DINORNISIA
Waynright Rowles
In the remote places of the Earth exists creatures
of myth, now brought back into the light of modern memory. Over
the eons they have been revealed many times, only to be forgotten
again as cultures rose and fell. Are they legend, or are they
fact?
Dinobirds, properly called Dinornisia, occupy a unique
niche in our world ecosystem. Neither birds nor dinosaurs, these
creatures may be relatives of each. When I started my researches
in 1988 the idea that birds are the grandchildren of dinosaurs
would have been heresy. Twelve years later, the link between
birds and dinosaurs has become established in the scientific
milieu, and yet the basis of my work is thought of as no more
than a Storybook by the general public.
The facts, however, can speak for themselves. For
all of Human recorded history there have been legends of giant
flying creatures that lived in the forests or mountains. In all
countries, all cultures, and in all time periods, primitive and
advanced, these stories live. Stories that tell of giant flying
creatures, described as part bird (or bat) and part land animal,
(usually a local animal), which have human-like behaviors and
personalities. Illustration 1
Our ancestors called them Dragons, and Griffins,
and Harpies, and Rocs, Tengus, Thunderbirds, and Quetzalcoatl,
and a hundred other names. Many different artworks exist in local
styles, but take the art away and the descriptions become the
same creatures. Many different isolated cultures worldwide mimicked
the same appearance of horns, crests and wings, so there must
have been an identical original to mimic from. North America
cultures are only the latest examples. Illustration
2
Working backward, we are speaking of a congruent evolution
parallel to, but separate from, common birds. Starting as the
dinosaurs reached old age, a second branch veered off of the
family tree, this one holding another group of flying animals
that were perhaps related to the pygmy variants of the ancient
giants. Over time they developed,staying small in numbers but
large in size. Evolution kept them at the biggest size still
possible for flight. This indicates that they still fly. Size Comparison 1
Human history has been confronted with large winged animals
who have intelligent behaviors and personalities unlike normal
animals. They have done such things as stockpile gold, kidnap
princesses, and create luck. In some tales they could even speak.
No doubt some of this is an exaggeration caused in the retelling
of the same incidents. However, all legends have a basis in fact.
With these stories in mind we must place Dinornisia in the line-up
of intelligent Earth creatures, and perhaps high up.
The puzzling point of these legends is that many times
the creatures are friendly and other times aggressive. Combined
together, these stories portray either friendly herbivores or
aggressive meat-eaters. Obviously, no animal can be both, so
this information indicates at least two distinct sub-types of
Dinornisia. I believe each group had their own territory and
behaviors, and that encounters with Mankind disrupted these habitats.
Local legends depended upon which group the humans met. The plant
eaters were friendly, the meat eaters were not. Illustration
3 and Illustration 4
For example, several eons ago in the Mediterranean,
there were many such tales. Why did they die out? Did the population
become more intelligent? Was myth replaced with science, or was
it something else? I will only point out that this area was once
heavily forested. When the forests of the area were all cut down
the stories stopped! Obviously, with no homes the creatures had
to leave the area, or were exterminated, and so the encounters
ended, leaving only legends.
I believe the entire history of Dinornisia movements
could be followed by charting the deforestation caused by the
spread of humans. As people moved into a region, there were first
encounters. These first pioneers relate the incidents to later
arrivals, who do not firmly believe them, but repeated them.
As cities develop contact becomes more rare. Later, as the local
forest is denuded, the encounters stop, and are left as historical
here-say. Again and again this could have happened, with memories
fading each time.
From the early days in the Middle East, then spreading
out into Europe and Asia, followed by the Americas and even Easter
Island, the spread of human population causes the spread of legends
of the giant flying creatures. Are we following them, or they
us?
In our current day, new levels of forest shrinkage
are occurring. The last great forests of the Earth are dying
by the saw. This may now cause a reappearance of these 'Dinobirds',
if they still exist. I believe time will tell. W
|