Oh yes. It must be said when they first started hopping I think he was concerned his entire scientific reputation was about to dissolve into tatters. He was somewhat relieved, I think, when it turned out to be something of a minority activity for hadrosaur simulations and the loading information came back saying it wasn't a terribly sensible gait.
I'd be surprised some dinosaurs (or other reptiles) hadn't developed hopping as way of getting about at some time. It works very well for the kangaroos and wallabies, and it would be odd if mammals came up with it first.
Indeed but the paleontological (and biomechanical) community remains very suspicious of the kind of simulation techniques B. uses. Trying to convince them of hopping hadrosaurs on top of that could well have been difficult.
If you watch wallabies, they rarely hop at speed, but they do amble around with a sort of slow hop rather than walk. If you look at the way the hadrosaurs' front legs are, it seems to me that it would be perfectly logical for them to do this too.
They are just rounding up the hadrosaurs when a passing jet plane spooks them and they all hop off into the distance at 40mph to the sound of bones breaking...
That is a very cool photo! It's crying out to be used in a caption competition, though - something related to the rather large monster that's creeping up behind him while he's posing for the camera, oblivious. I fear that Awful Doom happened moments after the photo was taken.
But coming home for supper is no proof. Cases of monstrous possession don't always leave immediately visible traces, as I'm sure you know. A person is bitten and appears to walk away. Signs of strain are dismissed as something ordinary, like a cold, or, indeed, as jet lag. And then, hours later, the monster inside comes to the fore. Human eyes turn reptilian, nails turn into rending claws... Screams ensue... and thus the Dinosaur Apocalypse commences.
You know, I have a suspicion you are getting your genres confused.
The bitten, walks away, signs of strain, is far more likely to be some obscure South American parasite he picked up on location. The dinosaurs are merely a red herring.
Any Dinosaur Apocalypse is going to follow from the dinosaur eggs he and Phil smuggled entirely legally exported from Argentina.
You could be right. However, I still think we have to be open to the possibility that the first season will end with an ominous close-up of a grinning dinosaur, and we will realise that the dinosaurs, dismissed in episode 8 as a red herring, were behind it all along, so even though the obscure South American parasite has been defeated (with much rejoicing) in the season finale, far worse danger and doom lies ahead in the second season.
I do rather fancy playing Left4Fossils, a Left4Dead spin-off in which the intrepid players fight off the Dinosaur Apocalypse. The hopping hadrosaurs could be one of the special baddies. Merchandising idea, d'you think?
Thanks! I'm glad to have him back, jet lag notwithstanding, as is the little one.
I'm looking forward to the programme showing too - though I'm not clear whether the Hadrosaurs are in this particular one or not. Phil Manning seems to have multiple media projects on the go at once and B kind of tags along (which, as he says, is the best way to do it since he gets all the fun of being on TV without the hard work involved in networking).
I think "Dino CSI" (which was the Argentina trip show) is due to appear in the States sometime early spring.
Splendid photo! B does seem supremely unaware of the lurking menace behind him *g*. And I'm very taken with the hopping hadrosaur -- I definitely want it on a teeshirt or mug!
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dancing_serpent
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 11:58 am (UTC)Also, I now want a windup clockwork Hopping Hadrosaur.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 12:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 01:00 pm (UTC)Ah, I might have known he was responsible for the hopping hadrosaurs, which I noticed in passing.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 02:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 02:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 02:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-11 10:22 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 01:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 02:30 pm (UTC)They are just rounding up the hadrosaurs when a passing jet plane spooks them and they all hop off into the distance at 40mph to the sound of bones breaking...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 02:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 01:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 02:32 pm (UTC)I think he looks like he knows the T. Rex is there. He is just master of the situation...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 02:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 02:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 02:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 03:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 04:11 pm (UTC)The bitten, walks away, signs of strain, is far more likely to be some obscure South American parasite he picked up on location. The dinosaurs are merely a red herring.
Any Dinosaur Apocalypse is going to follow from the dinosaur eggs he and Phil
smuggledentirely legally exported from Argentina.(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 05:17 pm (UTC)I do rather fancy playing Left4Fossils, a Left4Dead spin-off in which the intrepid players fight off the Dinosaur Apocalypse. The hopping hadrosaurs could be one of the special baddies. Merchandising idea, d'you think?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 04:09 pm (UTC)I'm looking forward to the programme showing too - though I'm not clear whether the Hadrosaurs are in this particular one or not. Phil Manning seems to have multiple media projects on the go at once and B kind of tags along (which, as he says, is the best way to do it since he gets all the fun of being on TV without the hard work involved in networking).
I think "Dino CSI" (which was the Argentina trip show) is due to appear in the States sometime early spring.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 06:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 10:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 09:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-10 10:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-12-11 09:12 pm (UTC)