Scientist and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who provides the voice of the animated character Neil deBuck Weasel in the new movie Ice Age: Collision Course, says that many of the film’s whimsical depictions of science are inspired by genuine facts.
“I applaud the moviemakers, storytellers, illustrators and animators,” he says. “Somebody must have had science in college and liked it and decided to fold it into their professional career.”
Q&A: Neil deGrasse Tyson Talks Science, Space, Neckties, Vests and Fountain Pens
One of the things in the movie that caught his attention was how it portrayed dinosaurs.
“Not all dinosaurs went extinct,” he says. “Those that survived had feathers and could fly. We know that all contemporary birds are descendants of dinosaurs. The film captured this. It shows flying dinosaurs—not the famous pterodactyl that we’ve all known about—but [instead] a small flock of flying, feathered dinosaurs. And yes, they called them dinosaurs—they’re the precursors to all the birds we have today.
“Now these were really chubby, mangy dinosaurs, and it’s not clear that their wings would actually enable them to fly. And any birds in the last ice age would be fully plumed by then. In fact, my paleontology colleagues at the American Museum of Natural History, where I work, they tell me that feathers may have been common among dinosaurs if they didn’t use it for flying—in the same way all mammals have some hair, even if not all of them use it to stay warm.
“In any case, Ice Age: Collision Course shows flying dinosaurs as the emergent survivors of their kind from 65 million years ago. That may be a first in cinema, so I tip my hat to that.”
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