STL Science Center

STL Science Center

26 July 2012

Popular Roosters

They're a little hard to see from here, but a real Buitreraptor
would be, since it's so small.
Despite the amount of attention we have seen that Buitreraptor has gained over the past few years since its initial description, it is not yet a very popular dinosaur. One reason is that it is still relatively obscure in the general dinosaur area that is well known to the public; with a noted exception of video games, obviously since that is where the picture came from (Zoo Tycoon). The easiest way to change that is always to do one or both of these two things: make a documentary that at least mentions the dinosaur in passing or write a children's book that presents the dinosaur in a way in which children will remember the dinosaur as they grow up. Actually, part of this first step has taken place, if one remembers the National Geographic Dinopedia mentioned earlier in the week. Buitreraptor is probably well on its way to being remembered in the future thanks to that. One thing I did not mention, though I know it helped me to remember dinosaurs in my growing up, is attending museums. There is at least one skeleton of Buitreraptor mounted in the US at the Field Museum in Chicago, and the public can learn a lot from seeing that skeleton and talking to tour guides etc. at the museum. However, the reason I did not include the museums is, not because people have stopped going to museums, but that our world has become so fast paced that museums are typically a school field trip or a vacation item that not everyone gets to enjoy and the internet, through documentaries and online versions of books, has become a much more accessible way to gather information for people of all ages. Personally, I still prefer the museum to the internet, but a combination of the two working together is usually pretty useful.

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