Teaching children about dinosaurs does not lessen the chance of them growing up to be naturalists or environmentalists, as Isabel Losada implies (Enough with unicorns and dinosaurs – show children the magic of real, living animals instead, 13 March). An early interest in prehistoric life often acts as a gateway to learning about extant biodiversity and becoming environmentally minded, and the fact that children can name 10 types of animal – irrespective of whether they are extinct or not – should be celebrated, not criticised.
As a writer of children’s books, I know that dinosaurs are a fantastic subject through which young minds can grasp any number of complex concepts, from physiology and sedimentology to biomechanics and speciation. And surely there could not be a better introduction for young environmentalists to the fragility of life on Earth than the tale of the ecologically invincible tyrannosaurs and titanosaurs snuffed out by environmental catastrophe?
Losada is also too quick to suggest enforcing a dichotomy between reality and imagination in children, disregarding how they enhance each other. I have seen unicorns only serve to increase my two-year-old son’s fascination with anything equine. That he has wanted to sit astride a horse almost all of his short life has been, in part, because he cuddles a white unicorn in his sleep, not despite it.
Finally, I was dismayed to read Losada suggest that swordfish have horns (they don’t – their swords are highly modified jawbones).
Dr Nick Crumpton
Zoologist and children’s author
• I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments expressed by Isabel Losada. It did, however, bring back to mind a trip I made with my family to Costa Rica some years ago. We were among a group of about 20 tourists on a guided tour of a rainforest. There was an American woman in the group who seemed to have an extraordinary knowledge of animals and their behaviour, well above that of our excellent tour guide. Over our lunch she mentioned that she was a professor of zoology in a prominent university in the US. On inquiry as to what initially inspired her to pursue that career, she explained that, growing up, her parents never gave her a Barbie doll but that, unlike most of her friends, she was given My Little Pony instead and that this brought about her lifelong interest in animals and nature.
Paul O’Shea
Dublin, Ireland
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