I would like to create a poll to settle a debate Iāve seen being had. Which dinosaur would be the best pet? But there are so many dinosaurs out there, how could I possibly pick a few to make a poll? Well, thatās what this post is for! I want all of yāall to nominate a dinosaur that would genuinely make a good pet if it were to be tamed. And Iām talking feasible for the average person, so nothing like spinosaurus unless you can come up with a good or funny enough explanation why it would be a good pet. I hope to get many nominations, so donāt be afraid to get a little out there or obscure. I will start by nominating Kulindadromeus, Psittacosaurus, and Mononykus.
i would say chickens
Fun topic! Personally, I would love to have a Microraptor. Theyāre a manageable size. Four wings is extremely cool. I guess there may still be some debate over their classification as a dinosaur, but I can accept them as such. Mononychus and Psittacosaurus would also make my list. I wasnāt familiar with Kulindadromeus, so I looked it up. I would be happy with one of those, too. And I have always adored chickens!
Microraptor would be great for an atrium or aviary. I am including both avian and non avian dinosaurs here (preferably extinct ones), so Microraptor well fits in the category.
Thatās what I was thinking! My thinking was fuzzy though, which Iām blame on a lack of sleep. I couldnāt come up with āatrium.ā Pondered what might be the saurian based equivalent term for āaviary.ā Pteriary?
I think iād nominate Troodon and of course a Psittacosaurus. A Troodon is bigger but i just think of it as having a horse. Theyāre also very smart and i think they could be good like guard dinosaurs. I also just love them and would want to have one lol. I like Psittacosaurus because theyāre adorable and their diet would probably be easy for most people to provide. And theyāre around the size of a large dog so itās not too big to be easily kept. Microraptors would be really cool too. I am a big dinosaur nerd so thereās probably other could nominations i could think of but these were just off the top of my head. Very fun idea @garciademueller!
Microceratus~
A 25ish pound ceratopsian species seems like a great place to start for an easy way to get your feet wet. Then you can start in on working your way up to the smaller raptors or feisty procompsognathus
My favourite tiny dino is probably Aquilops. They were smaller than my cats and just too dang cute.
Though Dilong was pretty cool too. Sort of like a mini T-Rex that only weighed about 25 pounds. Also a cutie.
Oh man, I forgot about Dilong, but they are absolutely adorable.
I know, they were so cute! And who wouldnāt want a mini-rex?
As someone who grew up loving Tyrannosaurus Rex and similar large, bipedal carnivores, I was pretty much delirious with glee when I discovered Dilong. The smaller raptors are cool, but many of them have faces that are a little too narrow and bird-like for my tastes. Dilong has more of that true tyrannosaur face that I love, just in a more manageable size.
My sleep-deprived brain sees this and immediately goes āWhich one could I RIDE??? Preferably without said ride ending in my near-certain demise??? ā This, in turn, led me down a bizarre rabbithole of quora q&a, reddits, references to ARK: Survival Evolved (occasionally Dinotopia, as well), and some short blogger postsā¦
Finally, I landed on the biggest thing that a person could reasonably manage to provide food for (other than by letting it eating you):
Opisthocoelicaudia seems to have about the same body mass as a modern elephant (so wouldnāt require a small countryās worth of grazing land), a fairly flat back, and no rational motivation to murder me. Therefore, it is the perfect choice for dinoback-riding.
So itās a long necked elephant⦠Iāve seen how much an elephant can eat!
Iāll take a five pound theropod who can hunt mice in my yard like a furious toothy bird. Taking it on a long line leash to the park to sniff things and chase squirrelsā¦
I absolutely love how much research went into this reminds me of me
These are the important questions. Love it!
this one right here
It wouldnāt be for the average keeper, but I feel like Heracles inexpectatus wouldāve made an alright pet for the very experienced keeper. They were a giant terrestrial parrot about 1m tall that ate fruits and nuts and stuff, and I feel like if you had a large enough aviary, youād be able to keep them right.
Like a Kakapo-zilla!
Man, I want all of them! Probably for the best that I canāt have a Dino buddy, though. My faithful cat is fine with the snakes, but saurians might be a bit too much for her.