New Dinosaur Smell

Eodromaeus is famous for being new. So many dinosaurs are more famous for being new than they are famous because of a great story or because it intrigued many generations of museum goers or paleontologists. It is such a new dinosaur, in fact, that toys and documentaries and the other venues of dinosaur fame have not really had enough time to take hold in the popular psyche. The videos shown on Monday detailed the news impact and the number of hosted copies of the naming paper also attest to the popularity of the animal right now. More importantly than any other outlet or popular culture characteristics is the idea that Eodromaeus helps us understand the origins of dinosaurs just a little bit more. Brian Switek's article for the Smithsonian covers this topic very well and deserves to be read. It would be a shame to rehash his arguments when his own words are available online, so I will not today. Eodromaeus is an early branch on the family tree, but a very important branch.