purplecat: Hand Drawn picture of a Toy Cat (dinosaur)
[personal profile] purplecat
One of my dinosaur books rather dubiously claims that Archeopteryx is "perhaps the most famous extinct organism in the world". I find this doubtful - surely Tyrannosaurus Rex holds that distinction?





Still, the discovery of the first Archeopteryx fossil in 1861 is a hugely important point in the history of our understanding of dinosaurs, bird evolution and evolution in general. B. has occasionally bombarded Archeopteryx specimens with fundamental particles.

Wither the Brontosaurus?

Date: 2016-09-23 06:25 am (UTC)
ed_rex: (Default)
From: [personal profile] ed_rex
Agreed, T. Rex is much more famous than Archeopteryx. I'd hazard the guess that even old Brontosaurus (or whatever "he" is nowadays named) is ahead of the old bird.

I wonder if the author of your book wasn't an ornithologist in their second career; certainly a good case can be made that Archeopteryx should be the world's most famous, er, extinct organism. (But that wording ...!)

Re: Wither the Brontosaurus?

Date: 2016-09-25 05:19 pm (UTC)
ed_rex: (Default)
From: [personal profile] ed_rex
The dodo suggestion really struck me, but on second thought, I suspect it applies only to a small demographic. "Everyone" (ahem) plays with toy dinosaurs, but only bio-nerds (or fans of Adams' era Doctor Who and or the Alice books) are likely to be familiar with the dodo.

(no subject)

Date: 2016-09-16 06:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wellinghall.livejournal.com
It's got to be T Rex

(no subject)

Date: 2016-09-18 04:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wellinghall.livejournal.com
Mm, yes, that is a fair point

(no subject)

Date: 2016-09-18 07:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wellinghall.livejournal.com
I'd put woolly mammoths ahead of Archeopteryx.

(no subject)

Date: 2016-09-16 10:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] vocatus-fortis.livejournal.com
I'd say the dodo was the most famous.

(no subject)

Date: 2016-09-18 04:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wellinghall.livejournal.com
Mm, you could well be right

(no subject)

Date: 2016-10-02 07:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jane-somebody.livejournal.com
I have given this some (probably too much) thought. I think the dodo is a fair suggestion for the older generations (among whom I count myself) but I do not feel it is as significant a part of the cultural baggage of the younger generations, and therefore not of the population as a whole. I have not heard the phrase "dead as a dodo" much recently (nor, indeed, "dead as a doornail", alas poor Marley!) My two-year-old nephew, for instance, can reliably identify a T. Rex, and indeed a triceratops and stegosaurus, but I doubt has any familiarity with a dodo.

Alright, I have done some research using the resident members of the younger generation, 8 and 10. Slightly to my surprise (though I probably should have known better, especially as one has a special interest in all areas of biology) both did enthusiastically agree to having heard of a dodo, and could prove they knew what was meant ("An extinct flightless bird", "with a big beak!"); only one had heard of archeopteryx ("flying dinosaur with a long neck", good enough.) When asked to rank the three contenders in order of most to least famous, both firmly agreed that it was T. Rex first, then the dodo, with archeopteryx a long way behind :-)

(no subject)

Date: 2016-10-02 07:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wellinghall.livejournal.com
I applaud the research.

(no subject)

Date: 2016-09-17 06:57 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] king-pellinor.livejournal.com
"B. has occasionally bombarded Archeopteryx specimens with fundamental particles."

Some people juggle geese... :-)

(no subject)

Date: 2016-09-17 03:38 pm (UTC)
liadt: Samurai Sanjuro smiling (Dragon mediaeval)
From: [personal profile] liadt
I hope no archaeopteryx were hurt by the bombarding!

What about brontosaurus;p

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