An Examination: The Self-Awareness of Dinoasaurs

Published on January 19, 2009 by Ryan O'Meara   ·   No Comments

I wonder if the dinosaurs had any notion that they were about to become a footnote in the history of the world?

Self awareness is probably not something that dinosaurs had in abundance.

They got up, went off to do dinosaur things and then went to bed on a full dinosaur stomach.

They probably lived each day exactly the same as the last. Doing dinosaur things with their dinosaur buddies day in day out, unchallenged and totally unaware that they’d had their day, that their future was, well, pretty much non existent! Their goose was cooked, they – blissfully – probably didn’t know it and proceeded to just go about doing what they’d always done. Aww. Bless.

They could have had no concept that underlying changes had been rumbling for a while. They were oblivious to the impending one-way trip they were about to make, destination: oblivion.

They probably spent no time on self reflection, questioning themselves on what they might have been able to do to stave off the impending doom.

Nor, I would imagine, did they ever challenge themselves to consideration of whether they were going to leave a legacy more remarkable than a few fossils that would make up exhibits in historical buildings throughout the world. They didn’t invent or discover anything, they just dinosaured about the earth with their sore heads and dodgy tempers.

They were very different to the majority of the evolved creatures we now share the planets with. I challenge you to look at a dinosaur and not ask: “Wow, did THOSE guys really inhabit the same planet as us? Really?”

Yeah, they were different all right. But now they’re gone. We’re probably pretty lucky that they’re gone. I’m sure it would have been hard for modern man to have evolved, discovered what we’ve discovered and generally made the progress we have if every time we set foot out of the door a lumbering great dinosaur kept trying to wipe us out, hindering our efforts around every corner.

They died out and they never saw it coming. That’s what dinosaurs are famous for really, the fact that they lumbered about the place doing nothing much more than eating, sleeping and reproducing a whole load of hot air then in a poof, “bang” and they were gone. The earth moves on and evolution wins out.

But I’m going to amaze you. Be prepared. I know where there is a real, living breathing dinosaur.

“What, a real life dinosaur exhibit?” I hear you cry. “Surely you’re winding us up?” you’re undoubtedly pondering.

“An actual remnant of a by-gone age that pre-dates science and the comprehension of evolutionary theory?” I know you’re thinking.

Yes. Yes indeed.

This particular dinosaur has a column in Our Dogs and goes by the name of Robert Killick.

You’ll need to be quick, but if you fancy standing agape and in awe at the magnificent preservation of this particular fossil it’s there, in full glory.

In the latest installment of his column, Prehistoric Times, you can stand amazed as you discover just what reason Tyrannosaurus-Killick has dug up to justify………(wait for it)……

…….(having a baby with his own daughter).

In the week that the KC outlawed father to daughter matings, a remnant of the dim and distant past comes up with a reason why he’d be prepared to mate with his own offspring. No, I’m not making it up. Really I’m not!

Don’t worry though, the justification for having a baby with his own daughter is not the only prehistoric gem. There are more. Sadly for me, I don’t have a hieroglyphics translator and I’m not too familiar with how to transcribe the meanings of cave paintings so I can’t tell you more, but I’m pretty sure if you dig out half a shilling and put it toward your purchase of the latest copy of Our Dogs, you’ll get the full Paleolithic experience.

(Obviously, *most* of the above is strictly ‘tongue in cheek’.)

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