Jack Horner: Dinosaurs likely behaved like birds

How many velociraptors does it take to take down a T-rex?

Dr. Jack Horner, a paleontologist with Museum of the Rockies and Montana State University, demurred on that question, which came from an eager youngster at a presentation Horner gave at Great Falls Public Library.

It was standing-room only in the room set up for Horner's presentation, where the legendary scientist gave his theories on what dinosaurs needed their horns, shields and plates for.

"Dinosaur Accoutrement: What Good Were They?" compared dinosaurs to birds, which many biologists and paleontologists believe are closely related.

Through photos and examples of dinosaur fossils, Horner explained to the crowd that dinosaurs likely relied on crests and combs for the same things birds now do — for species recognition and mate selection.

Birds use these structures to show off, he said.

"We see it to the extreme in birds. They are always showing off," Horner said.

Study of triceratops skulls at the Museum of the Rockies showed that their horns, once thought to be used for defense, are very thin and hollow in adults. Their shields show evidence of a complex vascular system below covered with a coat of keratin — the same as human fingernails — on top.

Poking a hole in the shield would result in massive bleeding, he said.

"Not only were horns hollow, they could poke a hole in each other only once," Horner said.

Horner's lecture culminated with claims that dinosaurs, which many researchers agree had feathers, likely were very colorful and exhibited birdlike behavior.

Like birds, when it was mating season, they tried to attract mates.

Also like birds, they probably danced to do so.

"You see where we are going here? This is where we're going," he told a laughing audience.

That means people must change the way they think of dinosaurs. Instead of being aggressive, scary creatures, they likely behaved more like the birds we are used to, he said.

"I want you to think about dinosaurs as being really, really different than the way we normally think about them because we do know dinosaurs gave rise to birds," he said.

But Horner's attention was squarely on the children, whom he invited to sit on the floor in the front of the room. He took their questions first and most often.

"Do they have DNA samples of dinosaurs?" "What did T-rex use his arms for?" "When did you become interested in dinosaurs?" they asked. Horner switched back and forth between silly and science.

To the question about T-rex's arms, he first claimed it used it to scratch his belly, but then explained the arms likely were becoming vestigial, which meant over time the animal was losing them.

Adults in the audience peppered the Shelby-born scientists with questions as well.

"I've never seen so many older people come to hear about dinosaurs before," Horner said before the presentation began as people filed in.

"We are dinosaurs," quipped one woman.

The adults wanted to know if dinosaurs inhabited the entire earth and whether Brontosaurus is its own species or a misidentified Apatosaurus.

Horner discussed his work at MSU that would essentially retro-evolve a dinosaur from a chicken using genetic engineering. His lab is working to make a bony tail, he explained.

"We expected a lot of people but not this many," said Jude Smith, public relations coordinator with the library.

After the presentation, Smith looked on as a line of adults and children waited to have their photo taken with Horner and have book signed.

"He's really had the rock star treatment," she said.

Horner, who told one of the children he was "hatched" with an interest in dinosaurs, said he found his first dinosaur bone at age 8 and his first full skeleton at 13.

He gave the younger members of the audience most of his attention.

One child told him he had a theory of what dinosaurs were combined to make the fictitious Indominus Rex, the star of the forthcoming "Jurassic World," which, like the previous "Jurassic Park" films, Horner advised.

Another told Horner about a dinosaur he invented himself called aurora borealisaurus.

"I like that. And he's colorful, too," Horner said.

But what about those velociraptors? How many does it take to take down a T-rex?

After hesitation, Horner gave his answer.

"Five," he said.