Just finished watching the BBC series Walking With Dinosaurs.
One major question was raised by the last two episodes: since when have dinosaurs been warm blooded? Back in the 1980's, I can clearly remember this being a hotly debated topic. While it makes sense to me that dinosaurs living in the cold climate of the south pole must have necessarily adapted either warm-blooded and/or hibernation survival strategies, did Robert Bakker manage to win the "Tyrannosaurus is warm-blooded" argument that shows up in the last episode? If he did, I'm sorry that I missed that conference.
Ed. (3.07.05): I've been informed that this was OK. Sorry BBC. I'll do my homework better next time. Of course, if you think about it, endothermy makes all the sense in the world. I wonder why it seemed so strange to me, then.
One major question was raised by the last two episodes: since when have dinosaurs been warm blooded? Back in the 1980's, I can clearly remember this being a hotly debated topic. While it makes sense to me that dinosaurs living in the cold climate of the south pole must have necessarily adapted either warm-blooded and/or hibernation survival strategies, did Robert Bakker manage to win the "Tyrannosaurus is warm-blooded" argument that shows up in the last episode? If he did, I'm sorry that I missed that conference.
Ed. (3.07.05): I've been informed that this was OK. Sorry BBC. I'll do my homework better next time. Of course, if you think about it, endothermy makes all the sense in the world. I wonder why it seemed so strange to me, then.
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