Erin LaCount, Environmental Educator at Dinosaur Ridge and self-described "Dinosaur Loving Kid who Never Outgrew it," presented a superb program on Salacious in the Cretaceous, or in other words, Dinosaur Sex! How, exactly did Dinosaurs have sex? They are so big and so bizarre, it can only be assumed that dinosaur sex is also going to be big and bizarre!Erin explained that the closest living relatives on the evolutionary tree to dinosaurs are birds, especially waterfowl, and maybe crocodilians. So we learned about how most birds do it...turns out to be cloacal kissing. Sorry, I am not going into it in print. Google it.
But waterfowl and crocodilians do it differently, utilizing an uncoiling penis (I never thought I'd write those two words together) that apparently breaks off when the deed is done (everyone grimaced...it's OK, Erin says it grows back!) This is called "explosive eversion." Again, you can google it, preferably not at work.
Erin also provided us with the best graphics I've ever seen in a powerpoint, including a pole dancing dinosaur and artists' images of dinosaur sex and some actual photos of bird sex. Sadly, I was laughing too hard to get a picture of any of it. Again, you could google it, but in this case, I would just use your imagination, if you must. Or use someone else's computer when they aren't watching.
Thank you, Erin, for a great program. Erin mentioned they have a Beer Garden event on June 16th so I might have to combine my new-found love of dinosaurs with a bike ride and a beer...hmmm.