Today, we're going to explore how Mesozoic creatures of the air and sea would deal with modern times. As we've seen, most Mesozoic animals, when suddenly transported somehow to modern times, make a big conspicuous show of themselves. These guys won't be any different:
Dear Quetzalcoatli, please don't mess with airplanes. Just don't. I've seen you do this before and let me tell you, it will only end in tears. (By the way, obligate scavenger Quetzalcoatlus.)
... ... ... What?
DIVER 1: "Shonisaurus! Oh, how majestic!"
DIVER 2: "It's only a painting."
DIVER 1: "Shut up, you."
To be fair, the painted animals look awesome especially since the CGI animals look so goofy. The Photoshopping is still so very awkward. To wit:
This otter looks so happy to have caught a badly-Photoshopped-in painting of an Ammonite!
And this reminds me of another odd aspect of this book. It happily ignores the fact that there were such things as fish, birds, small mammals, and such in the Mesozoic. Scenes like this or the sight of a small pterosaur competing with small birds for food aren't quite as bizarre as the book makes them out to be.
Coming at this from a different direction, the book also ignores the fact that large predatory animals, giant sea creatures, enormous herbivores, and -duh- birds exist in modern times. It's not so bizarre to see birds roosting in and flocking around the Statue of Liberty -- except they aren't as conspicuous about it. And dig the early interpretation of Microraptor. "We can be sure that it was brightly colored like the tropical birds of today," says Dixon, even though the Microraptors in the illustration are more subdued. Yeah.
And now, the second most-ridiculous image in the book. Gaze upon it in despair:
There is absolutely nothing I could add to this. At all. Moving on...
"Birds is Birds!" Yes, but Microraptor is classified as a Deinonychosaur, so...? And then there's the strange assurance that if you're a bird you aren't a dinosaur anymore. I cannot emphasize this enough: that is like insisting that whales are no longer mammals.
And finally, the most ridiculous, and my absolute favorite, image in the book:
I wonder if this person knew what they were taking her picture for?
-----
Sketch of the Day!
Yeah, what if dinosaurs were alive today? Hmmm... HMMMMM...
