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| Dinosaur bones aren't the only things that fossilize; dinosaur eggs did so too! Keep reading to learn about the new previously extinct reptiles that will soon be making an appearance at Animal Adventures Inc! |
Last year, Animal
Adventures Inc. celebrated the
birth of their newest addition – a female baby Parasaurolophus
named Morgan. Now, some
species of extinct creatures are preparing for the hatching of the
newest babies. Who will the proud parents be? None other than AAI.'s
pair of Velociraptors
and Pteranodon.
Buck and Ginger Velociraptors
were quite excited when
they found out that Ginger was bearing eggs. When I found out about
this, I thought it was definitely newsworthy. So my trusty, junior
photographer, Daniel P. Smithwater, and I went to the raptor's
apartment to get an exclusive interview. Buck is quoted for saying,
“This won't be our first batch. A couple years ago, we had Molly,
who's now in her teens.” Molly is quite up and coming of age as any
who knows her will tell you. Buck's proud to have raised her the way
he did and both he and Ginger were kind of bummed that parenthood
with Molly was ending. “But that's the great thing about
dinosaurs!” Ginger announces. “Unlike a lot of humans, dinosaurs
have multiple 'litters' in their lifetimes. So when one 'litter'
grows up, another will be on its way.” Ginger also cautioned me not
to use the term “pregnant” when referring to a reptile bearing
eggs. “The technical term is 'gravid',” she says. “Tell your
readers to look it up if they don't believe me.” After the
interview was over, Daniel and I went to AAI.'s
lead paleontologist, Dr. Samuel Adamson, a man who was able to tell
me much about the reproductive habits of Velociraptors
in the wild. Dr. Adamson is quoted for saying, “Velociraptors
are turkey-sized dinosaurs from the family of dinosaurs known as the
dromaeosaurs,
or 'raptor dinosaurs' (and as Buck and Ginger will tell you, being
turkey-sized doesn't make them not dangerous). What makes them unique
is the special three-inch retractable claw on their middle toes, used
. . . [for] finishing off their prey and . . . oh! Reproductive
habits! I'm going off topic . . . let's see, reproductive habits . .
. Well, Velociraptor
was very similar in many ways to modern birds (despite not being
related to them, as birds were made on Day 5 of the Creation week
described in the book of Genesis in the Bible and dinosaurs were made
on Day 6) and we know many dinosaurs brooded their eggs, just like
birds. We even find fossils of dinosaurs similar to Velociraptor
sitting on nests. Also like birds, they probably turned the eggs and
would incubate them until it was time for them to hatch. Nests of
these dinosaurs often resembled the nests of many ground-dwelling
birds today. They also would have been cared for after they hatched.”
But that's not all that's happening here at AAI.;
as I mentioned before, the other pair of proud parents is AAI.'s
own pair of Pteranodon,
Mr. Fire and Mrs. Thunder. Unlike the raptors, this will be their
first batch of eggs. By the way, Dr. Samuel had some interesting
information on Pteranodon
as well. “Contrary to popular belief,” says Dr. Samuel, “there
is no such species of dinosaur as a pterodactyl. First of all,
dinosaurs don't fly, so any reptile with the ability of flight is
called a flying reptile. The correct name for the group of flying
reptiles Pteranodon
belongs to is called pterosaurs and while there is a species of
pterosaur called Pterodactylus,
and the group of pterosaurs Pteranodon
belongs to is referred to at pterodactaloid, people are using the
incorrect name when referring to Pteranodon
itself. Anyway, Pteranodon
was a pterosaur with a 25-30 foot wingspan and was a terrific glider.
Like modern birds, they probably nurtured their young as well. It's
likely that pterosaurs such as Pteranodon
nested in large colonies on coastal cliffs, like many of today's sea
birds. We've . . . actually discovered some fossilized pterosaur eggs
and by using CAT scans to peer inside them, we can tell the
development of the baby inside. Based on these CAT scans, we know
pterosaurs grew very quickly and were ready to take their first
flight soon after hatching.” He went on to explain that they
probably were too inexperienced to catch their own food, so their
parents must have still done some caring for them until they could
take care of themselves. “I can't believe I'm going to be a mother!
It's so exciting!” says Thunder. “Since our species went extinct
thousands of years ago, I've never been able to witness another
Pteranodon
rearing young, but I've been doing some research on child-rearing for
pterosaurs and I think I'm ready.” Fire says that he feels, “it's
my duty to help bring on the next generation of Pteranodon,
with our species being pretty much extinct and all.” In closing,
Daniel gave me the idea of going to Dr. Steve Stevenson (head of
Animal Adventures Institute,
the lead scientist of the team that brings AAI.'s
dinosaurs to life via cloning) to get his thoughts on the fact that
his dinosaurs are breeding. “It's really awe-inspiring . . .[to]
me,” he says. “I mean, these creatures that you worked hard to
recreate – watching them grow up and become adults is fascinating.
And every time they reproduce it just makes me imagine how powerful
God must be to have created the original dinosaurs all those
thousands of years ago and how complex he made their reproductive
behaviors, everything from laying the eggs to rearing them. It's
simply awesome every time I think about it.”
Written by: Mr. Smiley
Photographer: Daniel P.
Smithwater
Edited by: Christian
Ryan, Joy Hammond
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