# Dear CNN:  What's a dinosaur?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-whats-a-dinosaur/644299>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 17, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-whats-a-dinosaur/644299 "2012-12-17T12:53:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-whats-a-dinosaur/644299/1 "2012-12-17T12:53:56Z")

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OK, so, I know the term dinosaur is not a technically precise term, but come on, CNN.

Last week’s front-page headline:

**Crayfish-hunting cousins hook mastodon**

Today’s front-page headline:

**Crayfish-hunting cousins hook dinosaur**

It’s the same story, and the identification of the bone they found hasn’t changed: A mastodon vertebra.

So why did the headline change from the unknown-to-the-public term **mastodon** to the sexier, sells-more-clicks, but completely inaccurate word **dinosaur**?

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-whats-a-dinosaur/644299/2 "2012-12-17T13:38:17Z")

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And here I thought this was going to be a complaint about calling plesiosaurs or pterosaurs “dinosaurs”. Or maybe Dimetrodons. I’ve seen and read plenty of that.

But, although I’ve seen post-Mesozoioc mammals bundled in among dinosaurs in movies and books, I can’t say I’ve ever seen them referred to directly as “dinosaurs”. Kids know better, and would’ve complained. Is this a sign of falling education standards?

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-whats-a-dinosaur/644299/3 "2012-12-17T13:47:20Z")

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It’s worse than that, even. They got it right the first time… Which means that someone had to actively go back and wrongify it.

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**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-whats-a-dinosaur/644299/4 "2012-12-17T17:20:24Z")

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Because dinosaurs are awesome

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**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-whats-a-dinosaur/644299/5 "2012-12-17T17:29:16Z")

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Googling, I can find some articles that link to the CNN article that have the dinosaur title, but the only version of the actual CNN article I can find uses mastodon.

But assuming the “dinosaur” title was used by CNN at one point, the brothers in the story identify it as such in the story, and then describe how they’ve since learned that a Mastodon isn’t a dinosaur. So I assume the “dinosaur” title was just a quote from the brothers, in a “aren’t they precious” kind of way.

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-whats-a-dinosaur/644299/6 "2012-12-17T17:54:04Z")

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They weren’t sure what kind of animal it was because it was wearing an invisibility cloak.

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**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dear-cnn-whats-a-dinosaur/644299/7 "2012-12-17T19:12:41Z")

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Perhaps they were sued by the band “Mastodon,” or were responding to the threats of the same, who threatened to crush them with their heaviness.