Domesticating Dinosaurs For Farm Life: The Hypothetical Beginner’s Guide

I had a question. In a hypothetical world in which dinosaurs and humans were alive during the same time, which dinosaurs would be good candidates for domestication? Luckily, I knew who to ask.

Meet Dinosaur Enthusiast David Chaniott

Since a young age, David Chaniott has been intrigued by dinosaurs. In fact, at age 13, a homeschooling group asked David to teach a middle school class on the topic. David owns hundreds of books on dinosaurs and has spent more than 5,000 hours reading up on the topic. David’s perspective on dinosaurs is most influenced by the work of paleontologist Robert T. Bakker and recently David has enjoyed following the work of paleontologist Paul Sereno.

In 2005, David graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Wright State University. This Fall David will be travelling Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary to study. David regularly modifies his travel routes to incorporate visits to dinosaurs attractions, so if you know something on the way to Boston, be sure to let him know.

The Interview

I caught up with my friend and dinosaur enthusiast David Chaniott for an interview. His answers are a number of things: a great mental exercise, an engaging screenplay or book premise, and a focus group highlighting areas of agricultural science to be studied if dinosaurs or other large beasts emerge in modern society. Hey, why not start early?

Nate News: Which dinosaurs would be most easiest to domesticate or train? If you had master dinosaur domestication skills, what would be the functions of your dinosaurs?

David Chaniott: Well Nate, that’s a very good question. Since dinosaurs have been extinct for 65 million years, even I can’t say which would be an easy dinosaur to domesticate. But let’s suppose that I did have a dinosaur farm.

I’ll talk about a few dinosaurs and how they might fill the roles of animals today on a modern farm.

First, I’ll say this. We know dinosaurs are very closely related to birds. So, maybe it’s safe to say a domestic dinosaur would be a lot like a domestic bird—a chicken or a duck perhaps.

On farms today, chickens are valued for their eggs. If I were to select a dinosaur to egg, I would try the Coelophysis. She is a bit larger than a chicken so maybe we’ll have some bigger eggs. The Coelophysis has some cousins too that might be good for laying eggs as well—Podokesauras, Megapnosaurus, and Rioarribasaurus. On January 22, 1998, Coelophysis became the second dinosaur to go into space when the Endeavor took a skull to Mir for experiments.

Farms also have animals that are raised for food, like pigs and cows. A dinosaur that I would raise for food would have to be docile and good enough sized for me to get some good meat off it.

“Of course, since dinosaurs aren’t mammals, you could never milk one. Sorry, no dinosaur dairy farms.” -David Chaniot

Nate News: I just wanted to jump in and say this is awesome. Please continue.

At first I thought about Therizinosaurus. The reason is that he does not eat plants. Some scientists believe he was an insectivore. So, you could raise Therizinosaurus on your farm without growing a large pasture. Instead, you could keep an insect colony, grasshoppers or ants, and feed him from that. However, there’s a problem. This dinosaur has one of the largest claws in the animal kingdom. He probably used this to open termite and ant nests for food. I would worry about keeping a herd of dinosaurs with a 3-foot-long claw on each hand.

Let’s try to find something a bit safer.

One, good option is the Sinornithomimus. He is a herding dinosaur from China. These guys were about 7 feet long. But they were lightly built. We won’t get much food from one of these guys. It will be more like raising turkey’s than pigs or cows, which is okay.

Minmi is a dinosaur from Australia who fits our pig ticket. He’s about ten feet long and heavily built. Unlike a lot of plant eating dinosaurs, Minmi probably didn’t use gastroliths—small swallowed stones—to grind its food inside its stomach. Instead, it seems that, like us, Minmi chewed its food well and then swallowed it. How polite. A good thing about using Minmi for food is that his skin has bony, armored plates. You could make a lot of things out of a Minmi hide, like armored purses or knobby drum skins.

Of course, a lot of people, like our friend Elissa Rainer don’t like to eat pork for religious or dietary reasons. These people wouldn’t be satisfied with a Minmi chop. Let’s think of a good dinosaur to get some tasty rare steaks or burgers off of.

Ok. I’ve got one. The Camptosaurus. This guy sounds delicious. He is described as a bulky or heavily built grazing dinosaur. The best thing about Camptosaurus is that he’s a good bit larger than a cow—20-25 feet long. So, you would not have to raise as many to get enough food. You would need some heavy equipment to work with them though. Of course, since dinosaurs aren’t mammals, you could never milk one. Sorry, no dinosaur dairy farms.

