The Dinosaur Heresies

Book by Robert T. Bakker

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The Dinosaur Heresies

Paperback edition front cover,
Illustration by John Gurche (1985)

Author| Robert T. Bakker
Language| English
Publisher| Citadel Press (current edition)

Publication date

| 1986
Publication place| United States
Media type| Print/Hardcover
Pages| 481 pp.
ISBN| 0-8217-5608-7
OCLC| 36439291

The Dinosaur Heresies: New Theories Unlocking the Mystery of the Dinosaurs and Their Extinction is a 1986 book written by Robert T. Bakker[1][2] exploring extant evidence indicating that dinosaurs, rather than being cold-blooded and wholly lizard-like, were warm-blooded, agile creatures more similar to modern birds than to lizards or other reptiles. Although controversial on publication in 1986,[3] much of The Dinosaur Heresies now represents the prevalent view in paleontological circles (although other parts have been outdated by more current research).[citation needed]

The main arguments used to show that dinosaurs were warm-blooded are:

* Almost all animals that walk upright today are warm-blooded, and dinosaurs walked upright.
* The hearts of warm-blooded animals can pump much more effectively than the hearts of cold-blooded animals. Therefore, the giant sauropod dinosaur Brachiosaurus must have had the type of heart associated with warm-blooded animals in order to pump blood all the way up to its head.
* Dinosaurs such as Deinonychus led a very active life, which is much more compatible with a warm-blooded animal.
* Some dinosaurs lived in northern latitudes, where it would have been impossible for cold-blooded animals to keep warm.
* The rapid rate of speciation and evolution found in dinosaurs is typical of warm-blooded animals and atypical of cold-blooded animals.
* The predator/prey ratio of predatory dinosaurs to their prey is a signature trait of warm-blooded predators rather than cold-blooded ones.
* Birds are warm-blooded. Birds evolved from dinosaurs, therefore a change to a warm-blooded metabolism must have taken place at some point; there is far more change between dinosaurs and their ancestors, the archosaurs, than between dinosaurs and birds.
* Warm-blooded metabolisms are evolutionary advantages for top predators and large herbivores; if the dinosaurs had not been warm-blooded, there should be fossil evidence showing mammals evolving to fill these ecological niches. No such evidence exists; in fact, mammals by the end of the Cretaceous had become smaller and smaller from their synapsid ancestors.
* Dinosaurs grew rapidly, evidence for which can be found by observing cross-sections of their bones.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Kakutani, Michiko (1986-11-08). "BOOKS OF THE TIMES; Dinosaur Mysteries". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
2. ^ "Review of The Dinosaur Heresies by Robert T. Bakker". Kirkus Reviews. 21 November 1986.
3. ^ Horner, John R. (1988). "The Dinosaur Heresies. New Theories Unlocking the Mystery of the Dinosaurs and Their Extinction. Robert T. Bakker". The Quarterly Review of Biology. 63 (2): 210–211\. doi:10.1086/415850. ISSN 0033-5770.

*[OCLC]: Online Computer Library Center number