Our summer reading theme, Unearth a Story, is in full swing and we’re surrounded by dinosaurs and prehistoric tales. We thought this would be the perfect time to ask our library staff about their favorite dinos!
What are some of your favorite dinosaurs or ancient creatures from the Mesozoic Era (Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods)? This could be an actual dino like the brontosaurus or the t-rex, or it could be a pterosaur, marine reptile, synapsid, or even early mammal. What do you like about these specific creatures?
Megan, Outreach Coordinator: My favorite dinosaur is the Compsognathus. Why? Simply because they’re cute! They remind me of a chicken. I would be the little girl from Jurassic Park II who was trying to feed one; that became several!
Kristy H., Public Support Services: Tyrannosaurus Rex because he is the biggest and best dinosaur that I’ve loved forever. It’s just so impressive and massive and huge and has a big ‘ol head and mouth!
Maycie, Public Support Services: I’m a biiiiigg fan of long-neck dinosaurs. Brachiosaurus is my favorite but I’m also partial to a brontosaurus or a diplodocus. I think they just look really neat!
Shane, Public Support Services: I love the Brontosaurus because I will always have a soft spot for Little Foot from Land Before Time. However, as an Anthropology graduate, I am super interested in any ancient species of apes. Homo Erectus is the most interesting one to me as the first species to have a “humanlike” stature and fully walk on two legs.
Hannah, Assistant Director: When I was a kid, I wanted to be a marine biologist. Not very practical for a kid from Kansas, but I was fascinated with whales, dolphins, and sharks. It’s probably no surprise that my answer is prehistoric sharks. Not necessarily the megalodon specifically, but it is a very cool creature just based on its predicted size alone. It just blows my mind how old some sharks can live and how long their species has been on the planet. Like the Greenland Shark, which was genetically studied and is believed to have been around over 2 million years ago. They have the longest lifespan of any vertebrate with some Greenland sharks living for over 500 years!
Kameron, Public Support Services: My favorite is the parasaurolophus because of its distinct look with the horn extending out the back of its head!
Justin, Technology Coordinator: So everyone wants to talk about the T-Rex being their favorite and I’m sure its been mentioned multiple times by staff. That’s fine. But the real deal is the Ankylosaurus. He is just out there, low to the ground, munching on leaves, completely armored up and dragging a literal wrecking ball on its tail. Do you want to mess with that? Be my guest. The T-Rex gets all the glory, but the Ankylosaurus just doesn’t care. That’s my kind of dinosaur.
Annalise, Public Support Services: It’s no secret that I’ve always been fascinated with dinosaurs and other creatures from the Mesozoic Era. I was obsessed with The Land Before Time movies as a kid, and I still have my old VHS copies somewhere in my closet. The fascination grew I got older, especially after discovering the Jurassic Park films when I was a teenager. Despite my love and curiosity for dinosaurs, my favorite creature from that period is not a dinosaur. It’s a heteromorph ammonite called The Paperclip “Squid,” or Diplomoceras maximum. Interestingly, it wasn’t quite a true squid, just an ancient relative of the squids and octopuses we know today.It lived at the very end of the Cretaceous Period, and it quite literally looks like a paperclip. It’s not presumptuous to say that it was a strange creature, and that’s exactly why I like it.
Now it’s your turn! What are some of your favorite dinosaurs or ancient creatures?
