Robert T. Bakker Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

Bakker was an advisor for the 1992 PBS series, The Dinosaurs!. He had many appearences in the TLC television series Paleoworld, and was also among the advisors for the film Jurassic Park, with some of the early concept art being informed by Bakker’s works. Bakker also appeared in the Sega CD version of Jurassic Park.

Bakker appeared in the 1992 VHS Whatever Happened to the Dinosaurs?

He was profiled on location at his Wyoming dinosaur excavation site in an episode of the Discover Magazine (TV series) on The Disney Channel in 1992.

Bakker appears in the 1989 BBC series Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives presented by David Attenborough, in the third episode Dinosaur discussing his theory regarding Tyrannosaurus rex and other theropods being warm-blooded animals. Bakker later renamed Attenborosaurus, a species of plesiosaur after Sir David.

In his 1986 work The Dinosaur Heresies, Bakker puts forth the theory that dinosaurs were warm-blooded. His evidence for this includes:

Bakker and his 1986 book are mentioned in the original Jurassic Park. The bearded paleontologist Dr. Robert Burke, who is eaten by a Tyrannosaurus rex in Steven Spielberg’s film The Lost World: Jurassic Park, is an affectionate caricature of Bakker. In real life, Bakker has argued for a predatory T. rex, while Bakker’s rival paleontologist Jack Horner views it as primarily a scavenger. According to Horner, Spielberg wrote the character of Burke and had him killed by the T. rex as a favor for Horner. After the film came out, Bakker recognized himself in Burke, loved the caricature, and actually sent Horner a message saying, “See, I told you T. rex was a hunter!”

Bakker’s earliest known appearance was in the 1976 [BBC] Nova episode The Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs aired on WGBH Boston.

Bakker has been a major proponent of the theory that dinosaurs were warm-blooded, smart, fast, and adaptable. He published his first paper on dinosaur endothermy in 1968. His seminal work, The Dinosaur Heresies, was published in 1986. He revealed the first evidence of parental care at nesting sites for Allosaurus. He also observed evidence in support of Eldredge and Gould’s theory of punctuated equilibrium in dinosaur populations. Bakker currently serves as the Curator of Paleontology for the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

Bakker was born in Bergen County, New Jersey. He attributes his interest in dinosaurs to his reading an article in the September 7, 1953, issue of Life magazine. He graduated from Ridgewood High School in 1963.

Robert Thomas Bakker (born March 24, 1945) is an American paleontologist who helped reshape modern theories about dinosaurs, particularly by adding support to the theory that some dinosaurs were endothermic (warm-blooded). Along with his mentor John Ostrom, Bakker was responsible for initiating the ongoing “dinosaur renaissance” in paleontological studies, beginning with Bakker’s article “Dinosaur Renaissance” in the April 1975 issue of Scientific American. His specialty is the ecological context and behavior of dinosaurs.