The Gang of Five
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Messages - Troodon

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General Land Before Time / A Theory about the Dinosaurs
« on: August 13, 2014, 05:05:57 PM »
I now agree that the global warming part is too hard to predict, so I have removed it from my theory. Some unspecified extinction event causes reptiles to take over as the dominant organisms, but not necessarily anthropogenic global warming.

Pangaea: Yes, I meant it to be more of a playful "Wild Mass Guessing" thing. It's painfully obvious that the creators of TLBT clearly and explicitly intended to make the characters dinosaurs. And I would also like to say that I am very glad to find that you are aware of reptilian intelligence. It always used to annoy me whenever people claimed that reptiles are stupid.
And the reason why it says "the dinosaurs are really mammals" is because I originally wrote a theory about mammals, but I then edited my post and changed it to lizards. However, I couldn't figure out how to edit the description. Anyway, here's my original theory about mammals:

In addition to the anatomical inaccuracies in the dinosaurs that I had already mentioned, I also noticed an additional odd characteristic of the TLBT characters; they have external ears. In reality, no sauropsids have external ears. Only synapsids, such as mammals, possess them. This led me to think that the characters could really be aberrant dinosaur-like mammals. So I came up with a theory that, in the future, mammals evolve to be dinosaur-like. Petrie might be a pterosaur-like bat, Littlefoot might be a hairless giraffe with a long, thick tail, Cera might be a hairless rhinoceros with a frill and a long, thick tail, etc. I thought it was too crazy, so I then changed it to the lizards.

And I do agree that it is unlikely that either lizards or mammals would evolve to exactly resemble every single Mesozoic Era creature. But unlikely things can still happen. The chance of the asteroid that wiped out the non-avian dinosaurs actually striking the Earth must have been very small, but it still happened. Same for the speech issue. No matter how small the odds are, both are still possible.

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General Land Before Time / A Theory about the Dinosaurs
« on: August 12, 2014, 11:31:54 PM »
Quote from: jansenov,Aug 11 2014 on  03:45 AM
The animators of the original LBT had to make dinosaurs meet two criteria: to be humanlike enough that children can associate with them and to be reasonably faithful to the paleontology of the 1970/80s. The appearance of dinosaurs from different geological eras together is due to the need to get many iconic, easily recognizable species into the movie. Arguably, they could have found enough diverse species in the same period, but they did not, I would say for lack time to do proper research or for commercial reasons.

As for the lizards, they could evolve into large animals with dinosaurlike locomotion, but otherwise they would barely be any closer to dinosaurs in resemblance than the large mammals of today are. Remember, mammals and dinosaurs are separated by 330 million years of evolution, while lizards and dinosaurs are separated by at least 250 million years of evolution.

Global warming may or may not pressure lizards to develop in such a way. Mammals rapidly evolved during the Paleogene thermal maximum while lizards remained small animals, for example. There must be other factors involved.

And an increase in lizard intelligence is likely, since their fellow amniotes, the mammals and dinosaurs, also show an increase in brain size and complexity over time. However, lizards and crocodiles have not developed their brains nearly as fast as the above two until now, so they may take more time to get to their level.

But evolving speech? That's a tall order, I must say.
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my theory. I do agree with you that cultural factors are probably the reason why the dinosaurs in the films are not scientifically accurate. However, that is the out-of-universe explanation. I am trying to find an in-universe explanation.

It is certainly true that the lineage leading to lizards and the lineage leading to dinosaurs split from each other a considerably long time ago. However, that doesn't mean they couldn't evolve to be similar. For example, there was an animal called the thylacine that used to live in Australia until it became extinct in the 1930s. It looked amazingly similar to a wolf. In fact, anatomy students often have a difficult time telling the difference between the skull of a wolf and the skull of a thylacine. However, it is a marsupial, while the wolf is a placental mammal. The lineage leading to marsupials and the lineage leading to placentals split from each other at least 161 million years ago, but the wolf and the thylacine still look remarkably similar to each other. Given enough time, I don't see why a species of lizard couldn't evolve to look like a particular species of dinosaur.

