For "genus nerds" we are including pterosaurs even though they aren't correctly dinosaurs.

I know for most kids it's T-rex unless you grew up post Jurassic park then it might be Velociraptor, but for me it's Allosaurus.

First saw the fossils in person at the Smithsonian around 1977, they didn't yet have a T Rex, and while I had been reading dinosaur books for years I didn't fully get it until it was actually in front of me and in relatable scale. Prior to that I either imagined them as monstrous dragons 5 times their actual size or thinking "30 feet doesn't seem that big", that is until you are standing in front of it and imagining it chasing your ass through the forest, then it's really big but not so Godzilla big that you might actually be able to hide from it.



I also had quite the collection of Aurora "Prehistoric Scenes" dinosaur models and Allosaurus was available long before T Rex and we never even heard of Velociraptor. I also feel like I could handle a Velociraptor with a 12 gauge shotgun, even the huge Hollywood varieties that stood at 6 feet or more, twice the size of any known example in the fossil record.

I feel like I'd need a Solothurn for an Allosaurus.