by
Odds Bodkin

They're dangerous, but they're not around anymore.

They're big as houses.

And you can see them coming.

Dinosaurs tower above our small imaginations, knocking down trees and sniffing their young with roaring nostrils. And if you're a child, you can imagine yourself in their world, cowering under bushes and praying they don't see you.

Or you can imagine what it must be like to own one. A pet dino. One who, like a trained elephant, kneels gently to let you clamber up onto his back to parade the neighborhood as other kids clamor for a ride.

Kids love dinosaurs. Grownups love them, too. I'm one of those, of course, but I've loved dinos since I was very little. Still I ask myself: why? After all, kids love lions and rhinos and whales and bears and other big animals. Why do dinosaurs stand head and shoulders above the competition?

As a storyteller who tells stories about dinosaurs, I have my theories.

Theory #1: Dinosaurs can be anything. Because they're extinct, dinosaurs can be whatever a child wants them to be. Although paleontologists speculate about their behavior based on their fossil skeletons, we really don't know how dinos sounded, what they thought, how they smelled, how they slept, on and on. So children have greater leeway in imagining their behavior than with living species.

Theory #2: We all have "dino brains". In a manner of speaking, we all possess a dinosaur brain. Scientists often refer to the brainstem--the medulla that connects our other two brains (the cerebellum and the cerebrum) to the spinal cord--as the "reptilian brain". It heats up when we are acting acquisitive, hungry, territorial and aggressive. So when we behave in those ways, we're closer to those ancient masters of the planet.

Theory #3: Dinosaurs are giants. Perhaps Tyrannosaurus is the modern-day equivalent of the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk. Children play with toy dinosaurs and when they do, they project their own fantasies about being small but nonetheless powerful into their made-up adventures. If someone pushed me around on the playground, you can bet when I got home, even my smallest dinosaur made quick work of big T-Rex.

Theory #4: Dinosaurs resemble people. Just the way the Greek gods each embodied a human trait, so too can dinosaurs. At least in the mind of a child. There are armed warriors like Triceratops. Loving mothers like the Maiasaur. Cuddly little Protoceratopses. Fast, nasty thieves, like Struthiomimus. The list goes on and on, and children unconsciously map what they know about people onto what they imagine about dinosaurs as they play.

So, let your children's imaginations run wild with dinosaurs this summer. And if you can think of any other theories, email me!