My pet dinosaur (aka hijacking @ryanbrock’s idea)
As mentioned previously, I had the opportunity to attend Blog Indiana a few weeks ago. While I’m still processing the massive amount of information I mentally downloaded, I can tell you that one of the many highlights from the two days was the session by Ryan Brock called Nonsense, Creativity, and the Completely Engaged Reader. During that session, he asked us what kind of dinosaur we would have as a pet if (1) dinosaurs were still alive, and (2) we were somehow capable of domesticating these long-extinct giants. I didn’t really contribute to the conversation because I couldn’t really decide.
There’s just so many to choose from.
After much deliberation, consideration, contemplation, research, and many sleepless nights, I think I’ve finally reached my conclusion. I know which dinosaur I want to have as a pet.
The Styracosaurus
I’m sure our kids would name him Racky. Just like their stuffed animals used to have creative names, like Cup, I’m pretty sure one of them would wind up saying “Let’s call him Racky! Get it? Sty’racky’saurus?” And that name would certainly stick, despite my best efforts to help the family come up with another name. Like Spot. Or Fred. Or Bosephus. Or even Giant Plant Eater with Big Ol’ Horns. But no, I’m sure he’ll be called Racky. So Racky it is
I’ll admit that this might be the most popular choice. After all, there’s the much more popular dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus Rex, the Allosaurus, the Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Appatasaurus, Ankylosaurus, Velociraptor, or the Spinosaurus. All of those would be great choices. But I’ll stick with my choice. Here’s why…
Transportation
The Styracosaurus would give us a great mode of safe transportation. According to Wikipedia, an adult Styracosaurus stood around six feet tall and weighed around 3 tons. He would also be equipped with those pretty impressive horns. You try to get too close and he’ll just take out your vehicle with one shake of his head.
I defy any SUV to try and flip our Racky.
With gas prices the way they are, he would also save a bundle on our transportation costs. And don’t forget the environment. He’d be taking one of our vehicles off the road. That means less pollution, right?
Playtime
The ladies of the house are pretty fond of painting their nails. Think about how much fun they’ll have painting Racky’s horns! And those painted horns will make a killer jungle gym, won’t they?
Styracosaurus won’t eat me!
Sure, I’ll have to take out a loan and maybe sell some blood on the side in order to be able to purchase enough farmland to feed this giant herbivore. It’ll be totally worth it, though, because there’s absolutely no chance that this giant walking jungle gym with painted horns decides one day that I might be a tasty snack. And, honestly? That’s reason enough for me.
As an added bonus, we won’t have to feed Racky two live cows a day, which would probably be likely if we had a carnivorous dino for a pet. That will make Aly very happy. She doesn’t want anyone to eat meat. Except bacon. She’d totally be a vegetarian if it wasn’t for bacon. But that’s OK. Everything’s better with bacon. And with a Styracosaurus, we won’t have to share any bacon.
Do you disagree?
If I have yet to convince you that the Styracosaurus would be the perfect pet dinosaur, let me know. Hit me up on twitter (@mattdantodd) or shoot me an email telling me you prefer a different dino. I’ll probably ask you to write a guest post.
Come on. You know you want to. Go ahead. Tell the world what dinosaur would be your perfect pet!
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