I’m sure that everyone has their favorite dinosaur: or in some cases, their favorite families of dinosaurs. I’m certainly no exception. I tend to favor theropods, especially the “raptors.” I can’t say that I have a single-favorite ‘raptor, but I suspect that the little-bitty eoraptors are my favorites, though the larger deinonychus—“terrible claw” has a warm spot in the cockles of my heart. The world came to recognize deinonychus and its cousins through the ILM-generated special effects for such films as Jurassic Park. It’s the eoraptors I like the most, though: quite possibly because of their diminutive size. On the day I took this picture, there were no eoraptors running around, no theropods of any sort. I’m actually thankful for that, since most were predatory creatures—or at least omnivorous, with really impressive meat-tearing teeth, scimitar claws, and “kicking blades” as I call those strange, outsized and curved claws on certain theropod feet. Since I'm made out of meat, I like to avoid such creatures and I'm inordinately thankful that there aren't too many of them around. As for their impressive "kicking blades," the verdict is still out as to how they used them. Consensus seems to lean toward the idea that they disemboweled their prey by kicking (almost in a cat-like fashion) though some theories (now fallen from favor) lean toward the idea that they could actually climb their prey as well, killing it in a kicking mob of…well…terrible claws, and sharp, dagger teeth. On the day that I took this picture, there was only one sauropod nearby. Okay, a bronze sauropod…but this distinction wasn’t important. I didn’t even know that the brachiosaurus skeleton outside of the Field Museum of Natural History was a bronze cast. I thought it was some sort of pseudo-fossil: fake bone intended to look like the real thing. The actual skeleton is probably in a giant box, somewhere tended by mold-eating, predatory beetles or some other strange critter often employed as curator-assistants in various places of higher learning. (Carrion beetles of various sorts are favorite museum employees, after all.) I’d just returned to Chicago when this picture was taken; I was still growing accustomed to the sound of English as a first language, rather than the musical bounce of Czech. I hadn’t yet reacclimated to the idea of dinner without dumplings, or of television having more popularity than books. In an effort to stave off the worst effects of culture shock, I purchased a new camera (a very cheap one, thankfully!) and wandered around, looking at things and looking for things. In my wanders, I found a brachiosaurus: or at least the skeletal structure of one. Outside. Surrounded by picnic tables, and iron railings with a bunch of pseudo-Greek caryatids in the distance. I stood under the rib-cage and tried to determine whether or not the specimen I stood under was male or female. It’s harder to tell than you’d think, since there are no overt naughty bits to look for. Reptilian bone structures don’t reveal sex in the same way that mammalian bone structures to…and so I had no way of knowing if I stood under Mister Brachiosaurus or Missus Brachiosaurus. The bronze-cast skeleton wasn’t saying anything helpful in that department either, and so I contended myself with dramatic shots of what was once a quite dramatic creature…not too smart, but dramatic. If I find any eoraptors, I’m going to definitely photograph them, but until then, I guess I’ll have to stick with this beauty. As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’re all having a great week.