Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid struck our planet and triggered a mass extinction
that wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs. But, what if it hadn’t? What would our world
look like if the dinosaurs still ruled over it? This theoretical timeline is the subject
of the speculative zoology book ‘The New Dinosaurs’ — written by Dougal Dixon,
who popularized speculative zoology (with a trilogy which also includes ‘After Man’
and ‘Man After Man,’) that chronicles evolution in the far future. Dixon’s work
influenced other series you might know like the Future is Wild, and C. M. Kosemen's ambitious
‘All Tomorrows.’ But ‘The New Dinosaurs’ is unique in how imagines not the future — but
an alternate form of the present. So, for this entry into the archive, we’re going
to catalog this other world Dixon conceptualized — bearing in mind some of the science is
a bit outdated, and it’s of course impossible to know exactly what such a timeline would
look like. Think of this book — and by extension, this video — as just an interesting guess.
So let’s jump in, and imagine the great asteroid was just another flash of light in
the sky, and over the next several million years, a dawn rose on a new order of dinosaurs.
Beginning in the continent we know as Africa, the first ‘new dinosaurs’ we meet are
the strange, forest-dwelling Tree Hoppers and long-faced waspeaters. The waspeater is
similar to our timeline’s anteater, as both species spend time in the trees and feature
lengthy snouts for reaching into insect nests. Dixon classifies these species as Arbosaurs
— and his concept of a tree dwelling dinosaur actually came true to an extent. After this
book’s publication, paleontologists discovered the existence of microraptors: small, tree
dwelling dinosaurs not far off from what Dixon imagined. Moving from the forest to the savanna
we’ve got the hilariously named Flarp, bipedal scavengers descended from the aerial pterosaurs.
Like the emu or ostrich we know, their wings are now vestigial, so they’re stuck on the
ground. Even more stuck on the ground is the Lank — massive, unusual grazers also descended
from pterosaurs. This species is a pretty clear analogue to the giraffe, and some paleologists
have noted isn’t the most realistic species Dixon imagined. But the Lank are just so funny
looking, I can’t help but approve. And in the desert the last African species I want
to touch on awaits. Beneath the sand is the wyrm — a super alarming-looking organism.
Dixon imagines this tube of a creature moves like a snake, and can burrow under the sands
to catch prey. Frankly, I wonder if our snakes would be offended by the comparison. Heading
north to the continent we know as Europe, is a species even further away from traditional
dinosaurs. This is the Gestalt, a species similar in size to ground squirrels — but
Dixon imagines they could build complex nests and even form complex communities. These intelligent
dinosaurs are descended from Pachycephalosaurus, thick skulled lizards not really known for
their brains — so it’s an incredible transformation. Near the Gestalt, we have the diminutive Zwim
— not a dinosaur at all, but a mammal! The species is close to a modern mouse, and is
about as big as mammals get in this alternate reality. (elephant footage). This is because
mammals were only able to diversify into (link to eocene) the species we know today because
the dinosaurs declined, which never happened in this timeline. To the north, we have the
hefty tromble, similar in stature to ostriches. Like the mammals, there aren’t many species
of true birds in this alternate reality, which makes sense considering their competition.
Across the ocean to the region we call North America, we’ve got the truly insane looking
Spinosaurus. The surreal dinosaurs are evolved from the duckbilled dinosaurs of the Cretacecous
period — with elaborate crests used for group identification. The sprintosaurs are
similar to the pronghorn antelope in they can run at high speeds to avoid predators,
and have become fully quadrupedal — meaning they walk on four legs. The sprinosaurs’s
are hunted by the rather deranged looking northclaw, a therapod with a massive single
claw for hunting prey. But there’s one dinosaur species on the grassland the northclaw can’t
catch — that being the massive herbivorous monocorn. These huge grazing animals share
the large, defensive horns of rhinos, but move across the North American prairies in
great herds like buffalo. Descended from the triceratops, they’re maintaining their ancestor’s
niche as large, defensive herbivores. Heading to the rainforests of what we term South America,
we’ve got the scale-covered pangaloon — a species with an armored defense similar to
our timeline’s pangolins, who are… just the best. Nearby, the massive Lumbers continue
the treetop grazing habits of their sauropod ancestors, although they now feature a trunk
much like our reality’s tapirs, which both species use to aid in consuming vegetation.
