Mokèlé-Mbèmbé, A Living Dinosaur? Part 3: Kasai Rex & Afroraptor

Artist impression of the Kasai Rex obtained by modifying clip art

Kasai rex is a darling of the internet. No discussion online of African dinosaurs can be made without someone claiming that the Kasai rex must be real because we have photos. The Kasai rex is supposedly a living Tyrannosaurus rex (and it is always T. rex rather than any theropod that was actually indigenous to Africa) that stomps about the Congo like Godzilla.

The glamor of this huge carnivorous theropod seems to cause people to lose their objectivity. I say this because as soon as one does even a few minutes of research the Kasai rex story dissolves into a huge pile of steaming manure.

Mokèlé-Mbèmbé, A Living Dinosaur? Part Two: Native Art

Kuppenhole Rock Art

In the last post I reviewed the earliest reports of the so-called African Dinosaurs and found them inconclusive at best and outright hoaxes at the worst.  Several of these early sightings mention native rock art of these mysterious saurians. Maybe they can clear up the puzzle? 

Mokèlé-Mbèmbé, A Living Dinosaur? Part One: 1776 to 1939

Mokele-Mbembe according to Roy P. Mackal

Mokèlé-mbèmbé is a legendary water-dwelling creature of Congo River basin folklore, claimed to be a living sauropod by creationists and many cryptozoologists. In addition to a sauropod some claim there are living sivatheres, ceratopsians, stegosaurs, and even tyrannosaurs in the African Congo. To these people Central Africa is an actual Lost World that will disprove evolution

Unfortunately, no matter how much I would love to see a living dragon, once the actual reports are consulted the claims fall apart into wishful thinking, misquoted scientists, reports of known animals, reports of an unidentified rhinoceros, and hoaxes.

Repticulus goes off with a bang! (Sorry I couldn't Resist)

I was going to blog about the so-called living dinosaurs in Africa, Really I was, but then I saw a comic book that just blew my mind. I just had to blog about it because really someone has to. This post is rated PG-13 and is unsuitable for little children even though it was originally written for children back in June 1962 and was approved by the Comics Code Authority!

Holy Cow where to begin...

Note how the ice Age was 50 MYA (Roll Eyes)

Gorgo or the Attack of Mamma Bunyip!

Poster for Gorgo

 One of the things that really irks me is people claiming things about a fictional critter that proves they either have poor reading comprehension or never saw the movie. Gorgo is a prime example of this.

Countries of the World: The Remake

For a while now I have been involved with a project at Zoo Tycoon Wildlife called Countries of the World which focuses on creating new Zoo Tycoon 2 animals based on those native to a particular country. I had several packs done but during that time Radical Remake was launched and has become the new standard. As a result I am remaking some of my packs. Think of this short entry as an advertisement or preview of these upcoming projects.

This month I am working on Namibia. 

Jurassic Park’s Velociraptor is NOT Deinonychus: Making Brian Switek's Fanboy Hypothesis Extinct!

I just finished reading Brian Switek's new book "My Beloved Brontosaurus"; it's a pretty good book that gives a good overview of how much dinosaur paleontology has changed in the last 40 years. Unfortunately he struck a sour note with me on page 121.

Here he claims that Michael Crichton in Jurassic Park changed the name of Deinonychus to Velociraptor because Velociraptor was too small to be threatening. He claims the name change was due to Greg Paul classified Deinonychus and Velociraptor in the same genus. 

Ugh! I have been trying to squash that fanboy rumor for years. It is simply not so and reading the book they are supposedly fans of would easily show that this idea is incorrect. Oh and Spielberg’s movie is irrelevant as it omits the very background dialog that identifies the raptors in question. And besides we are talking about Crichton not Speilberg.

The simple fact of the matter is that the Greg Paul’s classification is irrelevant. Yes Paul classified Deinonychus in the same genus as Velociraptor but they were still different species. Even worse for Switek (and the fanboys) the novel actually says the animals cloned for the Park were cloned from DNA found in Mongolia and Deinonychus is a North American genus!

But first let’s see what the novel says about Deinonychus.