Review and photos by Faelrin, edited by Dinotoyblog

It has been a long wait, but a worthwhile one. The Mountains Environment Accessory Pack is just one of many from the 1/6th scale Beasts of the Mesozoic: Raptor Series line, created by David Silva. It offers the first of its kind: scientifically accurate, highly articulated, and highly detailed dinosaur action figures. I first backed the […]

Open access article, and the "non-technical summary" section near the beginning gives an overview everyone can understand. 🧪🦖

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/troodontid-specimens-from-the-cretaceous-two-medicine-formation-of-montana-usa-and-the-validity-of-troodon-formosus/3E58F1FDA3FE53DE569E0D0B20E79F22

Very short version: #Troodon was considered a valid #genus for well over a century, until it was merged with #Stenonychosaurus about a decade ago, and due to specimen quality Stenonychosaurus took priority. Now careful examination indicates Troodon is a valid genus again.

This process is familiar from other famous #dinosaur genera, most notably #Brontosaurus and #Apatosaurus. Even *living* animals are hard to classify a lot of the time; nothing between #kingdom and #species is really set in stone. The tension between "#lumpers" and "#splitters" never ends.

Troodon is special. Maybe it was intelligent, in a way we'd recognize as such, and maybe it wasn't. But it was almost surely *smart*, and quite possibly social, and likely an omnivore. Does that remind you of anyone?

Maybe I'm fooling myself, when I feel a kinship across deep time. And maybe I'm not.

Pet Stenonychosaurus doodles.

#stenonychosaurus #troodontid #dinosaur #paleoart #paleopet #MyArt