# You can only have 5 dinosaurs **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318 "2013-05-14T14:49:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [May 16, 2013, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/61 "2013-05-16T05:06:04Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I’d go with a breeding pair of triceratops, a breeding pair of stegosauri, and a female apatasaur carrying a load of fertilized eggs. Okay, there have several requests for gravid females, but the number 5 was very specific, and very special. It was chosen because 42 divided by wisserteen equals 5, but wisserteen times 5 does not equal 42. As a result you have to use two of your choices for a breeding pair if you want more dinosaurs. However, in reality I have no control over the selection process, so you may as well go ahead and ask for what you want. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/62 "2013-05-16T05:39:13Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Yeah, even so, I think Stegosaurus owners are ultimately going to wish they picked a species with a more interesting head. Forget the head, check out that wicked spiked tail!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ispolkom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@Ispolkom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ispolkom)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/63 "2013-05-16T07:42:06Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Forget the head, check out that wicked spiked tail!! 😃 That’s the [Thagomizer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer). ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/64 "2013-05-16T18:01:25Z")
> [@Ispolkom](#): > > That’s the [Thagomizer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer). Am I the only person who thinks that “thagomizer” is the sort of word Calvin (of Calvin & Hobbes fame) would have invented? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/65 "2013-05-16T18:22:59Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Am I the only person who thinks that “thagomizer” is the sort of word Calvin (of Calvin & Hobbes fame) would have invented? It’s exactly the sort of word Gary Larson (of _The Far Side_ comic strip) would have invented. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/66 "2013-05-16T18:43:26Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > Oh, we’re not a mill, we’re responsible breeders! We have plans for what traits to select for, we’ll sell our under-par stock with a spay/neuter contract, I will even undertake to trial and title the first obedience Triceratops the world has ever known. I wonder what reinforcer will work best… Come by my grooming salon, a poodled Triceratops is to die for! ---
**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:** [May 16, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/67 "2013-05-16T18:56:59Z")
Ok, for those of you who are planning to interbreed your herds (assuming more than one of you gets dinosaurs), I’d like to hear more about your plans. I can’t say for sure, but I think it’s highly probable your designated areas won’t be very close to each other. So tell us about the great dinosaur drive to get them from one place to another. Also, important information for you, whether or not you get gravid females, you’ll only get enough free food to feed the original 5 dinos you choose. You’ll have to find a way to feed the progeny yourself. Also, a detail related to the moving and feeding them, the free food will be deposited at a location of your choice about 1 hour after dawn, on a daily basis. You can specify different locations for each type of food. However, you must call in your order before midnight of the previous day, no last minute changes. Large amounts of Sauropod Chow are just dumped off a truck, so you don’t even have to be there. Some dinosaurs could get into the 55 gallon drums of HealThieropod food on their own, but there’s a big warning label that says not to let dinos open or eat directly from the can. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/68 "2013-05-16T19:53:05Z")
I have to say…HealThieropod food is just awesome word play… ---
**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:** [May 16, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/69 "2013-05-16T19:58:33Z")
Y’know, given that dinosaurs (at least the currently-living ones) use the ZW sex chromosome system, where the females are heterogametic, you should be able to clone both male and female animals from a single female specimen. So you can go ahead and go for a variety, and still end up with a naturally-breeding population for all five species. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/70 "2013-05-16T20:32:57Z")
Possibly not. It looks like the current avian sex chromosome configuration may be exclusively avian (i.e, their dinosaurian ancestors may not have had the same ZW setup). From [here](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC20944/): > [@](#): > > The conclusion from this would be that the avian sex chromosomes evolved at approximately the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary, approximately 60–100 million years ago. NB: by “exclusively avian”, I don’t mean no other groups have them. Only that, among dinosaurs, it may be an exclusive arrangement. Or, it might not be… ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/71 "2013-05-16T20:50:06Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Ok, for those of you who are planning to interbreed your herds (assuming more than one of you gets dinosaurs), I’d like to hear more about your plans. I can’t say for sure, but I think it’s highly probable your designated areas won’t be very close to each other. So tell us about the great dinosaur drive to get them from one place to another. Nah, frozen semen FTW. I’d assume trike mating is a bit precarious at the best of times. Given that triceratops is a low-growth herbivore (unless they knocked down trees) I’ll just need to find some nice bracken-covered hillsides for my herd. It’s often undergrowth in redwood forests, so after I sell my first few progeny, I’ll buy a big place in the Santa Cruz Mountains, or, oo, up in Humboldt county. Free ranging might be good for young triceratops-es. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/72 "2013-05-16T21:10:37Z")
I’ve seen how they collect bull semen. They used a quick, yet small of stature, Hispanic man with gloves and what looked like a stainless steel Erlenmeyer flask. How do you suggest one collect semen from Fluffy the Triceratops. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/73 "2013-05-16T22:40:28Z")
2 male, 3 female [Nemicolopterus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemicolopterus) > [@](#): > > Nemicolopterus is a genus of pterodactyloid pterosaur, described in 2008. The type and only known species is N. crypticus. It lived in the Jehol Biota 120 million years ago. Its wingspan of slightly under 25 centimeters (10 in) makes it smaller than any but a few specimens of hatchling pterosaurs.[1] The specimen is not fully grown, but Wang et al. (2008) cite the amount of bone fusion and the ossification of the toes, gastralia and sternum to indicate that it was a sub-adult rather than a hatchling. > > Nemicolopterus, on the other hand, is one of just a few known pterosaurs that lived in the continental interior, and probably hunted insects and roosted in the forest canopy. Its worth to note the contemporaneous pterosaur linage Tapejaridae (such as Sinopterus, which Nemicolopterus might actually be synonymous with), however, also shows strong adaptations to climbing.[3] It would be viable, in the modern world. And cute. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/74 "2013-05-16T22:54:47Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > It would be viable, in the modern world. > And cute. But, alas, what it would not be, is a dinosaur ☹ ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/75 "2013-05-17T03:44:30Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > How do you suggest one collect semen from Fluffy the Triceratops. He doesn’t have to be conscious. [Zap!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroejaculation) ---
**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:** [May 17, 2013, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/76 "2013-05-17T12:20:16Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Am I the only person who thinks that “thagomizer” is the sort of word Calvin (of Calvin & Hobbes fame) would have invented? > [@bup](#): > > It’s exactly the sort of word Gary Larson (of _The Far Side_ comic strip) would have invented. Yeah, click the link. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2013, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/77 "2013-05-17T22:13:31Z")
> [@Darwins\_Finch](#): > > But, alas, what it would not be, is a dinosaur ☹ If Godzilla counts…:dubious: ---
**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:** [May 17, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/78 "2013-05-17T22:19:19Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > If Godzilla counts…:dubious: Pterosaurs are allowed. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318/79 "2013-05-18T02:06:51Z")
“Pterosaur”… “Pterry”… coincidence? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-only-have-5-dinosaurs/658318.md?page=3)