Random thought re. last Sunday's Primeval

[ffutures]

One of the big problems with large tropical reptiles - boa constrictors, pythons, other large snakes, lizards etc. - is that they tend to be very sensitive to cold. People who buy them as pets often run into problems with them getting chronic lung conditions that can be as bad (and ultimately as dangerous) as pneumonia.

But apparently baby dinosaurs can accidentally travel millions of years into the future, plunged out of a tropical environment into a temperate setting, can then be flushed down a lavatory and emerge in the sewers, and spend the next few years wandering around under British conditions, and still leap around nimbly and survive repeated falls and impacts, not to mention repeated electric shocks, without any sign of being short of breath.

Odd, that...

Comments

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

Dinosaurs are warm-blooded like their descendants, birds. They aren't related to lizards or snakes, IIRC.

But the albino sewer alligator in NYC can do all those things, and they're cold-blooded, so either way...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm not wholly convinced that they would be that resiliant, but it's a good point that I'd forgotten - blame tiredness.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

I blame your lazy, lazy snakes! If you had more exciting snakes, always trying to escape and slither over the snow, you'd have more faith in the abilities of imaginary creatures.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Dinosaurs, particularly the theropods, are thought to have been endothermic, and some lived in very cold climates with snow and ice.

However, this beastie was a kind of crocodile, so you are right, if for the wrong reasons...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I blame tiredness - it's been a crappy week - though I still have a lot of reservations about their viability in Britain. I suppose it's part of making them a menace in the show.

[nelc.livejournal.com]

We only hear about the ones that survive. It actually happens ('It' being whatever happens in Primeval, since I've never watched it) a lot more often, but most die in a short while without causing mayhem. The sewer workers of Britain have to sign the Official Secrets Act whenever they find the remains.