I adored dinosaurs when I was a kid.
I wanted to be a paleontologist, easily the biggest word I know when I was 8.
I had loads of books on dinosaurs to keep me happy and a few terrific Revell kits and eventually I got interested in fossils too.
I even had a toy fossil hunting kit that came in a cardboard box with a magnifying glass, small hammer and a ID guide. No idea what it was called now that set. I'd love to see it again.
My fave dinosaurs were T. Rex. Allosaurus, Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, Brontosaurus, Dimetrodon, Iguanadon, Triceratops and Anklyosaurus. I don't think I knew about giants like Spinosaurus and Gargantosaurus in the Sixties. They weren't in my books.
Fave flying creatures were the impossible to spell Pteradactyl and Pteranodon and the even harder Archeopteryx.
In the seas were Icthyosaurus, plesiosaurs and the megasaur I think.
Eventually I got into large mammals too like Woolly Mammoth, Megaladon and my all time favourite, the Sabre-tooth Tiger or to give it its Sunday name, Smilodon.
Reading about these beasts and staring at pictures of their ancient seas and forests, the huge insects and giant ferns and realising just how long they ruled the Earth were some of the happiest times of my childhood.
i didn't become a Paleontologist.
I adored it all anyway.
Did you?
* title inspired by the late Peter Redgroves's poem In the Hall of the Saurians.
Like you, I've always been fascinated by dinosaurs (and even more so by their friends the pterosaurs). I went fossil hunting last year and found a few too!
ReplyDeleteWere the pterosaurs the flying dinosaurs?
ReplyDeleteThey were the flying reptiles, yes. Not really dinosaurs, they were land dwellers.
DeleteAt age five, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up,I replied"A Dinosaur".50 years later, it seems I have achieved that goal;p
ReplyDeleteha ha! That's a good 'un Brian! Yep, its Jurrasic Retirement Park for us next!
DeleteYes, I think most kids like dinosaurs, even today- witness the great many dinosaur toys still available, you can even get soft toy versions! AS I live near a beach, I often fossil hunt, occasionally finding sea urchins in the flint. I Keep meaning to go to the site of the old Crystal Palace, where there are life-size models of what the Victorians thought dinosaurs looked like -in photos they look great.
ReplyDeleteThose models sound wonderful Andy. I'd like to see them too. I adored my smaller Revell dinosaurs when I was a nipper. I can still see the wonderful boxes of them that greeted me one Christmas morning.
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