Bakker, Robert T. (1945–…), has promoted several controversial theories about dinosaurs, especially the claim that dinosaurs were warm-blooded. Bakker is an American paleontologist (scientist who studies prehistoric life). He has also argued that dinosaurs became extinct because of disease. People once widely thought of dinosaurs as stupid and slow. Bakker helped to reshape the public perception of dinosaurs as swift, intelligent animals.
Bakker has discovered many fossils, mostly in Wyoming and Colorado. He has found fossils of new species (kinds) of dinosaurs, as well as new species of early mammals.
Bakker is best known for his controversial theories on dinosaurs. He argues that dinosaurs were warm-blooded, like birds, rather than cold-blooded, like reptiles. Bakker also claims that dinosaurs were killed off by disease. During the time that dinosaurs became extinct, land bridges connected continents that had previously been separate. Bakker argues that these land bridges enabled previously isolated dinosaur populations to mingle, contributing to the spread of diseases. Most scientists believe that dinosaurs became extinct because of the impact of an asteroid or because of volcanic eruptions. Bakker has also promoted the idea that some dinosaurs cared for their young.
Bakker became widely known for his book The Dinosaur Heresies (1986). He also wrote the novel Raptor Red (1995), which imagines the tale of a dinosaur’s life.
Robert Thomas Bakker was born on March 24, 1945, in Ridgewood, New Jersey. He studied with the renowned American paleontologist John Ostrom at Yale University. Bakker earned his doctorate from Harvard University in 1971. He has served as curator of several museums of natural science.
