Holy Tree Stars, I never thought of this before!!!

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

I just realized, if Spike hatched later in the first film, then he'd be about five years younger than the others.  Which means he'd only be a few months older, likely, at the very MOST, than Chomper.  

All these years, I kept thinking that Spike was their age.   Guess he will get married 5 years EARLY in my fanfic now.                  

I'd always been portraying him as the same age as the kids.  On the flip side, if he's five years younger, maybe that might explain why he wasn't talking so much for a long time!  

       

I mean, assuming the others didn't talk, minus Chomper (who can say "yes" and "no" basically right after he hatches), didn't start to be able to talk till they were 2, then Spike shouldn't start talking till the others were seven, which some think is around the time of the fourth film, when he DOES talk!  

Also, Spike's immature habit of eating food at bad times also would be explained if he's five years younger than the others.   Also,  perhaps he was a bit shy as he is the only one in the Gang of Five to have NO family.  (Littlefoot still had his father and grandparents and his third cousin Ali and her mother, Ducky has, as far as we know, ALL of her family, Petrie still has his mother, his uncle, and, presumably, all of his siblings, Cera has her dad still and got a new stepmom and step sister and had to have an older sibling, who gave her Dana and Dinah as nieces.  Ruby appears to have all of her family.  Chomper has his parents.  Spike, he's got NOBODY.  I mean, that has to bother him that all of his friends have family and he doesn't have anyone.  I'll bet he'd be LOOKING for a girlfriend at a younger age than his pals just so he could say he had another Spiketail family: his own.)



Anyway, now I'm going to have to edit my fanfic to end about 6 or 7 years after the Gang comes of age so that Spike can have talking kids too!  (I was clever enough to deal the Chomper age gap by saying that Sharpteeth came of age 5 years earlier than Leaf Eaters and that Bothteeth like Ruby came of age 3 years earlier than Leaf Eaters.  However, now I have a Spike problem.  Perhaps he can get married early.  It happens.  My grandparents got married when my Grandma was 16.)

[Ludichris1]

Oh wow that slipped my mind for sure  

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

Oh wow that slipped my mind for sure  

So it wasn't just me who realized "Wait a moment!!"?

[DarkHououmon]

There is a theory I heard once that Spike simply stayed in his egg longer and is actually older than he appears. I think this theory was given because Tippy is also a spiketail, but he's smaller and more baby-like than Spike. The idea of Spike being a late hatcher would explain this difference.

[Dino-Mario]

That'd make a lot of sense. He may not be the brightest tool in the shed, but Spike is smarter than he looks, given he is older than his playmates. Then again, we still have to uncover the life spans of more prehistoric animal species. We know for sure that sauropods lived awfully long and Tyrannosaurus could live for 30 years

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

He is not older.  He is YOUNGER.   They are about 5 years old at the time Ducky finds his EGG.  

As I said, Spike and Chomper are about the SAME age.

[DarkHououmon]

He is not older.  He is YOUNGER.   They are about 5 years old at the time Ducky finds his EGG.  

As I said, Spike and Chomper are about the SAME age.

The idea of Spike being older is simply a theory that was proposed here before. I forget who mentioned it and what their explanation was. I repeated the only bits I remember, but I think there was a bit more description than that. I do not know how well the theory holds water. I do find it interesting, personally.

Btw, why do you sound so defensive?

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

Well, I have read that they were about 5 at the time that Mama Longneck died.  So, to be older, Spike would have had to be in that egg for over five years so forgive me if I'm a bit skeptical.  

Even saying that different dinos hatch at different rates, I don't buy the "Spike is older" thing.  

[Ducky123]

He is not older. He is YOUNGER. They are about 5 years old at the time Ducky finds his EGG.

There is no indication that they're 5 years old whatsoever. You always write things without prooving them, Unless you show me a source that supports your statement, I won't believe it.

Anyway, I thought it was pretty well known that Spike is somewhat younger...

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

Well, unless you really look at the first film a lot, you'd never know it with Spike's size.

As for their age, I've read it on the Land Before Time wiki.

[DarkHououmon]

As for their age, I've read it on the Land Before Time wiki.

You need a better source to go off of than just the wikia.

[SpikeTheStegosaur]

Since animals typically mature at a faster rate than humans, I would think the baby dinosaurs were only a few months old when separated from their parents. As for Spike, he's a late hatcher. Ducky did say, "You are late" when she saw him still in his egg.

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

I think the original movie accidentally designed him as being larger after his hatching...unless some time passed between then and the next scene, but that's impossible, since Ducky is (in that scene) luring him with the berries from the deleted scene...

...I dunno, I always loved the idea of Spike being the same age as the rest and it's kinda troubling knowing he's not (the first movie wasn't the first I saw, btw)