Dawn of the Dinosauroids
{ Posted on Wednesday, August 05, 2009
by Speculative Biologist
}
The concept of the dinosauroid is in no way a new idea. It has been around for a while, having originated as a humanoid troodontid created by Dale Russell in 1982. The idea is based around the possibility of dinosaurs surviving (with or without a K/T extinction event) and developing into intelligent beings, not unlike modern humans. Russell's dinosauroid was highly criticized for the anthropomorphic fashion in which the creature was designed. However, others have attempted to design more accurate and more realistic depictions of intelligent dinosaurs, or dinosauroids.
Nemo Ramjet (the Turkish creator of the alien world of Snaiad) developed a concept for his own saurian sophont, Avisapiens saurotheos. Rather than a humanoid form, it takes a rather more conservative maniraptoran form with close similarities to birds. Its toothed jaws have evolved into a manipulatory beak, an alternative to the hands us humans use to manipulate tools and objects. Much like in human evolution, this maniraptoran has acquired a large brain, opening it up to the tool-making and even art. His view of the intelligent maniraptoran is simply marvelous and utterly fantastic, especially considering the art that supplemented the concept.
Avisapiens was soon followed by Simon Roy's (known on deviantART as povorot) version of an intelligent troodont. The creature is equipped with a corvid-like beak used for manipulation much like Nemo Ramjet's. Its evolutionary history and cultural development seem to follow a model similar to that of mankind's. The dinosauroids have developed tools and weapons, war masks for decoration, a form of slavery, domestication, etc. Roy even goes as far as to document some of the various stages of cultural development in these beasts. Not only that, but there are various other species living in the same world as these creatures, from hyena-like oviraptorosaurs to tyrannosaur-like dromaeosaurs.
Asher Elbein has taken a few of his own approaches to the dinosauroid concept. His first, Venatosapiens erectus, is a dromaeosaur of the Oligocene Epoch. It is more primitive by evolutionary standards than some of its dinosauroid counterparts, but it has still developed tool use, language, and a knack for the arts. Venatosapiens's more primitive nature is clearly identified by the fact that it has a toothed jaw rather than a pointy beak (forcing the hands to be used for manipulation). His other intelligent maniraptoran is more similar to (and inspired by) the design by Simon Roy. The so-called "featherfolk" are an advanced race of dinosaurs that use weapons and seem to have developed some sort of concept of deity(ies?). They are inhabitants of Elbein's stories revolving around Serok T'tunda.These are only a select few of the dinosauroid or dinosauroid-like concepts that have popped up in the last couple decades. As highlighted by Darren Naish on his blog Tetrapod Zoology, John C. McLoughlin and author Mike Magee each had their own ideas for big-brained dromaeosaurs. McLoughlin introduced his concept in 1984, but gave it no name (Naish took it upon himself to name the creature Bioparaptor macloughlini). Magee's creature is a environmentally destructive species known as Anthroposaurus sapiens, included in his work Whos Lies Sleeping? (1993).
Dromaeosaurs and troodontids are not the only dinosaur species that have been hypothesized to become intelligent. Nathan R. (who goes by the username MicrocosmicEcology on deviantART) has developed an idea for a species of oviraptorosaur that has become intelligent on an alien planet to the the meddling of an advanced extraterrestrial, not-necessarily biological race. They have mastered tools and language, as well as the domestication of other species. The concept of oviraptorosaurs becoming advanced beings does not necessarily require alien intervention; it could develop just as well on an alternate Earth. The opportunistic lifestyle, more social leanings (parents were likely active in the raising of the young) and likely higher than average intelligence of the oviraptorosaurs gives them a good chance of such a development.Now, it seems that an overwhelming majority, neigh, the entirety of all dinosauroid concepts are descended from small, big-brained maniraptorans. Is it possible for other dinosaur groups to produce advanced forms like the concepts above? My challenge for you (the readers) is to develop a concept for an intelligent dinosaur that is NOT like any of the ones above and from a group of dinosaurs one would not expect to produce such intelligent forms (but still with some sort of factual basis for the evolutionary development). I hope you enjoyed this overview of dinosaurian Einsteins, and here are the links to the galleries and webpages of the individuals whose concepts appear here:
A traveler of time and space, journeying the universe in search of intriguing ideas and scenarios for this blog. You can contact him at his deviantART profile: 
13 Response to "Dawn of the Dinosauroids"
Oh I will definately try my hand at this ! But you forgot to mention the Dinosapien from Discovery Kid's "Dinosapien" ;)
I've never heard of it. I don't get Discovery Kids. :P
It was an okay show, but my 8th grade teacher's husband was the producer :P
Anyway I'm already designing a "dinosapien" descended from an arboreal lineage (sounds like another intelligent species XD )! But they are only 4 - 5ft tall :D
Well if I every do a sequel article, I may just include it, even if only briefly.
