[One Proud Dad]

I think the shows on the Science and Discovery Channel that depict how dinsaurs lived are bogus. They show how these dinosaurs looked ( as far as color of skin and eyes ) and interacted with each other and even how they sounded and pass it off as fact. I did not know all that was available from a petrified bone.

[George Smiley]

Are you sure that wasn't that Disney movie?

[-YYZ-]

You're right, they pass it off as science when in fact it's little more than a speculative fictionalization based on scant evidence. T-rex walked or ran with its body and tail held horizontally? OK, that makes sense. But as to its color, how it sounded or smelled, or exactly what type of social relations it had, well they're extrapolating an awful lot from very little.

[af_vet_rr]

I think the shows on the Science and Discovery Channel that depict how dinsaurs lived are bogus. They show how these dinosaurs looked ( as far as color of skin and eyes ) and interacted with each other and even how they sounded and pass it off as fact. I did not know all that was available from a petrified bone.

I think sometimes they try to apply modern behaviors, or rather behaviors that have been observed in modern times, to dinosaurs (such as pack animals hunting). It would be fairly safe to think that such behaviors were possible back then, and when you look at how some dinosaurs were built, it's easy to see where they could fit into that.

On the other hand, they do have sites where large groups of dinosaurs suddenly died together, and they can see certain traits present.

To flip around and play devil's advocate, they make the world millions of years ago to be this vicious cycle of T-Rex (or another predator/scavenger) constantly killing thisorthatasaurs, and I wonder how much of that is true - it's like if I were to tell you that hippos are far more dangerous than crocodiles or lions, or that elephants killing people and lions is far more common than you think, you might be surprised.

[orionblamblam]

> They show how these dinosaurs looked ( as far as color of skin and eyes ) and interacted with each other and even how they sounded and pass it off as fact.

Well, just showing bones would be boring.

In any event: skin color can be reasonably guessed at based on modern examples. Behavior can be estimated based on things like bone damage, nesting sites, trackways, etc. Sound can be estiamted based on lung capacity, nasal passages, throat geometry, etc.

[Born to Conserve]

Shame on them for conducting science. They should be content reading only the bible.