We don't have a DINOSAUR thread? Inconceivable!

I love dinosaurs. All kinds. They are awesome. And to think that these things were alive, and roaming the earth millions of years ago is just fascinating to me. I love the history of dino bone hunting, from Marsh and Cope and their race to find new dinos, to the image of dinos in pop culture. Dinos started out as slow and dumb reptiles.



Then they got all cool and dark, still slow and meandering, but also somehow menacing.



But as time went on, paleontologists realized these things were actual animals, who completely filled the niches in their environment in such a dominant fashion that they existed on Earth longer than most animals since.

Then there are all the animals that get called dinosurs, but aren't. Dimetrodon, for instance...



Isn't a dinosaur, but a mammal-like reptile, which went extinct 40 million years before dinos.

There are also flying reptiles and marine reptiles, which also get lumped in with dinos, but aren't.




But they are all awesome too.

I love dinos and all big reptiles. So we can post about any of them here. Here are some more pics of dinos...





Also feel free to talk about dinos in media too... like...



and...