Troodon

Still working on the basement.

Animal

Photo of Dale Russell's Troodon sculpture

Troodon formosus have always been my some of my favorite dinosaurs. They are very late small maniraptors from North America. They were probably nocturnal omnivores and seem to have had a very long run before their extinction, as they are found from Montana to Alaska over a span of millions of years. Troodon had binocular vision and probably excellent depth perception it also had the largest brain among dinosaurs relative to its body mass. Like velocoraptors they also had retractable toe claws. Because this dinosaur had grasping hands, a large brain and binocular vision in 1982 paleontologist Dale Russell toyed with the idea had they not gone extinct they may have become sapient. They created a model of a "Dinosauroid" that is displayed in the National Museum of Nature in Canada. Other paleontologists felt this was too human-like and have developed more bird-like drawings of a "Dinosauroid". Some cryptozoologists also seem to like the idea and are now looking for dinosaur men. I may have to do a mythology article on these guys later.

Dale's Dinosauroid