Since we’ll be using a lot of heavy equipment to raise Camptosaurus, we’re going need someone to help us pull all of it around, and maybe also help till the earth for our Mesozoic Era crops. This was an easy one to pick out.

Nate News: Omg, yes.

A lot of people have heard about the Ankylosaurus. He is a strong, stout dinosaur. He is well known for the bony, armored plates and spines that cover the upper portion of his body and tail. In fact, Ankylosaurus is related to one of our other farm dinosaurs, Minmi. The problem is the Ankylosaurus has a formidable weapon.

The tail of an Ankylosaurus has bony plates which have fused together to form a club. The last 7 vertebrae in the tail are all joined together and do not bend and the tail is strengthened with ossified, bony tendons. If we had these on our farm we would always be at risk of serious injury.

But Ankylosaurus has some cousins which do not have the dangerous tail clubs. Panopolus and Edmontonia both would be fantastic dinosaurs of burden. Their wide, armored back would be easy to load up with all our farm supplies or we could make tow harnesses that latch onto the sharp spines that protrude from their shoulders. Of course, we’d want to fashion some Minmi-hide covers to protect ourselves from the spines.

Nate News: The Ankylosaurus would double as good guard dog, yes?

You know Nate, I don’t think the Ankylosaurus would be a good guard. He’s got short legs and not likely to be very fast at all. Also, he’s 30 feet long. I’m going to think of a good, modest sized, quick, territorial and aggressive dinosaur to keep us safe from intruders and predators.

“I want to throw a saddle on [a ceratopsian] and gallop around. No impracticality can make me abandon the idea.” -David Chaniot

Nate News: Oh course, yes, yes. But do you think a “quick, territorial and aggressive dinosaur” could be tamed for security or would it be too much of a liability? I’m wanting future babies to be able to snuggle up with the guard dinosaur without fear of any incidents.

Well, keep in mind, all domestic dogs, were originally predatory wolves. You wouldn’t want your children snuggling up next to a wolf, but a good dog is quite safe. We’re domesticating them, not capturing and training them. So, I think we could breed a docile, a trainable guard dinosaur.

Ok, I’ve thought about and I have two answers for this one. The first is Troodon. He’s the got on the of the biggest brains of all dinosaurs and he’s an aggressive predator. I have high hopes that with breeding for temperament, Troodon could become a valuable farm help, for gaurding, herding and companionship.

The downside of the Troodon is his size. He is about the size of a big dog, which is great for keeping intruders away from the farm, but maybe not so great when you want him to herd a 25-foot Camptosaurus. Also, if our farm attracts any of the larger dinosaur predators, we want a gaurd with a little more fear factor.

For a bit more braun, we turn to Stygimoloch. His name means “Horned Devil from the River of Death.” Stygimoloch is a member of what is commonly known as the Bone Headed Dinosaur family. It’s descriptive, not insulting. Their heads are covered in a thick, bone dome. But the Stygimoloch brings a little more to the party. In addition to his bone dome, his head is ringed with a circle of sharp horns. You really have to see this to believe it.

The last dinosaur I want to talk about is the Achelousaurus. This guy is related to the well known Triceratops or Torosaurus. He wears a large frill around his neck and has horns and knobs on his face for display or to fight his enemies. I’ll admit, this guy is here as a bit of a vanity project for me, but I really like the idea of breaking ceratopsians and riding them around. A lot of them are a bit too large, and maybe their temperment is terrible for a mount. They have lots of horns and spikes that point back over their head towards the rider too. All the same, I want to throw a saddle on one and gallop around. No impracticality can make me abandon the idea.

So, there you have it, a good catalog of dinosaurs which are good candidates for domestication for human consumption and production. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Do you have any more questions?

Nate News: I have a slightly hypothetical follow-up question. I’m wondering how many generations we would need to breed Troodons or Stygimolochs before it’s safe to let children of our community or smaller pets nuzzle up against them without supervision? For instance, say I needed to take a day journey too dangerous for a 5-year-old. Due to shifts in the animal kingdom hierarchy, there of course would be many dangers on the trail. Could I leave a child alone with Stewart the Stygimoloch if he’s the first of his bloodline to be domesticated or would a child be safer in a Minmi-hide baby backpack?

