The Gigantoraptor...

[fajrdrako]

silverwhistle sent me an interesting clipping from The Guardian, about a feathered carnivorous dinosaur called the Gigantoraptor, though she (quite rightly) calls it Budgie-Kong.

There was a picture of an artist's depiction of the creature.

I showed the picture to my budgies, and they said, "It's big, but we're prettier and we sing better." (They actually said 'chirp', but I tend to follow the example of the TARDIS - I translate freely from Budgie.) Apparently it's a young Gigantoraptor, weighing about 1.4 tonnes. Picturing a huge, carnivorous creature with the personality of a budgie is rather terrifying. The only way I can control my little guys at all (assuming I can) is by outweighing them.

I wondered why, in the picture, the Gigantoraptor is given brown and white feathers. With the face of a parrot, might it not be colourful? Bright reds and greens and yellows? Is the logic that modern birds of prey - owls, hawks, eagles - tend to be brownish? I always thought that was because they hunt at night. Did the Gigantoraptor hunt at night? Why should he, if he didn't fly? Why not give him the colouring of a peacock or a macaw?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I've noticed that dinosaurs are usually depicted in a sort of boring mud colour. More recently, scholars have theorised that dinosaurs came in a variety of bright colours, much like lizards do today, but I guess people just have a hard time imagining technicolour dinosaurs.

I think it would make sense for the male Budgie-King, at least, to have bright plumage, if only to attract a mate. Mind you, since a 1.4 tonne carnivore with a sharp beak doesn't exactly have to rely on camouflage to protect itself, there's no reason why the females shouldn't have bright plumage, too.

[hamadryad11.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that dinosaurs are usually depicted in a sort of boring mud colour. More recently, scholars have theorised that dinosaurs came in a variety of bright colours, much like lizards do today, but I guess people just have a hard time imagining technicolour dinosaurs.

I think it would make sense for the male Budgie-King, at least, to have bright plumage, if only to attract a mate. Mind you, since a 1.4 tonne carnivore with a sharp beak doesn't exactly have to rely on camouflage to protect itself, there's no reason why the females shouldn't have bright plumage, too.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing a lizard on a wall in Malta, that was very delicate, all shimmering greens and golds - far prettier than most living creatures. Is there any reason the skin of, say, a stegasaurus isn't depicted like that? I've always taken it for granted that they were drab colours because they always are, in the pictures, but why? If they are similar to birds and reptiles, surely they're likely to be bright and beautiful?

since a 1.4 tonne carnivore with a sharp beak doesn't exactly have to rely on camouflage to protect itself

Well, no. It's the old Tyrannosaurus Rex situation. When you're the toughest, biggest, fastest predator around you can afford to look any way you want.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

I often talk to Honey and then respond to myself, in translation of Honey's expressions or noises, since she can not speak English.

It all makes sense to me.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

All in all, our pets do a good job of communicating with us - and we with them.

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

I asked Toby (Jack Russell) about this. His comment:

"Humans are useless at communication. I sit here telling you I want the same dinner as you, only more of it, and what do you give me? Dog food. I tell you I want at least ten tripe chews an evening, and all I get is a measly two. Get real. Learn the lingo."

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

I don't see why they shouldn't be colourful. They didn't need camouflage - they weren't, after all, afraid of other predators (imagination curls up and dies at the concept), and they don't need to hide from their prey because they are BIG. So they might as well be brightly coloured and sexy.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I like the notion that they looked liked megasized parrots.

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

Wandering round squawking "Gigo wants a cracker"?

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

You'd need a huge cuttlefish for it…

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Yes, I see no reason why it shouldn't have budgie or macaw colours. After all, it's quite big enough to look after itself.

Perhaps the artists fear that readers wouldn't take seriously something huge and brightly coloured.

But at that size, you'd take it very seriously indeed! Giant flesh-eating budgies are a terrifying concept…

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Hawks hunt during the day.

I'm always seeing kestrels and buzzards (www.english-country-garden.com/birds/buzzard.htm) when I'm on long bus journeys (today included - a lovely buzzie on a fence post.) I'm particularly fond of buzzards, as they look to me as if they are made of tweed, and indeed have a very tweedy air of dignity about them! Very handsome birds.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

I have been known to have 2-way conversations with ducks (quacking at them and being quacked at back). I also talk to various birds, cats, dogs and squirrels.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

Another possibility is that it's depicted with juvenile plumage. Quite a few birds have duller colouring as youngsters, but brighten up once they get to breeding age.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It would be fun to see a drawing of the full-grown Kong, then!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I do too, especially if they approach me first.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Imagine the size of the cage!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

The colours might be to reflect its youth, or simply because there's a tradition of making dinosaurs brownish.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't see buzzards around here.... Hawks, yes. I know they hunt by day but I thought they hunted at night, too. I don't think I'd know a kestrel to see it - my familiarity with them is from books.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

The budgies agree with him.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

What we call a buzzard is different from what North America calls a buzzard (which is more of a vulture-type thing).

Kestrels are small as hawks go, which is one of the giveaways when you see them. They also have very pretty faces, with huge eyes.

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

This illustration (http://csotonyi.com/Gigantoraptor_erlianensis.html) gives it a very smart blue stripe! Perhaps it's related to Logan?!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

As far as I know there are no kinds of buzzards around here.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes - it must be his umpty-times-great grandfather! The glint in the eye is right, too.