TROODON FOREST
One of the earliest dinosaur finds in North America, Troodon is a very remarkable little dinosaur, it had a large brain compared to body size, a similar ratio to that found in modern birds, suggesting a high level of intelligence. Nests of fossilized eggs discovered in Montana suggest that Troodon exhibited parental care and would have looked after its young.
Troodon is the favorite dinosaur to speculate about, when it comes to what might have happened, if the dinosaurs had not died out in the disaster at the end of the Cretaceous period. Troodon, intelligent, agile and with gripping hands, is the best candidate to evolve into the dinosaur equivalent of humans!
Troodon had long slender limbs which suggest it could have moved rapidly. Relatively small, around 2m long, and 1m high, it had a body weight of about 60kg, its large eyes suggest nocturnal activity.
An interesting feature is that the forelimbs appear to have been able to be folded back, rather like birds wings. This may have been useful when running, or is this a throwback from an earlier evolution. Certainly Troodon belongs to the group of theropod dinosaurs, from which birds evolved, maybe a group of birds gave up flight (like the modern Ostrich, amoung others) and retained this odd feature. There is also a strong body of opinion supporting the idea that Troodon sported feathers!
