The case for a new dinosaur tree

Last year was a great year for dinosaur finds. Finding an actual piece of the asteroid in amber that wiped out the dinosaurs was just one of them! Something that may have gone unnoticed was the recent debate on re-classifying dinosaurs. Since writing our article on bringing back the Brontosaurus, some new things have been introduced into the dinosaur which may need to be reclassified. There was only a certain class of dinosaurs that had feathers. There was a distinction between warm-blooded and cold-blooded dinosaurs. They even found that herbivores may have been carnivores at one time.

The current system for classification goes by hip bones. It is the difference between having hip bones like a bird or having hip bones like a lizard. The problem with this theory starts with the fact that some are bipedal, and some are quadrupeds in both sets. This system was devised in 1887 by Harry Seeley and it worked for that time period. They were taking the dinosaur discovery seriously and it helped to organize the different types. As time progressed and more dinosaurs were found then comparisons were easier to make because of the wider scope of the types of dinosaurs. There are now three distinct types of Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Brontosaurus was brought back because of an in-depth study of Sauropods from around the world. Some of these have to do with location-same species but varied according to the environment that they were found in.

According to the article in the New York Times about the new system, there are over 1,000 species of dinosaurs now in the database to prove this point. The new classification system would put the therapods over in the Ornithischian group rather than the Saurischian group. Because of the comprehensive study on the subject, it has been taken into consideration by many experts on the subject. However, the Paleontologist world is not ready yet to accept such a radical change. That may change in the

coming years as they make more discoveries in the dinosaur world.

The interesting thing is that so many things have come up in the last few years, they could change the classification into two other different categories. This last year, they found that many of the dinosaurs were warm-blooded. This is how they classify animals in our era. This type of classification would also help delineate the difference between a bird which is warm-blooded and a lizard which is cold-blooded. However, there are more factors involved than just hip bones. They could also classify according to herbivore and carnivore which would be an interesting factor. That doesn’t really classify lizards and birds, but it would be closer to distinguishing between a dog and a horse. One hunts and the other grazes. This is worth considering because therapods are classified with plant eaters in both classification systems, but they are voracious hunters. What if we classified them according to two-legged and four-legged dinosaurs?

The most important thing is that they are learning more about these fascinating creatures. The discovery of warm-blooded and cold-blooded is so important to the dinosaur world. It is the closest thing to our classification system to date. They discovered from the teeth who eats plants and who eats meat. They were even able to find that only therapods actually had feathers. Not every dinosaur had feathers. This also could be used to classify. While they may not be ready to make a change yet, there is no doubt that as more dinosaur characteristics are discovered there will be a need to change the classification. It’s just a matter of determining how we chose to classify them.