Nate, I would not trust a child with the first generation. It would be several generations for sure before we considered it. There’s really no way to predict it. But, as with all pets, you should never trust an animal with your children implicitly. Even pet cats today can be dangerous to children. We’re always going to have to supervise our children and dinosaurs closely.

Nate News: David, thanks for your expert analysis. I hope you’ll allow me to open up our discussion to related opinions and questions so the discussion can continue.

Have a question for David?

Feel free to weight in. For instance would larger animals really be a benefit in the age of modern meat farming techniques? How much space is needed for a grass-fed dinosaur? Would parts of certain dinosaurs would become a delicacy?

If you have questions for David related to the concept of domesticating dinosaurs, please leave your question in a form of a comment below.

Credits: Main “American Goth Dino” illustration by Nathan T. Baker, Ankylosaurus creative commons by Katherine Kirkland, Minmi creative commons by London Looks, Troodon by Jeffrey L. Cohen, Camptosaurus creative commons by Kim Scarborough, Stygimoloch creative commons by Jason Adams.

Nashville’s Belmont University: A Review for Prospective Students

I get emails from parents of prospective Belmont University students fairly regularly. I thought I’d move the conversation online so there’s a place for the conversation to grow.

First, some context…

My Bias: I blow a kiss every time I drive by Belmont since I enjoyed it so much. Be warned my sentiment is overall positive. Some of my peers have other positions. It was a good fit for me, although one factor for my bias is I didn’t pay full price. For instance, I was an in-state student and eligible for a Hope Scholarship so my overall expectations were lower. With this in mind, I don’t have much stake in not being honest about my feelings on Belmont. Here’s one opinion. Seek others.

Some other viewpoints to get you started:

• Critical Facebook group
• Belmont-related posts from popular blog, Nashvillest
• Filter to some of the positive and negative reviews on studentreviews.com
• Belmont Fall Follies comedy troupe videos have a lot of truth in them.
• Journalism students’ The Week At Belmont news videos

Grapevine Concerns: The most common concerns from Belmont students I’ve heard are that Bob “The Builder” Fisher has been growing the school too quickly, issues surrounding the Lisa Howe Controversy, parking and that it’s not worth the money.

Belmont in the News: Within the last year, Belmont has most notably gotten national media attention “when women’s soccer coach Lisa Howe allegedly lost her job at the university because she is a lesbian” and for their men’s basketball NCAA appearance.

Interview

Below is an email conversation from a parent of a prospective Belmont student from 9/2010. It’s edited for length.

I have copied my son who is a Senior on this email. I, too, graduated in Journalism from university so I’m interested what you’re doing now that you’ve graduated. 

I never changed my major although it’s quite common to change your major a few times. I studied journalism, but I work in an Internet Technology company now, Sitemason [Now I work at Raven Internet Marketing Tools]. I designed websites on the side and my current job is more related to the business I started while at Belmont. Belmont has a great entrepreneur program that supported me. For instance, they have a few shared community work spaces or hatcheries where you can get a key and work at a computer, in a quiet space, with a printer, etc.

The journalism degree has helped me with the small amount of marketing I do at my current job and has given me a foundation to go into marketing if I’d like. So even though I’m not in the same field as my major, I’m more attractive to potential employers. I’ve become a better writer because of my major as well, which has helped with my long term goal of becoming a fiction author.

More about me: http://nathanbaker.com

I’m sure my son will have other questions for you regarding Belmont but I’ll start with a few:

What’s the best characteristic, from a student’s perspective, about Belmont?

It was a very creative school. Since half the students are music or music business majors, there is a whole lot of creative energy which I live for. It’s the type of energy you may feel if you have ever gone to a school specializing in the arts. If you want to get involved in a video project or find people to play music with, it’s there.

How would you describe campus life at Belmont? Does the campus feel small and local or cosmopolitan or something other than that?

It’s a small-town, comfortable, small, rural feeling campus. It’s pretty close to things though so it’s not constricting. Nashville has a fantastic park system so there are always places to find open space. You usually run into a lot of your friends by just walking campus.

Did you participate in any international studies while attending Belmont? If so, can you elaborate on your experience with that?

Not studies, but I did lead a mission trip to Mexico one summer and also went to Honduras for a journalism trip another summer. The international offerings are pretty standard for any established university.

Since Belmont is pretty entrenched in music they have campuses on the West and East coast music scenes as well.

