A segment of text (Patreon)

Hi everyone - I must apologise again for silence here, I plan to release new material regularly but things are so difficult, I'm struggling to keep up. A few articles have been published at Tetrapod Zoology lately: most recently a very long review of the Migo lake monster saga of the 1990s. That article is here... http://tetzoo.com/blog/2021/2/16/the-lake-dakataua-migo-lake-monster-footage-of-1994

I've also recently published (in Biological Sciences Review) an article on how to be a science-writer. I don't have a pdf yet but will share one when I do. Papers on new theropods, Dale Russell's dinosauroid project and pterosaur biology are nearing completion and will be submitted or published in 2021.

I'm also finishing the proofed text and illustrations for Dinopedia - it should all be done and fully submitted before the end of the month. And that's why we're here now; I thought you'd appreciate seeing another of the text sections, this time the one on the Dinosaur Renaissance. I hope you enjoy it and that it gives you a guide to what the whole book's going to be like...

Dinosaur Renaissance

The cultural event of the 1960s and 70s (though read on) in which dinosaurs were recast as agile, social, warm-blooded, successful animals that live on as birds. Those promoting this view of dinosaurs—predominantly John Ostrom and his student Robert Bakker—disputed the stereotype prevalent beforehand: that dinosaurs were monuments of inefficiency and bad design, destined for extinction. Bakker termed this overturning of ideas a Renaissance, his argument being that it marked a return to a more vigorous view of dinosaurs prevalent during the late 1800s.

The Renaissance made dinosaurs attractive areas of discussion, and heated exchanges on their biology occurred in scientific journals. Adrian Desmond’s 1975 book The Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs did much to popularize the Renaissance, as did articles in Scientific American, National Geographic, and Discovery.

The Dinosaur Renaissance is usually implied to result from Bakker’s and Ostrom’s efforts alone, the main catalysts being Bakker’s articles (published between 1968 and 1974) on dinosaur “warm-bloodedness” and the terrestrial lifestyle of sauropods, and Ostrom’s 1969 description of Deinonychus. But an alternative take on the Renaissance might be that it was the inevitable consequence of post-WWII history and generational turnover. The ideas Ostrom and Bakker promoted were based mostly on fossils—like those discovered during the Polish-Mongolian expeditions of the 1960s and 70s—whose discovery and study could only happen within the decades following WWII. Furthermore, the postwar baby boom resulted in the existence of a generation the right age to be intrigued by, and engage with, the implications of these fossils. Such topics as the origin of birds, dinosaur behavior, and dinosaur feeding mechanisms had always been the topic of investigation, it’s just that the number of studies published prior to the 60s and 70s had been low due to a small number of publishing paleontologists. Take all of this into consideration, and a fairer appraisal of the Renaissance might be that it occurred as a perfect storm of events.

If the Renaissance was a cultural “event,” when did it end? Was it short-lived and ended during the 70s, was it more drawn-out, or is it that we’re still in it? I invited the thoughts of colleagues on this matter and discovered a diversity of opinions. The fact that we remain in a dynamic, fast-moving period whereby the ideas of the Renaissance continue to be supported and investigated could mean that the Renaissance is still ongoing.

But I rather prefer the view that the Renaissance could be considered “finished” once Renaissance views of dinosaurs became accepted in mainstream culture. The 1993 appearance of Jurassic Park could be interpreted as marking that acceptance, as could the 1990s publication of feathered dinosaurs like Sinosauropteryx and Caudipteryx. And if the Renaissance has finished, maybe we’re now in a new period, a sort of Dinosaur Enlightenment.

See also Robert Bakker; Deinonychus; John Ostrom.