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Sorry, but I decided to move my blog to a new location. You can find it here:

http://anewdinosaureveryweek.tumblr.com/

I will still be posting the same kind of content, dinosaurs, except now I intend to make the blog look a little more aesthetically pleasing and also include more posts depicting a special little dinosaur who thinks he's a turtle.

When Dinosaurs Roamed America - Documentary

Before I can go further in posting other dinosaur profiles I have to explain the importance of this film on a personal level from my perspective and how it affected my interest in dinosaurs which constitute a large portion of what you would call 'a childhood' for me. When Dinosaurs Roamed America is a documentary including other animals, not just dinosaurs split into 5 segments of late Triassic, early Jurassic, mid-Jurassic, mid-cretaceous, and late cretaceous. It is narrated by John Goodman, a good choice because his is the voice I here when thinking of dinos. My father would ask me, "what movie do you wanna see?" "The Dinosaur movie!" The following part of the post is actually based mostly on memory.
             
There are so many different animals in the film, some aren't even dinosaurs, that it would make this post too long to read without it getting boring. So, instead, the dinosaurs that left the biggest impression on me would be Coelophysis [see-lo-FISE-ess], Ceratosaurus [sih-RAT-uh-SAWR-us], Allosaurus [AL-uh-SAWR-us], Dilophosaurus, the Dromeosaurs [DROH-mee-uh-SAWR-us], T-rex, and Quetzalcoatlus [KWET-zal-koh-atlus]. I won't be examining specific species in detail here but I will in later posts.
           
It should be noted that most times I would get tired of sitting still on the couch and so I wouldn't see the last sections of the movie so maybe that's the reason why the Coelophysis is still so fresh in my mind, I had his part practically memorized. He was shown to be very indifferent to whatever was going on, just kept walking after being stopped for a second.
           
Possibly one the best scenes is when this darker colored, scarier Dilophosaurus screeches an insane ear-slashing screech, scaring away anything that dares be in the vicinity, fighting off his competition like no big deal and then proceeds to tear open an Anchisaurus, right in front of his family. That part always had me amazed (again) not only because he was so savage, but the movie managed to make me fear this 6-5 foot tall animal and think of it, and other dinosaurs, as a, well, a badass, well before I found Jurassic park. (A movie for another post). This and JP is what taught me, animals are not to be disrespected, instead, they should be looked at with wonder in the eyes and admired, but only from afar, don't get close, stay away.

CONTINUED.......

When Dinosaurs roamed America continued

After that, I would be waiting patiently for the part where the Ceratosaurus stalks these cute Dryosaurs and ambushes them as they drink water. While they run away one of them is snatched away by the Ceratosaurus, its tail sticking out of his mouth. I'd be so hung up on that part that I forgot that an Allosaurus stalks down and kills that same Ceratosaurus when he is minding his business, avenging the little Dryosaurs. I thought, "hurray!", but then the Allosaurus and family go ahead and kill another animal (a large herbivore) in a way that is brutal enough to censor. From this, I learned that even if an animal is a savage killing machine, there is always something worse out there.

Lastly, was the T-rex, the movie portrays him as an un-experienced dino trying to survive with little knowledge of how to act around other dinos. His scenes were the first time I saw a dinosaur being portrayed as young and dorky but that's just how a young animal would act today, even if it is supposed to grow up to be a savage beast. That's why after seeing this part, I knew these animals don't just strut around and look cool just because; they also actively try to learn and survive and put what they know to use, just like any animal of today.