Thread by @Babbletrish, Finished the #Dinosaurs Past and Present books a while back. The only [...]

Finished the #Dinosaurs Past and Present books a while back. The only appropriate follow-up is The Ultimate Dinosaur. Goodness, this is a weird one.

Published in 1992 (and you can tell), Ultimate #Dinosaur is a heady collection of #paleoart, factual essays, and science fiction stories. It also has bizarre formatting and a rollercoaster of an opening paragraph.

“Wow! A 90’s anthology of sci-fi all involving dinosaurs?” Well... INVOLVING dinosaurs is the important part there. Most of them do. And the rest...?

Anyway, merry #MerMay from The Ultimate Dinosaur! (Art by William Parsons.)

There’s a surprising amount of #AllYesterdays worthy speculation in mostly the sci-fi stories. Smart dinosaurs! Live-bearing dinosaurs! Lactating dinosaurs! LACTATING DINOSAURS?!?

Lactating dinosaurs. Which is a theory somebody must have had around 1992-ish. Because it has been referenced in two sci-fi stories. So far.

Anyway, because it’s 1992, obviously Therizinosaurus and Deinocheirus must have been nightmarish killing machines, right?

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤣" title="Rolling on the floor laughing" aria-label="Emoji: Rolling on the floor laughing">

Anyway, because it’s 1992, obviously Therizinosaurus and Deinocheirus must have been nightmarish killing machines, right? https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable=

" title="Anyway, because it’s 1992, obviously Therizinosaurus and Deinocheirus must have been nightmarish killing machines, right? https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤣" title="Rolling on the floor laughing" aria-label="Emoji: Rolling on the floor laughing">" class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>

AND since it’s 1992, the question of bird ancestry is... exactly that. Still even a question, I mean. I’m curious about this Megalancosaurus but what really slayed me is the “sometimes inane” comment.

Megalancosaurus by Scott Reid, for the curious. So birdlike.

It’s a beautiful day and I’m reading outside near my freshly filled food dispensaries for “sometimes inane” maniraptor descendants. Speaking of, LOOK at these 90’s raptors from Doug Henderson!

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😍" title="Smiling face with heart-shaped eyes" aria-label="Emoji: Smiling face with heart-shaped eyes">

It’s a beautiful day and I’m reading outside near my freshly filled food dispensaries for “sometimes inane” maniraptor descendants. Speaking of, LOOK at these 90’s raptors from Doug Henderson! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable=

" title="It’s a beautiful day and I’m reading outside near my freshly filled food dispensaries for “sometimes inane” maniraptor descendants. Speaking of, LOOK at these 90’s raptors from Doug Henderson! https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😍" title="Smiling face with heart-shaped eyes" aria-label="Emoji: Smiling face with heart-shaped eyes">" class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>

This brings me to the very weirdest story in the book, by Ray Bradbury. It’s very like Dandelion Wine and is about a little boy who longs to be a tyrannosaurus. Awww!

The kid starts sharpening his teeth, eating raw meat, and talking in his fevered sleep about demons in the deep.

Pictured: Primeval nightmare demons from the fevered dreams of a little 1950’s kid who immediately needs to find both Jesus and a more wholesome obsession like, I dunno, trains. Yeah, trains!

(Checks the copyright date on the Bradbury story.)

Nineteen EIGHTY three?!?

https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤯" title="Exploding head" aria-label="Emoji: Exploding head">

Pictured: Primeval nightmare demons from the fevered dreams of a little 1950’s kid who immediately needs to find both Jesus and a more wholesome obsession like, I dunno, trains. Yeah, trains!(Checks the copyright date on the Bradbury story.)Nineteen EIGHTY three?!? https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable=

" title="Pictured: Primeval nightmare demons from the fevered dreams of a little 1950’s kid who immediately needs to find both Jesus and a more wholesome obsession like, I dunno, trains. Yeah, trains!(Checks the copyright date on the Bradbury story.)Nineteen EIGHTY three?!? https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤯" title="Exploding head" aria-label="Emoji: Exploding head">">

I don’t want to end this thread on that note tonight so here is a sunny friend.

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