Dinosaurs: Review: "Raptor Red", Robert T. Bakker

“Raptor Red”, Robert T. Bakker, Bantam: New York, 1995 

“Raptor Red” is the story of an eventful year in the life of a female Utahraptor.  The novel opens with Raptor Red, the Utahraptor of the title, losing her mate.  Trying to cope with living alone, she meets up with her sister and her sister’s chicks.  In their travels, the Utahraptors encounter various dinosaurs and other animals of the late Jurassic-early Cretaceous periods.  Eventually Raptor Red finds a new mate, loses her sister, but forms a new park of Utahraptors with her sister’s two chicks.

The well-known paleontologist, Robert Bakker wrote this novel as a fictional companion to his ground breaking non-fiction book, “Dinosaur Heresies” (1986).  In that book, Dr. Bakker posited that not only were dinosaurs warm-blooded but also the ancient ancestors of birds.  “Raptor Red” was his exploration into the social lives of Utahraptors.  He shows these predatory dinosaurs living in a female dominated pack and coping with complex social connections.

Told from a predator’s point of view, “Raptor Red” has the reader enter the world of the Utahraptor.  Instead of vicious predators with a sickle for a toe claw, the reader empathizes with Raptor Red and her family and their struggles.  Seeing these predators in a positive light, the reader wants to know more about them.

In “Raptor Red”, Dr. Bakker interjects his theories of dinosaurs, evolution, and extinction.  For example, Raptor Red’s name comes from how she sees herself – a raptor with a red snout.  Her sister is “one half of me”, and her chicks are “one half of one half of me.”  She identifies them all in relation to herself.

The Utahraptors came from Mongolia to North America.  Because they were newcomers, these raptors “hit the new territory like a Darwinian blitzkrieg.”  The hunting strategies of these predatory dinosaurs confused the resident herbivores that lacked a basic defense strategy against them.  The Utahraptors succeeded in becoming the top predators in North America.

Dr. Bakker further introduces his theory that the resident dinosaurs went extinct because of the immigrant diseases brought over by the newcomers.  The “whiptails” (sauropods) were ravaged by the plague along with the Acrocanthosaurus, the native predator.  Moreover, insects brought diseases that infected many species.  Meanwhile, Raptor Red had to contend with new ticks and infections found in her new home.  Both the immigrant and resident groups had to contend with animals and diseases that neither had no resistance to.

Raptor Red is depicted as having a complex social life.  Since her species is female-centric, Raptor Red and her sister care for the sister’s chicks.  Males have to leave their families to find mates.  Meanwhile, the females choose the best males for their mates after the males do their mating dances.  In the novel, Raptor Red’s consort presents a potential conflict between her and her sister.  Raptor Red’s sister believes that he will kill the chicks since they are not his.  This provides the tension of the book – who would Raptor Red be loyal to – her consort or sister.

This tension gives insight into raptor family politics.  The conflict between Raptor Red’s sister and her consort ends when the sister dies in a “whip tail” attack.  However, Raptor Red finishes raising the chicks.  Meanwhile, her consort, Raptor Red, and the grown chicks form a new pack of Utahraptors.

As a novel, the plot of “Raptor Red” is predictable.  The title character endures various trials before finally finding true love and happiness.  Where the book shines is in the vignettes of prehistoric life.  Beside the Utahraptors, Dr. Bakker introduces the reader to the lives of an elderly Ornithocheirus (dactyl), a mother crocodile (Bernissartia), a baby Gastonia (armored herbivore), and others.  Moreover, the dactyl as the stand-in for the author takes the reader further into the mists of time to become a participant in the world of the Utahraptors.

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Dinosaurs: Dino-fantasy Fallacies

Fallacy: Erupting volcanoes and living dinos

Stories about dinosaurs are entertaining but they usually contain one or more scientific errors.  Since these stories need to engage people, they tend to be mammal-centric.  One error that is often committed is having dinosaurs interact with cave people.  The comic strip “Ally Oop” (V.T. Hamlin, 1935 – present) has the title character, a cave man, riding a dinosaur.  The TV cartoon, “The Flintstones” (Hanna-Barbera, 1960 -1966) feature cave people, dinosaurs, and Ice Age mammals together.  As entertaining as these stories are, they are incorrect.  Dinosaurs went extinct before the Ice Age.  Meanwhile, mammals of the Ice Age such as mammoths did not exist during the time of dinosaurs.  Of course, people and dinosaurs did not exist at the same time.

