Watch out; my first cat, Roadkill, learned how to open a door with a round knob. :D

God damn, I miss all that. We didn't know how good we freaking had it.

Looks like another author I need to check out!

Finally, many folks with cats and dogs in their lives must have observed imagination at work in their pets. One of my cats is amazing at keeping himself occupied with objects lying around the house, no help from me. That doesn't seem too far distant from "playing pretend" to me.

And that surprises anyone why, exactly? First of all, other great apes are SO close to us that this doesn't seem like much of a step. Secondly, don't tool use and problem solving, which have been observed in several non-human animals, require powers of foresight and imagination? [continued below]

Out of all of the herbivorous dinosaurs, I've always liked Ornithopods best. I've always thought they were particularly elegant-looking animals, and their physical adaptations and [possible] social behaviors are endlessly fascinating.

We have a similar, although unrelated (I think!) bird here called a Brown Creeper. Their feeding behavior is much the same and they look a lot like a Tree Creeper, but with a bit shorter beak and tail. One hears them more easily than one sees them. Exceptionally well camouflaged!

Yes, their writing is amazing!

Lordy, I miss GSA conferences. Some of my best college experiences.

My Hist. Geology prof gave me a copy of that book! Yes, it's pretty awesome!

I'm on Team Tyrannosaurus! :)

Aaawww!! God, I love crocs! <3

Every time I watch Jurassic Park, I cry like a baby every time it comes to the scene of Grant and Sattler and co. seeing the herds of dinosaurs and the Brachiosaurus. As a kid, and still today, that is a vision straight out of my dreams.

I am not sure how humans would handle the extremes of heat, cold, wetness, dryness, and/or high/low atmospheric oxygen, much less giant arthropods, super-sized vertebrates of all types, and unknown dangerous SMALL animals and poisonous and venomous organisms I don't think we'd stand a chance.

I often imagine what it would be like for a field biologist to have a time machine and go back to any point in Earth's history and encounter dinosaurs or any other prehistoric organisms. It is both exhilarating and terrifying. [continued below]

I felt that way even as a kid. I don't remember a time in my life when I actually trusted or particularly liked "Americans" as a whole, and always felt ashamed to call myself one.

I knew there was something I didn't like about Horner. :/

The Koch family sponsors zoo facilities and exhibits, too. That makes sense, in an awful way; their destructive capitalist practices are what make zoos necessary today (Ideally, there would be no need for them.), so of course they would be involved in funding them.

Just pre-ordered. So excited to read it! Great dedication, too. <3

The fewer ticks the better!!! I sure do miss being able to go out fishing and just sit down on the grass [Gasp!].