I have just been upstairs to say goodnight to my 8 year old son, and he asked me which dinosaur are we most closely related to?
I said that i had no idea but would find out for him.Over to you clever folks! Many Thanks.Ed...and sam
2006-07-15 09:56:18 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Anthropology
Simple answer: We are not related to dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs evolved from earlier reptiles and many of these earlier reptiles, such as Gorgonapsid (sp?), were a type of reptile that many scientist refer to as "mammal-like reptiles" because, well...they were kinda like mammals in some ways. Even though their skeletal structure was very reptilian, they had dentition that was more mammalian. In other words, alligators teeth all look the same (little cone-like spikes, right?) but these mammal-like reptiles had teeth more like mammals in that they were not all the same. They had canines, what could be called incisors, etc. Furthermore, scientists speculate that they had some fur and may even have been endo-thermic (warm-blooded) to some degree. So really, humans are more closely related to mammal-like reptiles that came before the dinosaurs than we are to dinosaurs themselves.
There's a great DVD out from BBC/Discovery called Walking with Monsters: Creatures before the Dinosaurs (or something like that) that your kid would probably like. I played it for my students and they loved it.
2006-07-15 10:06:54 · answer #1 · answered by The Man In The Box 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Our closest dynosaur relative was the snobosaurus, the only phyllum of it's species to employ household servants. They were social animals, often having friends and business associates to dinner. They maintained a very good wine cellar, with some wonderful varietals.
Vacations were almost always in the Hamptons, Martha's Vineyard, or Bedfod-Stuyvesant. They also travelled widely. Many went on safari to France.
Unlike the hunters and gatherers, they had full-time jobs, family benefits, and the usual perquisites. However, very few lived long enough to enjoy retirement because, after all, there were all those T-Rexes, Brontasauruses, and Muggers out there on the street looking for easy prey.
It is said that "they died of their own civility."
2006-07-16 07:19:36 · answer #2 · answered by Goethe 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think that many people can answer this one.
I'd guess that the closest relation would be the most primative dinosaur which would place it in the very latest Triassic. Mammal faced reptiles would be close to where mammals and Dinosaurs went their separate ways.
You are talking 215 ish million years ago so our ancestors didn't look much like us either
Herrerasaurus maybe.
2006-07-16 11:42:53 · answer #3 · answered by INFOPOTAMUS 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We are not very closely related to dinosaurs, so to name a dinosaur in particular would be a mute point. Small mammals existed in the time of dinosaurs, and when the dinosaurs became extinct, this opened the door for mammals to grow and differentiate into all the mammals of today. You can tell your son that we believe birds came from the dinosaurs.
2006-07-15 17:08:56 · answer #4 · answered by Billy C. 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know the name of the creature (sorry), but we (mammals) share common ancestry with the dinosaurs. There was a creature or group of creature that preceeded the dinosaurs, which had traits of both mammals and reptiles. As I remember it had a tail, rather long neck (like a horse), laid eggs, and had hair. It's this common ancester the allows for such oddities as the platypus which has both mammilian and reptilian traits(egg laying). Check out a book on biological anthropology and it should be in there... if it was written recently. Sounds like a cool kid.
2006-07-15 22:14:18 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Elton John
2006-07-15 20:23:26 · answer #6 · answered by d_oc22 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sorry that I don't know the direct answer for you.
But, I do know that dinosaurs are most closely related to Birds.
(It's kind of like answering which bird we are most related to, and I'm not sure how to answer it. I guess theoretically, they could do DNA tests to see how much overlaps, but that would be kind of hard to find for dinosaurs).
2006-07-15 17:03:27 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Maggie Thatcher
2006-07-19 16:33:02 · answer #8 · answered by lumpy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, if you believe in God, then we are not. However, if you do not believe in God, we are actuallly pretty close to the two rocks ( the two that banged together to make the universe (big bang theory) that created the whole world.) Just tell him that if monkeys were dinosaurs, then we are like them.
2006-07-16 00:09:16 · answer #9 · answered by Dr Cog 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I really don't think we are related to Dinosaurs. We are evolved from Primates like Chimpanzees & Orang Utan.
2006-07-17 14:34:17 · answer #10 · answered by monkeyface 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