# How Big Is Your Dinosaur?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-dinosaur/335989>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 16, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-dinosaur/335989 "2005-12-16T23:08:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-dinosaur/335989/1 "2005-12-16T23:08:14Z")

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[Apparently, it depends upon where it lives.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4532608.stm)

> [@](#):
>
> Until now, most dinosaurs were thought to be warm-blooded, with a steady growth rate independent of environmental factors such as food.
> 
> But a study in Science magazine shows that at least one dinosaur came in “little and large” forms.

I can hear the palaeontologists now, “Oh great! Now I’ve got to throw out _all_ my theories and start over from scratch! Stupid discoveries.” [Ron Popeil] But wait! There’s **more!** [/RP]

> [@](#):
>
> The plateosaur appears to be an intermediary form, somewhere between cold-blooded reptiles and warm-blooded mammals and birds.
> 
> Since the common reptilian ancestor of the dinosaurs, and their closest relatives, the pterosaurs, or flying reptiles, was believed to have been warm-blooded, the Bonn discovery could throw ideas about their evolution into disarray.

See, it’s stuff like this that makes me say we _need_ a Manhattan-style project to clone dinosaurs, so we can settle this matter once and for all!