Happy National Avian Dino Day 2024!

[HD-man]

I originally posted the following at deviantART ( https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-Happy-National-Avian-Dino-Day-2024-1014779016 ).

Hi everybody!

I originally wasn't planning on posting anything here this month. However, while on Christmas/New Year's holiday, I visited the Trevor Zoo for the 1st times in many years ( https://www.instagram.com/p/C1lbhZrMfbr/ ). In honor of National Bird Day ( https://www.avianwelfare.org/nationalbirdday/ ), I wanna share my mementos of said times (+ a Youtube comment) w/you.

Cheers,
Herman Diaz

Memento #1) The "Across The Pond: Trevor Zoo at 75" DVD (Front: https://archive.ph/CGXOL/9e40873a4ea00c24f93bb8d0969ae403ccf4ef90.jpg ) (Back: https://archive.ph/jjBtz/dd8428abf957770b59378f669ff58e60522947ed.jpg ): Like my favorite dino museum books ( https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-Top-4-natural-histories-of-dinos-758236511 ), this DVD is not the same as visiting the zoo in person, but it IS the next best thing, maybe even better when it comes to historical behind-the-scenes stuff 😉 (E.g. This bonus feature clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25pc8XCYk8o ). Furthermore, IDK if/when I'll be able to go back in person (I.e. Even if I do go back to NY on my next holiday, the weather might not be as nice).

Memento #2) The "Advice from a Hawk: Rise Above it All! Your True Nature" bookmark ( https://archive.ph/PQ9fi/6bf71242f3933e5879c218a252134b42b96ea3c4.jpg ): When I 1st saw this bookmark, not only did its illustration remind me of how beautiful the red-tailed hawk in particular is (hence the cover image), but its advice really resonated w/me, reminding me of how awesome raptors in general are (& thus, how much I wish to be more like them): As you may remember, "my favorite non-bird dinos are eudromaeosaurs in general b/c they're basically "terrestrial hawks" in terms of ecology/behavior" ( https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-My-favorite-artworks-of-Deinonychus-948529444 ); Similarly, my favorite birds are accipitrids in general b/c they're what I like to call the Apex of Avian Awesomeness (Put another way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyLl3K3R8Xk ) & the golden eagle/red-tailed hawk in particular b/c it's the archetypal eagle/hawk, respectively (Eagle: https://archive.org/details/Wildlife_Specials/Eagle.avi ) (Hawk: https://www.tehachapinews.com/lifestyle/pen-in-hand-wonder-bird-a-closer-look-at-a/article_d47df6a6-ba67-59b5-912d-3ec3620763d8.html ); In contrast, according to "What dinosaur are you?" (I.e. The most scientifically-accurate dino personality quiz AFAIK 😉 : https://web.archive.org/web/20200416161003/https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-dinosaur-are-you.html ), my spirit dino is either Iguanodon or Plateosaurus, 2 very ecologically-similar genera (For more info about what I mean: https://prehistoricbeastoftheweek.blogspot.com/p/list-of-prehistoric-animals.html ); Yes, all dinos are awesome, but some dinos are more awesome than others, especially raptors & especially compared to my spirit dino.

Youtube comment) The "Did Raptor Dinosaurs Hunt In Packs? (Paleo Myths #6)" video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdEfu0Kius4 ): I was about to post this journal entry yesterday when Raptor Red Writes posted said video. While not as big a deal as Animalogic's Velociraptor video ( https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/SD-Please-do-better-Animalogic-983333583 ), it's still very relevant to said entry, hence the inclusion of my comment. Yes, both of my favorite birds are known to hunt cooperatively at least sometimes (See Ellis et al. 1993/Tumlison 2012 & the sources cited therein for the eagle/hawk, respectively).

Again, sorry for repeating myself. I don't wanna keep doing that, especially given how much I relate to you as a non-expert reviewer of dino media. In fact, when I started this video, I was hopeful that it'd be more balanced than your previous takes on the pack-hunting eudromaeosaur hypothesis, mostly b/c you included Maxwell/Ostrom 1995. However, I was quickly disappointed by the following:

-1) Your continued over-reliance on Roach/Brinkman 2007 & Frederickson et al. 2020, which are very flawed for reasons I discuss elsewhere (See "SD: Top 4 most annoyingly-popular dino hypotheses" & "SD: Most annoyingly-popular dino hypotheses addend"). At 1st, I thought you were trying to be neutral & present each argument as is. However, AFAICT, you only did that for those arguments against said hypothesis, seemingly ignoring/downplaying aspects of those for said hypothesis: For 1, you didn't even mention MOR 682, let alone discuss it; For another, last I checked, "the family scenario seems most likely" for the Utahraptor mega-block (See "Locked in Time: Animal Behavior Unearthed in 50 Extraordinary Fossils" & the sources cited therein); For yet another, see #3 below for Li et al. 2007.

-2) Your ignoring pack-hunting in non-Harris' birds despite my repeated references to Ellis et al. 1993 (Most recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97D_mtWqTKU&lc=UgwQXWulSDCNzv3AxlR4AaABAg ). Besides those "many raptorial birds" & others, there are also corvids & shrikes (See Yosef/Yosef 2010 & the sources cited therein) & ground hornbills (See Farlow 1976 & the sources cited therein).

-3) Your Li et al. 2007 claim at ~16:30. In actuality, "it is clear that the animals were not hunting at the time" (See "At long last, Dromeosaur tracks!"). To quote Bakker, "predators don't usually hang out in groups if they don't hunt together. Tigers are like this — they mostly hunt alone, and you don't see bunches of tigers lying around together. But lions are social predators. They hunt and raise their young and sleep and snore together" (See "Raptor Pack"). The "raise their young[...]together" part is especially important b/c "cooperative hunting[...]is generally related to cooperative breeding" (See "Possible social foraging behavior in the Red-backed Hawk"). Li et al. 2007 seems to agree ("The discovery of six parallel, closely spaced D. shandongensis trackways provides compelling, independent evidence for at least occasional[...]"pack" or family group[...]behavior in the track-making animals, comparable to what has been demonstrated in other dinosaurs").