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?
