New Mexico Mini-Dinos
Mike Smith
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The dinosaurs are dead. They died millions of years ago.
Most everyone knows this. And yet, those dead dinosaurs have a peculiar way of popping up in modern times where they’re not supposed to.
People report sightings of creatures that bear strong resemblances to plesiosaurs in lakes from Loch Ness to Patagonia. Natives in the dense swamps of Africa fear Mokele-mbembe, which has popularly been accepted by cryptozoologists as a surviving sauropod. Flying reptiles like Pterosaurs are glimpsed in the skies above New Guinea, Africa, and even Texas and New Mexico.
On land, in the broad open spaces of the Southwest, it would seem that we should have nothing. No sightings of T-Rexes stalking the desert, no herds of Coelophysis spied running across the Great Plains, and certainly no Allosaurus seen prying road kill off of the highway. Nothing.
And yet we have Mini-Dinos.
The sightings first gained public attention in Colorado where people reported sightings of bizarre 1-3 foot tall reptiles that ran on their hind legs. Because of their dinosaur-like appearance and the fact that they seemed to always be sighted near creaks and streams, the creatures were dubbed “Colorado River Dinos.” Nick Sucik investigated several sightings of such creatures in Colorado and the Four Corners area and has since become the leading expert pertaining to such matters.
There has even been a sighting of a mini-dino in Roswell, New Mexico. Like anyone else who has read this column before you would assume enough odd things have happened in this town that it had likely met its quota for strange events, and yet we even have a dinosaur sighting.
Stepping outside of his parents secluded home north of Roswell at about 10:00 AM one morning, Mark Graham beheld a strange sight. His uncle’s dog Ono, a half Pit-bull Blue Healer, was chasing something in the field nearby that looked surprisingly like a dinosaur.
The reptile was about three-foot tall, dark tan in color, and running on its hind legs. It also had a long neck and two small arms. Graham was able to keep the creature in sight as it was being chased by the dog for just under a minute. In that time he was able to observe it well enough so as to not mistake it for anything else. Graham said himself that one of the first things he thought upon seeing the creature was 'dinosaur.'
“My thought at the moment was, ‘Am I really seeing what I’m seeing?’” said Graham recalling the sighting in a recent interview.
Later on when looking through a picture of book of dinosaurs Graham picked an Avimimus as the dinosaur most closely resembling the creature he spied outside of his parent’s home. An Avimimus was a small bird like dinosaur with the same bodily proportions and size of Graham’s creature.
Graham’s cousin also saw the dinosaur-like creature. Several days later Graham and members of his family also found strange three-toed tracks on their property that did not match any other known animals in the area.
Investigator Nick Sucik still keeps a healthy skepticism about these “Mini-Dino” sightings however. Sucik notes that although many sightings seem to be of a heretofore unknown reptile species (or possible dinosaurs); many more also turn out to be that of Collared Lizards. Collared lizards are often mistaken for “mini-dinosaurs” because of their ability to run on their hind legs.
“Collared Lizards do seem to stir the imagination when people see them running upright.” said Sucik in a recent email.
Although Collared lizards generally do not obtain more than 16 inches in length a 24 inch specimen was captured in New 
Mexico some years ago by three young brothers. After admiring their catch, which they determined had grown large due to its great age (evidenced by its faded color); they released it back into the wild.
“What also creates complications is the fact that people in general are familiar with dinosaurs and seem to get excited when they learn that that strange lizard running upright could have been a living dinosaur.” Sucik relates on past investigations. “I've had cases where someone insists they saw a little dino, even pointed out a particular dinosaur they'd seen on Jurassic Park as having its likeness, but when you get down to the fine details (length of the neck, length of the legs, position of the forelimbs, posture of the tail, etc.) things begin to sound more and more like a Collared Lizard.”
Mark Graham’s sighting, however, took place back in the 1980s, before cryptozoology research was so well known and dinosaurs saw new popularity due to Jurassic Park and its sequels. Graham’s descriptions of the elongated neck length and overall size of the creature also imply something more akin to a dinosaur than a Collared Lizard. In keeping with other “Mini-Dino” sightings in other states, Graham’s sighting was also nearby a river (the Berrendo River to be exact), which further adds to its credibility.
“I saw what I saw and nothing can change my mind of that.” said Graham concluding his sighting.
Roswell isn’t the only place in New Mexico where a mini-dino has been seen though. Mike Smith reports that Ramón Ortiz of Lordsburg has seen them, and crypto-investigator JC Johnson has likewise heard reports from a family in the Four Corners area that spots them infrequently. Nick Sucik came across an old newspaper article on microfilm mentioning the curator of a Cortez museum obtaining “baby dinosaur” skeletons. The curator asked around if whether or not anyone was familiar with such animals and a Navajo man from Gallup, NM, said that his people knew of the creatures.
So is it too soon to say that dinosaurs, albeit small ones, are alive and well in the Southwest?
Nick Sucik concludes, “I wouldn't go as far as to say there's a relic species of theropods running about the Four Corners but there does seem to be something there that might just warrant a closer look. For certain the Southwest has more than a few surprises still in store.”
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For more information on sightings of dinosaurs still alive today check out Nick Sucik’s chapter in the book Cryptozoology and the Study of Lesser Known Mystery Animals. Also be sure to check out John LeMay’s article on the subject appearing in the new issue of G-Fan #83 which can be found in select comic shops as well as online at G-Fan.com.
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Reader Comments (4)
Thanks for the insights. Could you tell us some more about Otto? I think I heard about him in a previous Lordsburg post under Mike's article.
We call them "Politicians."