Sadly iguanodon went the way of the brontosaurus, in that they put the bones together wrong, the stabby thumbs where supposed to be horns.
As a kid, I was more of a plesiosauria fan, but as I aged I found myself favoring the ankylosaurus (and its various relatives). The apatosaurus has also always appealed to me. I've always liked it more than the brontosaurus (it's back, by the way) and the diplodocus, but they're okay, too.
Oh man where to start? So many dinosaurs.... I guess Deinonychus would be at number 1. I knew about it well before I first watched Jurassic Park and "Raptors" were the cool kids on the block. Protoceratops was also a favourite. I have a little yellow rubber one I use as my piece when my family plays monopoly. Dimetrodon is also very well loved, despite not really being a dinosaur. Dilophosaurus has a spot in my heart - when I was a kid my mum got me this book that was a story about a Dilophosaurus. The dino went about its business as dinosaurs are want to do, eating carrion, calling out to potential mates and getting into a scrap with a fellow male when suddenly a rock from a volcano falls from the sky and crashes into his leg! The poor thing crawls up a hill to its home and slowly dies as the world around him is engulfed in fiery doom. Fantastic children's story! And my wife's favourite is the Stegosaurus. I made her a cake with little stegos on top as a "welcome home" suprise when she got out of hospital from our daughter's birth. I'll see if I can find a photo of it!
We have a slight trend of Saurian cakes kicked off by @Mrs. NIGHTBRINGER photos are always appreciated
That's amazing! I wish my mum didn't get rid of all my old dinosaur books when I moved out of home. I would love to have passed that tale down to my little girl when she's old enough.
Triceratops. I liked the idea of them fighting T-Rexes as a little kid and it never went away. For all who said velociraptor. You probably mean the aggressive fast moving pack hunters of Jurassic Park, you mean Deinonychus. Velociprators are a lot less cool, but they have a marketable name.
That's a good point... it's such an epic sounding name. In reality, I believe the velociraptor around the size of a turkey.
It's a bit bigger, closer to the size of a small dog (perhaps as big as a golden retriever) but could still tackle dinosaurs bigger than itself, possibly the odd human too.
I believe the current view of velociraptor is that it mostly hunted small prey, from lizards on up to critters round the size of a small goat. And that they weren't pack hunters but maybe hunted in pairs. So no swarms of raptors piling onto hadrosaurs or other truly large prey. @ Fhanados I think I found the book: http://www.amazon.com/Dilophosaurus-Dinosaur-Library-Series-Rupert/dp/0865922152
True, I'm exaggerating. It was a fierce fighter even on its own. I remember seeing this photo a couple of years ago and thought it was a pretty spectacular way of seeing their final moments preserved in time. http://www.dancingteeth.com/Pictues/protoc19.jpg
hmmmm.....sorry to spoil your party!! But somehow i really dont care much for dinosaurs at all and really cant name a favorite. I actually find it a bit strange myself, cause I do love (real) lizards and i am really interested into the past.....but yeah, somehow dinosaurs dont really interest me. On second thoughts.....perhaps i do have a favorite dinosaur.
Huh, I always thought they where supposed to be Utah Raptors... ... Whoa, yea those are bigger than I remember.
"I know it's a joke but..." If they wanted to make a spectacular show for each era, they should have done an Aquarium. The Ordovician has Sea Scorpions and Giant Orthocones, with Sea Scoprions diversifying further into the Silurian. The Cambrian had the really freaky/amazing Anomalocaris and Opabinia. The Devonian has the first Sharks and the ever impressive Dunkleosteous. The Triassic had Ichthyosaurs. The Jurassic had the Liopleurodon. The Paleogene era included the first whales including the deadly Basilosaurus (actually a mammal) and, later, the Megaladon.
And then just before the Mesozoic era they had the freakin Gorgonopsids and giant land crocs as well as dimetrodons.