Tragically, the lumbers are preyed upon by the fearsome cutlass tooth, a dinosaur whose
unique dental arrangement resembles our timeline’s sabertooth. Given their frightening nature,
you’d expect the culasstooth to be the T-rex’s descendant. But nope, the tyrannosaurs rex
evolved into the rather stumpy looking Gourmand — a species which lacks any front limbs
at all. I mean, hey: in our timeline the tyrannosaurs’ closet living relative is the chicken — so
it could be worse. Crossing Oceans once again to what we know as Asia, we’ve got the mountain-dwelling
Taddey: a species covered in insulating-pseudo features with a rather unfortunate face. The
Taddey is filing a similar niche to our reality’s macaque, a species of monkeys which thrive
in similar regions. The Taddey’s coloring and tree-swinging abilities also make it similar
to the gibbon — although unlike either monkey species, the Taddey is imagined to not be
particularly smart. Another species that will haunt my nightmares, the treewryms an elongated
species related to the desert wyrm discussed in the Africa section. Like the desert variety,
the Treeworm is a snake like predator, and possesses the ability like many modern snakes
to climb trees and move along branches in search of prey. Pretty unsettling stuff. In
a distant valley, a less unsettling — but truly unique — species lurks. This is the
numbskull, a bipedal animal with a swollen-looking head which seems almost humanoid in its appearance.
The idea of dinosaurs eventually evolving into a human-like intelligent species seems
fascinating, and has been the subject of numerous sci-fi books. As interesting as this seems
in theory, it’s hard to say how likely it is a creature with human-like intellect would
emerge from dinosaurs — and Dixon doesn’t seem too convinced. This is why the numbskull,
living up to its name, isn’t too bright. Further south we come to Australia, a region
with plenty of unique animals in our timeline. And Dixon’s vision of the place is even
crazier. This is the Cribrum, an algae chomping species similar in build and coloring to the
flamingos. Unlike our reality’s flamingos, however, the Cribrum can’t actually take
flight. One species that can at least get some air through hopping is the gwanna, the
last surviving relation to the iganodonts which hop across the grassy plains. As you
can imagine, these dinosaurs have found a similar role to that of kangaroos, and are
even a similar size. Much smaller is the crackbeak, another species with an appearance I find
deeply unsettling. But nature is about function, not form, and the crackbeak are quite skilled
at cracking open nuts — although the species also eats insects, much like the modern Australian
kookaburra. And our final Australian dinosaur of note is the Kloon, a strangely endearing
bipedal herbivore with a thick wooly coat. Although not filling the same niche, the animal
reminds me of the capybara, which has a similar face and peaceful nature. But we’re not
done with our list quite yet. We still need to explore what sorts of species are inhabiting
this world’s oceans. Beginning near the poles, we have the aquatic plunger — a streamlined
black and white organism that’s a pretty clear analogue to the penguin. Like most penguins,
they’re described as adept swimmers with wings modified for hydrodynamic movement.
A pretty creative idea for a species, if a familiar one. Far less familiar, however,
is the Kraken, an aptly-named species with a shell that resembles a tiny floating island.
The kraken had twelve tentless with deadly stingers, and will eat anything that becomes
entangled in its traps. If anything, the Kraken resembles our timeline’s nautilus, although
they aren’t nearly as fantastical. And the last species we’re touching on is by far
the largest: this is the Whulk, a huge leviathan which is a descendant of the ichthyosaur that
evolved to eat plankton. The massive species is a direct analogue to our world’s whales,
sharing similar feeding habits and gargantuan proportions. And that’s the end of Dougal
Dixon’s ‘The New Dinosaurs’ and our window into an alternate timeline where dinosaurs
still ruled the earth. Thanks for watching. If you liked this entry, please lend your
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See you in the next video.