Did you know anyone in the Music/Music Industries area of study and/or do you know much about Belmont’s music as an area of study?

Yes. My roommate of two years studied music business. It took him a while but he’s now working at a music artist management company. I have a lot of friends in the music industry. It’s hard work because of the competition, but Nashville will sharpen you because there is so much talent here.

My dad could connect you to a cousin who graduated from Belmont that is more entrenched in the music scene if you have more specific music questions.

Thanks, Nate. Hope you’re doing well in this tough economy.

Yes! Blessed to be doing well for a 25-year-old and blessed to be doing so well compared to the average global citizen.

Let me know what questions you have or if I can connect you with anyone at Belmont. Feel free to ask harder questions too.

Being a Baptist College, how prevalent is “Christian Atmosphere” at Belmont? (not in terms of whether or not good people attend, but formalization of religion and openness to alternative views). 

Is the approach laid back or more fundamentalist? 

Belmont used to be a Baptist school, but it’s now no longer affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention:

They still market themselves as Christian though:

“Belmont University is a student-centered Christian community providing an academically challenging education that empowers men and women of diverse backgrounds to engage and transform the world with disciplined intelligence, compassion, courage and faith.”

It’s fairly laid back. The religious requirements when I went were:

1. A portion of convocation are faith develop sessions.

2. Two religious classes were required. eg. new and old testament or new and old together plus a Jesus and film class.

Chapel or church wasn’t mandatory.

[Oh if you go to Belmont and you’re into Jesus, check out Belmont RUF. Great teaching and community.] 

Are there any unique campus restrictions like dorm curfews or alcohol bans?

In dorms you have to sign in people of the opposite sex. In on campus apartments people just don’t sign in. Officially the campus is a dry campus and there are checks once or twice a semester, but there are ways to get around this.

Also, where did your roommate intern and then where did he get a job?

I forget the name of his company actually and where he interned.

If a stranger visited the campus would you even recognize it as a Baptist College or would it seem pretty much like any other college campus?

It would seem like a normal campus.

The Conversation

Current Belmont Students: Feel free to weight in with how things are changing and if something I said doesn’t ring true for you. A lot changes in four years. Leave a comment.

Prospective Students & Parents: Feel free to ask me additional questions in the comments or email me directly if you don’t mind me adding your question to this post.

Photos from my Belmont Flickr Photo Set.

It took a robbery for me to meet my neighbor

My house was robbed over Thanksgiving. They caught the alleged robber, so this morning I’m going to court to testify.

Here’s an edited excerpt of what I wrote some friends after I was robbed:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I’m thankful I finally met my first neighbor, Willy.
That I get to spend time with my family.
That I don’t have to work till Monday.
That I’m not defined by the things I own.

So I got robbed last night. Someone broke into my bedroom window. It was surreal walking into my room and realizing the curtains were moving in the wind.

Why are my curtains moving > How can wind get into my room > Why is my window open > oh…. it’s broken. Someone was here. Where I sleep.

My phone’s battery was low so I plugged it into my running car. I knew I would need to continue to contact folks.

While my family ate Thanksgiving lunch, I boarded up my bedroom window, moved some expensive stuff into my car and worked with an investigator who dusted for prints.

When It was time to go, I turned my car key a full turn and it wouldn’t start. I left my car running too long.

I went across the street and asked a neighbor to help me jump the car. William was the first neighbor I had more than a 5 minute conversation with in my neighborhood. He got my car running.

We need to have you guys over sometime, I said.
Yeah that’d be great, he said.
Again, thanks so much—was it William, I said.
My friends call me Willy, he said.

I’m really glad I met Willy. There will always be idiots, like people who don’t wear gloves while robbing homes. But there are people willing to help their neighbors too. Sometimes it just takes a bit of a crisis to get people working towards something.

Wherever I live, it will always be my home and my neighborhood. Idiots will sometimes brush by our bedroom windows, yet, Willy and I aren’t going to let this stop us from working to create something beautiful in our community. Hell no.

Hell no.

Fight Up

Take fighting.

To become a better fighter, you fight. Then you become stronger. If your enemies are stronger, you don’t challenge them at the start. You train.

To safely get better at fighting you train with a friend. You regularly fight someone who (1) is more powerful and wise and (2) doesn’t want to kill you.

You get better at fighting by fighting up. This concept applies to a whole lot.

Take my mom.

