Dinosaurs: not strictly diurnal

[DarkHououmon]

I found out about this on Discovery, and Pangaea gave me a link to another article about it.

According to a new study, contrary to what people used to think, dinosaurs were not restricted to the day and in fact many were active during the night. The way they figured this out was by measuring their bony eye rings and comparing them with modern day animals who also have bony eye rings.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocke...unted-by-night/

[pokeplayer984]

It wouldn't surprise me if some dinosaurs were nocturnal.  It really wouldn't make sense to me if every last one of them were active only during the day.  It becomes quite understandable when you think about it.  There's no real way any current nocturnal animals would develop such a trait if their prehistoric ancestors didn't have it.

Of course, it does make a contradiction with our beloved series in several different cases.  Then again, that thing tends to throw science out the window in many cases, so who cares?

Then again, if they did follow it more, the concept would've made some of the predators a little more threatening.  It really could've brought in something quite interesting.  Maybe even make a concept of members of the gang staying up during the night to stand watch.

To be honest, a part of me always wondered why such a concept NEVER occurred in the movies.  To me, it feels like a missed opportunity when you think about it.

[Kor]

It makes sense and I'm not to surprised.  There are mammals, birds and others who are active at night so why not dinos as well.

[Cancerian Tiger]

Not even humans are all diurnal, and this comes as no surprise to me.  Something that has been suggested in some fanfics I've read regarding LBT is some dinosaurs may act as "night security" by standing watch wherever there is an entrance to the valley.  That could be a practice not addressed in the series, but also keep in mind in LBT II when Grandpa Longneck stated the mountains keep them safe from sharpteeth.  With the great wall set up, the only other option for sharpteeth would be to scale the range, which would most likely be too treacherous for them.  Maybe the valley residents share the same mentality of what I've heard of Switzerland's residents being surrounded by the Swiss Alps.  I recall learning the Alps have kept Switzerland safe from invaders prior to World War I, due to the Alps being treacherous for whoever dared to scale them in attempts of an invasion.  Remaining neutral in both World Wars spared them from invasion, but that's another topic.  Still, there's no snow on the valley's mountains year-round, meaning they must not have been as high in altitude, so I'm sure there was still some risk of invasion at any time.  Perhaps there is in fact a night watch.