Artificial Selection: A Solution to the Ontogeny Debate

In recent years there has been much discussion and debate on whether or not some species of dinosaur from the end of the Cretaceous were distinct species or just growth stages of known species. If the argument of ontogeny is true, it would imply a lower diversity of dinosaurs at the end of their reign, thus supporting the hypothesis that dinosaurs were already on their way out at the time of their extinction. I believe that Horner and his colleagues are correct that these apparently distinct species actually belong to other, already known ones. However, I do not think ontogeny is the correct interpretation of these specimens. What is the alternative, then? Let me explain.

A while back on Tet Zoo, Darren Naish wrote a post on dinosauroids, including comments on Mike Magee's book Who Lies Sleeping? Dinosaur Heritage and the Extinction of Man. However, I now think that Darren was way too dismissive of Magee's theories. I have now taken a closer look at his ideas and find them extremely compelling, and am now a supporter of the existence of Anthroposaurus sapiens at the end of the Maastrichtian.

What does this have to do with dinosaur ontogeny and diversity? Think of it this way. In the Late Cretaceous, the Anthroposaurs, with their utter lack of respect for their environment, likely wiped out many dinosaur species through overhunting, habitat destruction, and pollution. Most of the nonsentient dinosaurs that remained would have been domesticated. And domesticated animals are extensively bred to be suited for use as food, companionship, sporting purposes, etc. Sometimes these changes can be drastic as seen in dogs. There is huge variety among the breeds of dogs. In fact, if a future paleontologist dug up a golden retriever and a bulldog side-by-side, he or she would undoubtedly think they were different genera. The artificial selective processes can also be used to increase or decrease size, also seen in dogs, as well as in other animals like horses (compare a miniature horse with a large draft horse).

With these facts in mind, it becomes blatantly obvious that many of the supposed species from the time of the dinosaurs' extinction were not separate species, nor were they ontogenetic stages, but rather were different breeds of the same species bred for different purposes by the Anthroposaurs. Dracorex and Stygimoloch were breeds of Pachycephalosaurus, Torosaurus was a breed of Triceratops, and Nanotyrannus was a miniature breed of Tyrannosaurus. The reason that no other scientist has come to this conclusion is due to the preconceived notions of the paleontological community that Anthroposaurus never existed. It is time to shed such biased points of view and look at the fossil record completely objectively. Until them, we will learn little about Anthroposaurus sapiens and the world it lived in.