She has a trained eye for when I’m well. She also knows more than me about wellness and nutrition.

Once I visited her and we talked in her kitchen. The conversation went something like this:

“You look tired. Are you tired?” mom said.

“Yeah, I’m tired.” I said.

“Have you been sleeping and eating well?” mom said.

“Nope.” I said.

We looked at each other. I wasn’t going to lie by saying I’d change. She knew I was hearing truth. It was now in my court.

“Good talk.” I said.

I was done looking into my flaws in that moment, but the tension led to my decision of eating healthier and sleeping more regularly the next week. That week I could feel the difference in my steps.

Now take God.

He is an expert in all. His characteristics define the edges of the spectrum.

When we fight God we always lose. 

We don’t fight to change God. We fight to change ourselves. He’s more powerful, but he wants what is best for us. When you are furious, when you are stressed, when you are confused, when you are racked to the point of physical violence: the place that’s always safe to fight is before God.

Thanks, Sitemason

After three great years, today is my last day at Sitemason. Next week I’ll be working alongside the team at Raven Internet Marketing Tools.

A Word About Sitemason

(Here I am with Team Sitemason wearing a fake bowtie. I’ve grown a lot as a person since this photo was taken.)

It’s not fully accurate to say I’ve worked with Sitemason for three years.

In high school I interned at Sitemason. Each week over pizza, we’d ask leaders at Sitemason and Centresource about the Internet.

This was one of the places I developed a love for the fast-moving and hidden parts of the web. Sitemason’s roots run deep in this emerging tech town. In fact, they brought the Internet here.

Now they’re leading the charge in content management for the mobile web.

At Belmont University, I ran a web design business. I was a one-man shop and had strengths in design and project management. I needed a technical partner. I began to partner with Sitemason as they do with so many web and marketing firms today. I recommend you partner with them as a partner or client if you have the chance as well.

After partnering with them, I jumped at the chance to join their team. I worked for them part-time till I graduated and then I became a full-time team member.

Only till I joined Sitemason did I have a place to to sit across from  fellow entrepreneurs and daily start things under the same banner.

I’m incredibly grateful for, among many things, one of the greatest lessons Sitemason taught me: Develop trust among your team and the job gets done sooner.

Next Steps

This week I’m technically unemployed, hanging out in a cabin, and doing some writing. My goal is to reboot and be bushy-tailed and ready for what’s next.

For the better part of my mornings it’ll be my routine to create worlds and wield just enough power to dictate my character’s next steps.

By next week, I’ll be fully ready some next steps of my own as a user support specialist at Raven. See everyone next week!

My 2011 goals

1. Become a motorcycle owner again.
2. Shave with a straight razor.
3. Clean my room.

The First City Crossword is 3pm Saturday!

This New Year, Saturday January 1, at 3:00 p.m. go to www.CityCrossword.com and the first City Crossword game will open.

City Crossword is an online game that you solve as a group. All riddles are local trivia and based on news, history, sports and more. You can win prizes from local businesses and artists by solving the last riddle or by solving the most riddles. Prizes will be announced at the start of the game. See you 3:00 p.m. Saturday at www.CityCrossword.com!

Racetrack

I hear the far off drone of a racetrack: the roar of engines, occasional squeals of tires, and also the wind lifting these sounds to my ears.

Odometers across the city are clicking to the next mile and wheels are spinning, spinning, spinning, but cars aren’t moving.

Wheels are spinning in icy grooves, past bent mailboxes, and at the edges of lonely stretches of white highway.

Before giving in, each driver steps one last step and it’s a squealing, venomous roar.

Wheels ignite patches of dark like a match and tracks are lit into infinite loops.

Rather than fire, a roar of sound is birthed above the loops. The bellowing moves freely through the snow.

The abandoned cars are symbols of failed technology, failed plans, failed normalcy.

But that roar… that roar you hear is the symbol of children pressing their noses against cold glass and smiling their way past the barrier.

See, drivers are walking away from their cars, but the sound of the racetrack drones on, calling forth those ready to race.

Tumblr was down when I launched my Internet venture

Monday I launched City Crossword.

It’s the first city-powered crossword experience where players can win prizes from local businesses and artists.

I began testing the idea over a year ago and it’s ready to move forward with some frequency.

Each month I’ll be responding to feedback and making the game stronger. I hope you’ll join in on the fun.

So, RSVP for Nashville’s first City Crossword January 1!