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.