Sure, and where will you include the submissions...in the same post ? Well let me finish the concept first, before I go on babling :)
Mine would be flying microraptorine/archeopterygid descendents
Alright so I've finished it ! I'm not entirely happy with it as I had to change the design to make it a bit more original. They are from Asia, and around 5ft tall, they are descended from a lineage of arboreal gibbon-like dromeosaurs (or maybe microraptorines) that adapted to a terrestrial way of life. They are semi-upright, and have two toes, while the thrid faces back (original used to help grasp branches) and is now a foor spur. I'll upload it soon, though I can't color it :( Otherwise they are black , with a face with some white and coral colored markings, witht the females being a grayish-tanish.
If I remember right there was a spiritual sequel to "A Sound of Thunder" written by someone or other that had both sapient ornithomimids and allosaurs. And don't forget Star Trek's Voth, who were supposed to be descended from lambeosaurine hadrosaurs. I personally ended up creating a race of sapient anklyosaurs (there's a method to my madness), who were supposed to be the mythological explanation for some of the more "demonic" creatures in human mythology. I wonder if anyone has taken a shot at creating a sophont out of one of the sauropodomorphs (either the primitive fingered prosauropods or the much more derived saltasaurine titanosaurs).
I wonder who among the two prominent dinosaur groups that are usually the base stock for the sapient species (troodonts and dromaeosaurids) are more likely to give rise to sapients. My money is on the troodonts, as they seem to have had a more diverse diet (some have even suggested that they were omnivorous).
Advanced troodonts were indeed omnivorous, but personaly my money is on dromeosaurs, which seem more flexible in terms of lifestyle in spite of being more likely fully carnivorous.
Yes, but troodonts are less diverse in the fossil record than dromaeosaurs. Dromaeosaurs get a head start, and diverisfy out into numerous different forms, while troodonts carve out their own niche as small-mammal catchers and such. However if the two were forced to compete for the same resources, I would expect troodonts to come out on top due to their flexibility in diet, while dromaeosaurs either go extinct or are forced into a handful of niches where they are good at (Dromaeosaurus -> Hyena-like hunter. Deinonychus and Velociraptor, among others -> Hypercarnivore. Microraptorines -> Cat analogues. Unelagines -> Island carnivores).
How about the Quintaglio? They were descended from tyrannosaurs.
If it isn't too late to enter an idea, how about a race descended from pterosaurs? Sure, they weren't dinosaurs, but the concept is still pretty neat, in my opinion. I imagine them being descended from the larger azhdarchids, such as Quetzalcoatlis, who evolved into aerial predators. I could make them flightless if having a large brain presents problems with aerodynamics.
a struthomimus as a smart dino would be intresting so.
after the ice age the srtothomimus became a fast ungulate like grazer however they began to use their beaks to pluck insects out of the air of extra protein. soon some evovled to fill niches like insectivores useing sticks held in their mouths to gather food. soon sticks became spears as the struthominus became more omnivouris and society abeit only small citys became a thing
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