A Dinosaur Riddle related to my book HERBIE AND THE T. REX

Hello!  I hope you’re out there, – it would be nice to hear from you.

It is impossible not to think about Covid-19, which is why I put up lyrics about it last time. (Wish I could sing, but I can’t…) Dinosaurs are very much in my mind, because my new book, HERBIE AND THE T. REX is about dinosaurs, (and I have written a lot of other unpublished dinosaur stories as well.). Since I wrote it, I have learnt so much about dinosaurs. The reason I did this is very prosaic, I did it because when I go on author visits to schools, I try to put myself in a position where I can answer questions, and have something interesting to say. What I decided to focus on is how dinosaurs were getting more like us.  Almost everyone finds this interesting.  A lot of dinosaurs were bipeds, warm-blooded, their brains were developing, and some had eyes at the front, indicating binocular vision. Some think that one or two dinosaurs were also developing thumb-like structures.  Does this sound familiar?   Dinosaurs died out because of events they could not control, and here we are, millions and millions of years later, faced with something we can’t control, Covid -19.  

Being human, we are making huge efforts to control Covid – 19, for we humans seem to like controlling things. It’s linked with problem-solving, isn’t it? (What do you think about this?) Is one of the big differences between us and most other animals the fact that we try to control or transform our environment?   A psychologist called Eysenck thought that variations in a person’s belief in whether he or she could exercise control was an important personality dimension. After all, what is the point of doing something if it is not going to make any difference?  

One of my friends thinks that the huge growth in interest in cookery is part of wishing to control what is very important to us, food…  I don’t know if you are reading this to learn my favourite new and easy recipe… (let me know if you want it).  But I am sure that we agree that we hope we can learn to control this virus…

I am going to finish as I started, with dinosaurs, – here is my dinosaur riddle.  

I really was enormous,
too big to hunt at all.
That was a great advantage
though my brain was very small!

My eggs were buried for their sake
I didn’t squash and mind them.
But oh alas, there were some times
when others used to find them! 

You see my little babies
were few who did survive.
Most were eaten up as eggs
before they were alive!

A herbivore is what I was.
My mouth had munchy jaws…
my neck and tail were very long
I hadn’t any claws!

The reason why my neck was long,
and my tail just the same….
I had to keep my balance, see,
Now tell me what’s my name!

Now that you have listened,
which dinosaur am I?
It’s even better if you add
some of the reasons why!

(Answer next time). 

That’s it for now. Bye!
Charlotte Sebag-Montefiore