosaurs were warm blooded and have more in common with birds than cold-blooded lizards. He is an outspoken a maverick and holds controversial opinions about the dinosaurs that are his passionate study. He disagrees with the commonly held belief that dinosaurs perished in a cataclysmic global climate change caused by a monumental meteor strike. Instead, he maintains that a series of extinctions resulted as land bridges formed that brought together dinosaur species that may have been enemies, competed for resources, or carried diseases.
From UMKC professor Bill Ashworth...
Robert Bakker, an American paleontologist, was born Mar. 24, 1945. Bakker, in the late 1960s, was one of the earliest advocates for the idea of "hot-blooded dinosaurs," offering up multiple lines of evidence to show that dinosaurs, like mammals and birds, regulated their blood temperature. He made perhaps his best argument with a drawing, showing the newly discovered Deinonychus, running flat out after an invisible prey, a glint of a promising dinner in his eye. It has since provided the prototype for most cinematic predatory dinosaurs, especially those of Jurassic Park (1993), for which Bakker served as an advisor. Another advisor was John Horner, who disagrees with Bakker on many issues, especially on T. rex as a fleet-footed predator (Horner thinks it more likely that T. rex was a slow-moving scavenger). Horner got his revenge in the second movie: The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). There was a character in this film, "Dr. Robert Burke," who was clearly modeled on the bearded Bakker, and Horner supposedly convinced Steven Spielberg that Dr. Burke should meet his end by being swallowed by a rampaging Tyrannosaurus. It was a great scene (one of the few redeeming scenes of the film), although I think Burke's last words should have been: “Does this look like a scavenger to you!”
Robert Bakker [Wikipedia]
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Archaeopteryx created a sensation in Victorian England with its bird-like wings but teeth and tail of a dinosaur. Birds of a feather with conflicting conclusions. "'Oldest bird' Archaeopteryx knocked off its perch in controversial new study"...
- Bambiraptor Purloined For Bucks
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If you like fossils, dinosaurs and the like and are a youngster, check this out. A cool way to reach out to budding paleontologists. "Dinosaur Fossils In Utah Inspire 'Jr. Paleontologists'" by Jeff Brady July 2nd, 2008 National Public Radio ...
Philosophy
Robert Bakker..."dino"mite ideas
Robert Bakker is an American paleontologist who was the first to prove that dinosaurs were warm blooded and have more in common with birds than cold-blooded lizards. He is an outspoken a maverick and holds controversial opinions about the dinosaurs that are his passionate study. He disagrees with the commonly held belief that dinosaurs perished in a cataclysmic global climate change caused by a monumental meteor strike. Instead, he maintains that a series of extinctions resulted as land bridges formed that brought together dinosaur species that may have been enemies, competed for resources, or carried diseases.
From UMKC professor Bill Ashworth...
Robert Bakker, an American paleontologist, was born Mar. 24, 1945. Bakker, in the late 1960s, was one of the earliest advocates for the idea of "hot-blooded dinosaurs," offering up multiple lines of evidence to show that dinosaurs, like mammals and birds, regulated their blood temperature. He made perhaps his best argument with a drawing, showing the newly discovered Deinonychus, running flat out after an invisible prey, a glint of a promising dinner in his eye. It has since provided the prototype for most cinematic predatory dinosaurs, especially those of Jurassic Park (1993), for which Bakker served as an advisor. Another advisor was John Horner, who disagrees with Bakker on many issues, especially on T. rex as a fleet-footed predator (Horner thinks it more likely that T. rex was a slow-moving scavenger). Horner got his revenge in the second movie: The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). There was a character in this film, "Dr. Robert Burke," who was clearly modeled on the bearded Bakker, and Horner supposedly convinced Steven Spielberg that Dr. Burke should meet his end by being swallowed by a rampaging Tyrannosaurus. It was a great scene (one of the few redeeming scenes of the film), although I think Burke's last words should have been: “Does this look like a scavenger to you!”
Robert Bakker [Wikipedia]
- Why Do Kids Love Dinosaurs?
What is it about dinosaurs that fascinate kids? A former colleague argued that kids like to have imaginary friends who are bigger than and can eat Daddy. Dinosaurs provide a sort of power balance. My thought was that dinosaurs provide a seemingly make-believe...
- T. Rex Has Company
"Meet the newly discovered dinosaur that even tyrannosaurs were afraid of" by Lance Tillson November 23rd, 2013 National Monitor Researchers from The Field Museum, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS) and North Carolina State University...
- Archaeopteryx And Xiaotingia Zhengi Smackdown
Archaeopteryx created a sensation in Victorian England with its bird-like wings but teeth and tail of a dinosaur. Birds of a feather with conflicting conclusions. "'Oldest bird' Archaeopteryx knocked off its perch in controversial new study"...
- Bambiraptor Purloined For Bucks
This is not good, but not new. Remember Sue the T. Rex? Sue Hendrickson, amateur paleontologist, discovered the most complete (more than 90%) and, until 2001, the largest, Tyrannosaurus fossil skeleton known in the Hell Creek Formation near Faith, South...
- Junior Paleontologists--"hands On" Experience
If you like fossils, dinosaurs and the like and are a youngster, check this out. A cool way to reach out to budding paleontologists. "Dinosaur Fossils In Utah Inspire 'Jr. Paleontologists'" by Jeff Brady July 2nd, 2008 National Public Radio ...