The stories that have modern day humans and dinosaurs together usually have the dinosaurs chasing the people.  The predatory dinosaurs (usually the T. rex) always regard people as food.  The dinosaurs seem to have a hyper-focus on eating humans.  They will stop at nothing to eat people, and endlessly chase them through the countryside.  Two things are wrong with this idea.  One is that predators generally do not expend extra energy for unprofitable prey.  Most predators will give up when the prey becomes too hard to get.  Furthermore, many are opportunistic hunters, and will seek easier prey.

The second problem is the assumption that predator dinosaurs hunt everything at all times.  This comes from the human-centric idea that every predator every time will automatically seek out humans to eat.  This is not usual predator behavior.  Some species ignore humans except during breeding season or when guarding their young.  Other species only hunt when hungry.  Still others have to be trained to eat people.  Some tolerate humans provided that humans do not interfere with their activities.  For example, many shark attacks occur when people punch these fish in the nose.  The corollary to predator dinosaurs is herbivores mindlessly charging people.

Another fallacy is to have dinosaurs of different periods together as well as the Dimetrodon (a sail-backed mammal-reptile of the Permian Period).  The favorite dinosaurs of people that are usually featured are the Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, T. rex, and Triceratops.  The first two are of the Jurassic Period, while the second two are of the Cretaceous Period.  (In addition, the T. rex is often hunting the others.)  The rarely included Allosaurus of the Jurassic would be the predator of the first two dinosaurs.  Also, the Dimetrodon, a therapsid, is often mistaken for a dinosaur, and often included in dino-fantasies. 

A corollary of this is showing the dinosaurs of different continents and habitats living together.  Pangaea was separating into the continents we are familiar with today.  South America was isolated at this time.  Travel from Eurasia to North America was spotty at best.  In Disney’s “Dinosaur” (Zondag, 2000), the main predator was the Carnosaurus of South America who interacted with North American dinosaurs.

A favorite plot device is to have a T. rex attack an Apatosaurus.  Since this is not possible, the authors could replace the two with Giganotosaurus and Argentinosaurus.  However, these dinosaurs from South America would not be as well-known as the T. rex.  Meanwhile, the Allosaurus, a smaller raptor, does not pack the same punch in action as the massive T. rex.

Another favorite trope is the ubiquitous volcanoes, which usually are in the background smoking or erupting.  Dinosaurs are usually grazing peacefully, whilst the volcanoes spew out ash.  Depending on the volcano, the dinosaurs would have died from the deadly gases.  The late Cretaceous period was subject to extensive volcanism however the Jurassic was not.  W.T.J. Mitchell in “The Last Dinosaur” (1999) pondered if this harked back to Biblical notions of Hell on Earth, where volcanoes spewed hellfire on earth.  The corollary to that is that in their earliest depictions many dinosaurs spewed fire.  Mitchell also noted the tripod stance of many dinosaurs in many early pictures to be reminiscent of the serpents of hell.  People’s unconscious beliefs had leaked through in their depictions of dinosaurs.

Like landscape painters of an earlier era, the depicters of dinosaurs took short cuts.  Those painters rarely left their studios, and used broccoli as a substitute for trees.  Meanwhile, movie producers used iguanas as stand-ins for dinosaurs.  Since broccoli looked like leafy trees, why could not scaly reptiles with things glued on their backs look like dinosaurs.  Of course, dinosaurs looked and acted much differently than lizards.  And few people would mistake a stalk of broccoli for a tree.

Depiction of specific species has been problematic.  First, the tripod stance of many dinosaurs did not occur.  Few used their tails for balance in this way. Sauropods did not the physical ability to stand on two legs.  Meanwhile T. rex is often shown as a fast runner.  However, this animal did not have the muscle mass for long distant running.  Also, if this dinosaur fell down, it could not rise since its arms would be broken in the fall.  Of course, a lot of these ideas conformed to popular notions at the time.

Some of the fallacies found in dino-fantasy stem from the prevailing ideas of the day.  Other fallacies reflect beliefs such as angry reptiles and erupting volcanoes.  Still other fallacies are based on keeping the audience interested. For this reason, humans or mammals are usually the focus of the story.  Even “Raptor Red” (1995) written by Robert Bakker, a noted paleontologist, veers off from telling his story of an Utahraptor to spend two chapters on an unrelated mammal.  Part of keeping the audience’s interest includes having favorite dinosaurs together or being scarier than the actual dinosaurs.

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DIPLOCAULUS: Whimsy

 Called “Boomerang Head” in some circles, Diplocaulus is one of the oddest looking fossils ever found.  Living during the Permian Period, this Amphibian looked like an amour-plated banana.  Discovered in 1878, Diplocaulus has flummoxed the best scientific minds since about her head.

