Most misunderstood dinosaurs

[Lynx]

Throughout the years, dinosaurs have changed a lot. From enormous iguanas to turtles with protruding claws, there have been quite a bit of inaccuracies. Now, here's where we shove opinion in. What, in your opinion, do you think has been the most misunderstood dinosaur(s)? This can range from the hilarious turtle theriznosaurus to herbivores being "stupid"... and the list goes on and on. Hope you all have fun sharing and discussing the various misunderstandings of dinosaurs!

[stargatedalek]

Gulls, followed closely by pigeons.

That's not even an ironic answer. It's disheartening the ridiculous myths people spread about gulls looking for excuses to hate on them or cull them. They've always been inland scavengers, especially in coastal western Europe and throughout Canada (where there are no vultures), they aren't overpopulated, or spreading inland "to eat garbage", they've always been there. They're native species and acting exactly as they always have been, they're just scavenging from us now instead of bears and wolves.

[GojiraGuy1954]

Throughout the years, dinosaurs have changed a lot. From enormous iguanas to turtles with protruding claws, there have been quite a bit of inaccuracies. Now, here's where we shove opinion in. What, in your opinion, do you think has been the most misunderstood dinosaur(s)? This can range from the hilarious turtle theriznosaurus to herbivores being "stupid"... and the list goes on and on. Hope you all have fun sharing and discussing the various misunderstandings of dinosaurs!

Spinosaurus or Iguanodon

[Gwangi]

I think dromaeosaurus in general are terribly misunderstood by the public at large. These animals were basically ground dwelling birds of prey but the media has turned them into hyper-intelligent, socially advanced, land piranha. This is due to ideas put forth during the Dinosaur Renaissance and made popular by Jurassic Park but it seems firmly ingrained in pop culture. I don't think it's going anywhere.

[Papi-Anon]

If we're talking about extinct megafauna in general, I'd say our ancient cousins the Neanderthals still have a bad rep in spite of all the discoveries the past hundred years. Regular people STILL think of knuckle-dragging, dull-faced, hunched-over brutes whacking a thick wooden club around and having overall intellectual abilities that make a common chimpanzee look like sophisticated socialites. Even the name 'neanderthal' (at least in the English lexicon) is synonymous with brute, pea-brain, low-brow, savage, violent, etc.

[GojiraGuy1954]

I think dromaeosaurus in general are terribly misunderstood by the public at large. These animals were basically ground dwelling birds of prey but the media has turned them into hyper-intelligent, socially advanced, land piranha. This is due to ideas put forth during the Dinosaur Renaissance and made popular by Jurassic Park but it seems firmly ingrained in pop culture. I don't think it's going anywhere.

I'd say packhunting in at least some dromies is a valid theory. Utahraptor in particular because of that Utahraptor block we found with a bunch of them inside

[Bread]

I think dromaeosaurus in general are terribly misunderstood by the public at large. These animals were basically ground dwelling birds of prey but the media has turned them into hyper-intelligent, socially advanced, land piranha. This is due to ideas put forth during the Dinosaur Renaissance and made popular by Jurassic Park but it seems firmly ingrained in pop culture. I don't think it's going anywhere.

Back in high school, I had a biology teacher tell my class that Velociraptors would wipe out the human race if they were to exist. As a result I have to agree with Gwangi's assessment on the misunderstanding of dromaeosaurs.

[Fembrogon]

Gulls, followed closely by pigeons.

That's not even an ironic answer. It's disheartening the ridiculous myths people spread about gulls looking for excuses to hate on them or cull them. They've always been inland scavengers, especially in coastal western Europe and throughout Canada (where there are no vultures), they aren't overpopulated, or spreading inland "to eat garbage", they've always been there. They're native species and acting exactly as they always have been, they're just scavenging from us now instead of bears and wolves.

I've seen some European news headlines shared on Twitter about gull stories, and "ridiculous" really is the right word. I admit it's easy to see gulls as vermin sometimes, speaking from a US perspective; but maybe we're just too used to describing them as seagulls and that's distorting our perceptions.

Back in high school, I had a biology teacher tell my class that Velociraptors would wipe out the human race if they were to exist. As a result I have to agree with Gwangi's assessment on the misunderstanding of dromaeosaurs.

...She got paid as a teacher to say stuff like THAT??

[Papi-Anon]

...She got paid as a teacher to say stuff like THAT??

Honestly, that's pretty tame compared to some odd-ball teachers out there. I had an English Literature teacher in high school who wholeheartedly believed the only literary symbolism that existed was phallic/sexual, and no matter how mundane or tame the subject of prose or poetry she would tell the class it was clearly using sex-related symbolism and could point out every instance she purportedly saw in any literary source. The woman would have made Sigmund Freud blush.

Back to the topic, Coelophysis has slowly been recovering from the 'cannibal' label that has plagued its image for years. Also Gastornis is still being rehabilitated from bloodthirsty, horse-eating Terror Bird to gentle-giant nutcracker.

[CityRaptor]

Thrinaxodon: I bet you eat your young.
Coelophysis: No, but yours were delicious.

As for Gastornis being a gentle giant, not too sure about that. A lot herbivores are very agressive. 

I think dromaeosaurus in general are terribly misunderstood by the public at large. These animals were basically ground dwelling birds of prey but the media has turned them into hyper-intelligent, socially advanced, land piranha. This is due to ideas put forth during the Dinosaur Renaissance and made popular by Jurassic Park but it seems firmly ingrained in pop culture. I don't think it's going anywhere.