I do agree that it is too early to tell if global warming will make reptiles the dominant organisms on Earth. However, it is also worth noting that, in addition to mammals, there were also some large reptiles during the Paleogene thermal maximum, such as Pristichampsus. Indeed, in the Paleocene (immediately following the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs), there was a rise in global temperatures. And several giant reptiles also existed during this time, such as Titanoboa. So there does, indeed, appear to be a link between higher global temperatures and the size of the reptiles.

As for evolving speech, I do agree that it's unlikely, but I still think it's possible. So far, there are two species that have been unequivocally proven to use speech (humans and the African Grey Parrot). So if parrots could independently evolve human-like speech, I also think that lizards might be able to, given enough time.

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General Land Before Time / A Theory about the Dinosaurs
« on: August 11, 2014, 12:28:02 AM »
I just realized that the dinosaurs in The Land Before Time do not really resemble actual dinosaurs. First of all, the various species shown in the series never lived together in real life, neither geographically nor temporally. For example, the length of time separating Stegosaurus from Triceratops is actually longer than the length of time separating Triceratops from modern humans. So showing a Stegosaurus with a Triceratops is even more inaccurate than showing a human with a Triceratops.

They are also anatomically inaccurate. For example, the tyrannosaurs are shown standing with their tail resting on the ground, like a kangaroo. This posture is now known to be inaccurate.
Therefore, taking into account the anatomical and anachronistic inaccuracies, I have come up with a theory that The Land Before Time is set millions of years in the future, and the various "dinosaurs" are not really dinosaurs, but are in fact lizards. Let me explain why.

It has been said that global warming might make reptiles larger and more dominant. My theory is that, in the world of TLBT, global warming causes most of the mammals, including humans, to become extinct. After humans become extinct, the lizards take over as the dominant group of animals on Earth. Millions of years later, they evolve to look like dinosaurs. They also evolve the ability to communicate, like humans. What does everyone think about my theory?

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The Welcome Center / Hello
« on: December 01, 2013, 08:30:46 PM »
Quote from: ddmkm122,Nov 24 2013 on  01:21 PM
Quote from: Troodon,Oct 19 2013 on  09:13 PM
Hello! I joined this forum about 3 years ago, but I never got around to posting until now. I joined because I used to love these movies when I was younger, and I like dinosaurs & paleontology. So I decided to join.
Is it really you, Troodon/Troodon Man?  It is me, ddmkm122, from The 110 Club!
Yes, it really is me.

By the way, I first joined this forum on January 14, 2011.

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General Land Before Time / Are the Fast Biters from LBT11 the same as Screech
« on: October 21, 2013, 05:24:26 PM »
Actually, I think that the bluish-gray Fast Biter might have been Screech, since they both are the same color. However, I don't think that the purple one is Thud, since Thud is green. My hypothesis is that the purple one in LBT11 was Screech's mate or love interest, whom he later "broke up" with. He then found Thud, who later became his best friend and companion in the TV series.

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Announcements / Gang of Five Downtime
« on: October 21, 2013, 05:20:58 PM »
I am so glad that this place is now back up and running again! :D

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General Land Before Time / Are the Fast Biters from LBT11 the same as Screech
« on: October 20, 2013, 03:18:19 PM »
Are the Fast Biters that appeared in LBT11 Screech & Thud? I was thinking that they might be, since they look similar, and appear to have similar behavioral habits. What does everyone else here think?

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The Welcome Center / Hello
« on: October 20, 2013, 02:23:10 PM »
Thanks, everyone! I also like many other dinosaur movies, including the Jurassic Park series. I am a member of this forum, as well: jplegacy.org/board

I also have many other interests, including supercentenarians (people above the age of 110). I am also a member of this forum: z3.invisionfree.com/The_110_Club

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General Land Before Time / Michael York's health
« on: October 20, 2013, 12:59:50 AM »
Unfortunately, amyloidosis is a very deadly disease, and like cancer, there is not yet a cure for it. It happens when amyloid proteins begin to build up in the body's organs, which prevents them from functioning properly. Usually, most people don't get it unless they are very old (100+) or have some kind of genetic abnormality.

Hopefully, he can recover.

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The Welcome Center / Hello
« on: October 19, 2013, 10:13:55 PM »
Hello! I joined this forum about 3 years ago, but I never got around to posting until now. I joined because I used to love these movies when I was younger, and I like dinosaurs & paleontology. So I decided to join.

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