If Dinosaurs Lived in Today’s World

If dinosaurs were alive today, the whole world would be more entertaining because it would be a mix of chaos, wandering, everyday inconvenience and the occasional “who let the T-Rex back in the suburbs again?” As the days go by we can forget about having a boring routine every morning. It would feel like the TV show National Geographic, the movie Jurassic Park, and the local news trying to stay calm when a dinosaur is near them. The world would be much louder, wilder, and extremely more unpredictable, there would have no choice, but to adapt.

Imagine replacing your alarm clock with a nice gentle beep, the ground starts shaking because a Brachiosaurus walked past your neighborhood. Birds chirping in the morning would get replaced with a 70-foot herbivore using the neighbor’s oak tree leaves as their breakfast. Someone would be terrified of seeing when they first wake up in the morning. People would be sitting at their coffee tables looking out of the windows and watching sauropods walking around like it’s a normal thing in the world. 

Commuting in the morning would be difficult but I don’t think anyone would complain because they would be late because of the “expected delays due to a Stegosaurus  sunbathing on I-85” or “rerouting due to T-rex activity on Exit 12.” Traffic jams wouldn't be caused by accidents or construction, it would be caused by dinosaurs being in the roads and not moving. Who would argue with a dinosaur that weighs just as much as a bus and has horns sharp enough that it can pop a balloon?

Our neighborhoods would also be different because instead of racoons eating out of trash cans and eating the food out of the trash cans. We would be waking up to Compsognathus taking your socks off the clotheslines or seeing Brachiosaurs using your tree as a snack during the day or night. The normal bird feeders would become small dinosaur feeders because the normal birds would be too scared to go into the feeders and eat food. Instead of having a Home Owners Association we would have the Raptors-proofing gardens association to keep the humans and dinosaurs in accordance with the home owner’s laws. 

Going shopping for groceries would be an adventure. One minute you can be in the store minding your own business and then as you are leaving with your bags in hand and all you see is a Compsognathus tearing apart your trunk like a tiny, scaly raccoon looking for food. Or even worse a Pachycephalosaus thinking that your shopping cart is another dinosaur looking for trouble and then the next minute the dinosaur is running after you and you're trying to escape. The insurance companies would have a whole category  for dinosaur related accidents and damages which would probably be used all the time. 

It wouldn't be all chaos; some dinosaurs would become a loving part of society and everyday life. The small feathered species, the oversized parrots with attitudes, would become pets. Our pets would also get an upgrade instead of having a dog you could have a Velociraptor. Some people would try to domesticate the tiny feathered dinosaurs trying to treat them like sassy parrots . Imagine just walking down the street and you see a Microraptor just sitting on someone's shoulders just judging everyone as they are walking . Influencers would do a “My morning routine with my pet Microraptor, featuring a tiny winged dinosaur on my shoulder that judges everyone.” Pet stores would have to expand their stores so that they would have dino-safe toys, Raptor resistant leashes and prehistoric-blend kibble.

The farmers would have to change their scarecrows so that they would be able to keep out the dinosaurs. If a hungry Iguanodon came into the land they are able to devour all the crops in minutes.  The farmers would have to upgrade their scarecrows to high tech fences, drones, or train some dinosaurs that are able to keep the Iguanodon out of the fields and from eating the crops. Imagine just driving your car to a place and you look over and you see a farmer on a trained Parasaurolophus like it's a horse chasing the Iguanodon out of the field, or guiding sheep while playing music that is friendly to dinosaurs. 

People would be traveling all across the world to see the Sauropod migrations, where they would be seeing all of the “long necks” walking across the open plains like a skyscraper. Theme parks would have dino-safe tours, probably giving a waiver being ten pages long and using armored vehicles and constantly having to remind people to keep their hands inside of the vehicle at all times or saying that today the Raptors are feeling pretty playful. Of course, there will be the daredevils who will be trying to take a picture with the Tyrannosaurus rex in the background. The videos that would be posted would go viral and the comments being filled with “this is why we can't have nice things.”

Schools would have to make a whole new curriculum dedicated to dinosaur safety. Kindergartners would learn the differences between the footprints of an herbivore and carnivore. Middle schoolers would go on field trips to dinosaur sanctuaries where they would get the opportunity to feed the gentle giants and learn why they should run from a predator. High schoolers would take classes in prehistoric ecology as an elective or main curriculum instruction. Students in college could major in Dino-Behavioral science, paleobiology and Dinosaurs-human coexistence studies.

Scientists would be having the time of their lives with researching and completing studies. They would be presenting information and discussion amongst a large crowd about  how to avoid getting eaten.  Biologists would get the opportunity to study the dinosaurs up close and observe their behavior, communication and the evolution. Veterinarians would be able to make a specialty occupation in treating everything related to dinosaurs from a raptor scratches to a sauropod foot infection. 

There also will be times that things won't be smooth. The delivery drivers would have to be careful with going into the territorial Ceratopsians. The early morning driver would have to check their routes to see if there was Raptor activity on the trails to change their routes accordingly. You could see a T-rex walking into the city, looking around, and decide that the inflatable balloon at the car dealership is a threat. Humanity is adaptable. Technology would be created that would be able to help track and monitor the dinosaurs to keep the humans and the dinosaurs safe and also to keep them safe from each other. There would also be new laws, new ways of living.  Drones could be used for tracking the movements of dinosaurs in real time. Having highways with elevated sections to let herds pass underneath. The zoos would be more available to protect endangered species like Pachyrhinosaurus or Therizinosaurus. The environment would fight to protect and preserve the habitats for dinosaurs that are being threatened by climate change and human expansion.