~~ttutls~ington,ost novembergspauldino.com/comichistory.pdf · a comic history of dinosaurs-i am a...

~~t tutls~ington,ost A24 SATIJRDAY, NOVEMBER 6,1993

A Comic History of Dinosaurs-I am a dinosaur paleobiologist, so

imagine my pleasure when I first cameacross the "Mark Trail" info-strip ondinosaurs [Comics, Oct. 31]. It quicklyturned to disappointment and dismay.Again and again, Dodd and Elrod gotthe facts wrong.

In the first and second panels, thestrip declares: "The Earth is generallyestimated to be more than two billionyears old, but about three-fourths ofthis span of Earth history is withoutany fossil record!" and "Fossils havebeen found in rocks that go back about500 million years!"

The Earth and the solar system areclose to 4.5 billion years old. Give ortake a few million years, there is noscientific dispute about this long-ac--cepted and well-documented date.Trace fossils of single-celled organ-isms have been discovered in rocksabout 3.5 billion years old. The newestdata indicate that abundant fossils ofhard-bodied organisrns-e-trilobites. andthe like-first appeared in rocksformed about 540 million years ago.By my calculations there are no fossilsfor about one-fifth of Earth history,and they are rare for about eight-tenths of Earth history.

The third panel of the strip states:"The Iurassic Period, which we'veheard about so much lately, is whendinosaurs dominated the Earth." Okay,so far as it goes. But dinosaurs werealso dominant in the following period,the Cretaceous. And Dodd and Elrodfurther muddle things by illustratingtheir discussion of Jurassic times with -the skeleton of a duckbilled dinosaurfrom the late Cretaceous period.

Panel four states: "Jurassic is thename for the middle period of theMesozoic era, and it comes from theJura Mountains in Europe where earlyfossils were found." The authors gotthe text right. Too bad they illustratedthe panel with primitive, mammal-likereptiles that are no more closely relat-ed to dinosaurs than are you and I andthat lived in the Paleozoic era-longbefore dinosaurs.

Panel five states: "Dinosaurs _werereptiles, cold-blooded animals relatedto crocodiles, lizards and snakes, andthey lived about 200 million yearsago," and, "They became extinct some70 million years ago."

Where have Dodd and Elrod beenhiding out for the last quarter-century?

Dinosaurs are nolonger looked up-on as "cold-blooded reptiles."The modem de-bate is aboutwhether theywere warm-blooded, likebirds, or had alukewarm-blood-ed metabolism in- 'termedia te toreptiles and birds.It is true thatcrocodilians areclose relatives ofdinosaurs, butMark Trail doesnot tell his read-ers that birds arethe direct descen-dants of small-bodied, big-brained, flesh-eat-ing dinosaurs likethe raptors in "Ju-rassic Park."

What gives thesituation a comictwist is that in thesame Sundaycomics Wattersonran another of hismarvelous dino-saur tales in "Cal-vin and Hobbes."Watterson has obviously been keepingup with the latest research. Like the

other dinosaurs that appear in Calvin'simagination, the Tyrannosaurus rex isaccurate, up-to-date and original. Tailsare carried high in the air, and I\eadshapes and body form are drawn withthe dynamism and skill of a traineddinosaur artist. They are a true plea-sure. In comparison Dodd and Elrod'sdinosaurs are pale, plodding imitations -of the. tail-dragging dinosaurs illustrat-ed .half a century ago.

Dodd and Elrod's intentions aregood, and space limits how much natu-ral history they can present in a singlestrip. But that is no excuse for sloppypopularization of science. It is also ashame, because the love children havefor dinosaurs gives adults a chance tointroduce them to the wonders and-promise of science. So, kids, untilMark Trail gets his act together, getthe real scoop on dinosaurs from Cal-vin and his feline friend.

-Gregory S.PauZ-'--:-":".-.::"'",

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