Back in high school, I had a biology teacher tell my class that Velociraptors would wipe out the human race if they were to exist. As a result I have to agree with Gwangi's assessment on the misunderstanding of dromaeosaurs.

Maybe if they were a hypothetical highly developed sapient species. As for how they wiped out humanity? They didn't. Humanity's plan to wipe them out backfired horribly.


I would also say that Sauropods suffer a lot from being portrayed as easy to kill by whatever run of the mill Theropod would count, too. ( There are also other examples than Theropods )

[Bread]

Back in high school, I had a biology teacher tell my class that Velociraptors would wipe out the human race if they were to exist. As a result I have to agree with Gwangi's assessment on the misunderstanding of dromaeosaurs.

...She got paid as a teacher to say stuff like THAT??

Yeah, definitely an odd thing to say. Then again, I realize that it was biology class, so prehistoric may not be her specialty. But still, putting that idea just goes to show the wrong idea of raptors' overall as animal.

[dinodamage]

Agree big time about dromaeosaurs. I love them of course but frankly I get exhausted by their portrayal as super genius killing machines.  Just let them be BURD.

The most general misconception with dinosaurs (and animals as a whole) is herbivores personified as being inherently gentle and carnivores as blood thirsty monsters.

carnivorous dinosaur = always hungry, will eat anything that moves, drooling gaping jaws, vicious, ruthless, always roaring etc and herbivore dinosaur = gentle, slow moving, only act defensively, always peacefully munching on vegetation

The general public doesn't extend much sympathy to anything that kills, but being a predator comes with enormous risks especially as a dinosaur when you're going up against animals that are quite literally made of weapons and armor.

Elephants will stomp lion cubs to death at the first chance, sauropods are just as capable of ruthless acts to protect themselves and their young in the long run, taking down potential threats before they become a problem.

[CityRaptor]

That last point does show up - surprisingly - in an episode of "The Land before Time"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Edj-Yl_6s4g
Okay, kill is never said, but it is rather obvious what they were going to do. Starts at 17:00.

[dinodamage]

@CityRaptor oh my god that's actually hilarious- the tone is so grave. Good to see the longnecks being jerks for once, haha. Land Before Time II was always my favorite growing up because of Chomper and showing his parents being affectionate and caring.

I've always felt therapods deserved to be depicted with more gentleness and sauropods shown to be more badass and... it's kind of sad how little some misconceptions have changed since then. Thankfully there's a lot more out there in the public's consciousness about dinosaurs, so I hope in more time some of these major sweeping misunderstandings will change.


Oh- just thought of something else: if I have to hear "did you know t-rex was actually a scavenger??" one more time I swear on my life...

[Papi-Anon]

@CityRaptor oh my god that's actually hilarious- the tone is so grave. Good to see the longnecks being jerks for once, haha. Land Before Time II was always my favorite growing up because of Chomper and showing his parents being affectionate and caring.

I've always felt therapods deserved to be depicted with more gentleness and sauropods shown to be more badass and... it's kind of sad how little some misconceptions have changed since then. Thankfully there's a lot more out there in the public's consciousness about dinosaurs, so I hope in more time some of these major sweeping misunderstandings will change.


Oh- just thought of something else: if I have to hear "did you know t-rex was actually a scavenger??" one more time I swear on my life...

Seconding the part with Chomper's parents. As badass as the original film's Sharptooth was he was too much villain and not enough animal in behavior. Plus he could have probably swam.

And to be fair on the 't-Rex was a scavenger' misnomer, people still think of spotted hyenas as lowly scavengers when in reality they hunt and kill more of their food than lions do.

[Bowhead Whale]

Isn't there a misunderstanding still roaming about Ichtyostega and other prehistoric amphibians that were able to walk on land without problems? Even with their oh-so-tiny legs? I persennally think those tiny legs were meant to wave water plants away from their paths while swimming. Just like we wave flies away with our hands when we go hiking in the forest. What do you think?

[stargatedalek]

Isn't there a misunderstanding still roaming about Ichtyostega and other prehistoric amphibians that were able to walk on land without problems? Even with their oh-so-tiny legs? I persennally think those tiny legs were meant to wave water plants away from their paths while swimming. Just like we wave flies away with our hands when we go hiking in the forest. What do you think?

Their digits were definitely adapted for terrestrial movement, the question is whether they had abandoned that completely already or not in favour of growing larger.

[GojiraGuy1954]

Isn't there a misunderstanding still roaming about Ichtyostega and other prehistoric amphibians that were able to walk on land without problems? Even with their oh-so-tiny legs? I persennally think those tiny legs were meant to wave water plants away from their paths while swimming. Just like we wave flies away with our hands when we go hiking in the forest. What do you think?

Their limbs are still more robust than those of modern Mudskippers

[Bowhead Whale]

Then, I will say that the most misunderstood dinosaur must be the parasaurolophus. It is always represented with its crest totally bare. And what I think is, that crest must have supported a sail. Why? Because of its vertebrates. If you look at the top of the vertebrates on its neck, you will see that they are oriented forward. But at the very beginning of the back part, the vertebrates tops suddenly take a drastic turn: they are suddenly oriented backwards. The difference is so exaggerated the change of direction creates a depression between the shoulder blades. To me, it is not there randomly: it is because there was a sail there, and this sail stopped where the vertebrates change direction from forward to backward. What do you think?

[Halichoeres]

@Bowhead Whale Are you talking about the notch in the neural spines near the shoulder? That seems to be an artifact from a healed injury:
Technical paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joa.13363

Brief summary: https://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=9167.msg275482#msg275482