            Why does Diplocaulus has such an oddly shaped head?  When first born, She has a normal shaped head much like a Salamander’s.  Only when Diplocaulus reaches adulthood, does her skull grow into its distinctive shape of a boomerang.

            One prevailing theory is that the banana shape acts like a hydrofoil.  Diplocaulus spends much of her time at the bottoms of lakes and rivers.  Since her eyes are on the top of her skull, She watches for tasty Insects at the water’s surface.  Lifting her head, Diplocaulus can swiftly fly to the surface and hunt.  The head acts like a set of wings for her.

            However, was this true reason for her “wings”?  There are other more conventional reasons for having a banana head.  The oldest Diplocaulus had the biggest heads.  What was this old-timer’s club?  Were They the oldest Bulls retelling their mating battles or were they the Matriarchs discussing their children?  No one really knows for sure.

            What people do know is that Diplocaulus was incredibly strong.  The side to side locomotion of her head propelled Her through the water.  Moreover, swinging her long tail powered Her in her swimming.

            While people argue over her head, Diplocaulus swims on unconcerned.  She asks us not to take things so seriously.  Laugh out loud at her banana head.  She does not care.  She asks us, “Does it matter about the shape of my head?”  Embrace whimsy.  Imagine all sorts of silly reasons for having a head shaped like a boomerang.  I think Diplocaulus decided to be a banana moving through the water simply to amuse Herself.  While scientists debate on the reasons for her oddly shaped head, Diplocaulus swims through the waters of the Permian Period unconcerned.

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Negative Energy: Fear (3 of 3)

My fear of walls needs to be addressed.  When the accident first happened, I walked around wearing a helmet.  Instead of helping, the helmet reinforced the fear.  Also walking around with a helmet on is only a stopgap measure.  Since I live in an urban area, I have to make peace with walls in general. 

The store where the accident happened is a place that I have to shop at.  What I do before entering the building is to recite the following” “Now, I don’t like you, and you don’t like me.  We’ll be fine, if you’ll let me be.”  Through the power of this incantation, I feel safe.

Going into other stores is still problematic.  What I do is to fix in my mind where the item would be.  Then I zip in and out before I realize what just occurred.  If I do get stuck, I leave the item and exit the store.  However, it does not deter me from going back in, and redoing the process until I finally buy the item. 

Living alone is a fear that I do share with a lot of other people.  Since my son needs to live his own life, I need to find a solution.  One thing that I can do is to avail myself of the services offered by the Brain Injury Center.  This place is within walking distance from my home but I have put off going there.  I think it is because the Center is new and unknown to me.  I prefer my safe little rut that I currently live in.  However, to resolve this fear, I need to expand my “rut”.

Living without my son is a problem to be solved.  I can look into assisted living or home-based services with the help of the Center.  My family had prepared for this sort of problem before my accident.  Once I communicate my fears with them, we can then prepare for the future.  I see this as making fear work for me.  It spurs me into action to plan for the future.  As I plan, I gain power in overcoming my fears.

The fear of not being able to return home is about my brain shutting down and being unable to function.  To calm my racing mind, I use my Pillow Pets ™ to hold.  Their commercial claims that “this is a stuffed animal with a purpose.”  Holding the soft, huggable pillow calms me.  I found out that the company sells Pillow Pets pee-wees ™, which are a smaller version of the original Pillow Pets ™.  I have Ms. Lady Bug™, whose happy, bright face comforts me.  Whenever I go someplace, I tuck the Pillow Pet pee-wee ™ under my arm.  The toy comes with a little poem that I often recite.  Again saying this incantation helps to ward off the fear.  In addition, this poem helps my brain to think of comforting thoughts, and calms my brain.

Ms. Lady Bug’s Poem™

“I’m a cute little bug with a caring heart,

We will never have to be apart.

I’ll always bring you good luck & cheer,

And I promise to always be near!”

Fear for me runs the gamut from worry to stark terror.  Fear can be a wonderful emotion to tell you when something is dangerous.  Fear offers the opportunity to resolve a distressing situation.  Properly harnessed, fear can keep you safe and prepared for the future.  When fear is not recognized, it can morph into paralysis restricting our lives.

Works Used

---, “The Merriam-Webster Thesaurus”, Merriam-Webster: Springfield (MA), 1989.

Sotkin, Joan, “Using Financial Fear as a Positive Force”, Pro$perity Quick Tips, 23 Aug. 2011, http://www.joansotkin.com/

The Official TV Site of the Original Pillow Pets ™! http://www.pillowpets.com/Default.asp?bhcp=1