Gato Borrero is now 14 years old and a skateboarding and computer freak.
But, when he was about 3 years old, he developed a fascination for dinosaurs
that continued till he was about 6 years old. It was then that he developed
an interesting theory of what happened to the dinosaurs that his mom, Susie,
has transformed into a story.
Magozine: Why do you find dinosaurs so fascinating?
Gato: First, I thought all dinosaurs were huge animals. I could
not imagine animals as tall as the buildings in
Makati, longer than a bus, and bigger than an elepant.
When I began "reading" dinosaur books, actually looking
at their pictures because I could not read yet, I found
out that
some were wierd-looking. So I wanted to know why some
of them had three horns, plates, spikes, crests, clubs.
I
even saw one that had what looked like a huge bump on
the head. This is the pacycepalosaurus.
Magozine: How old were you when you first began to love dinosaurs?
Gato: 3 years old. My Nays (Mother) brought home pencil erasers
that looked like a stegosaurus, T. rex, apatosaurus, and triceratops.
Magozine: How did you satisfy your interest in dinosaurs?
Gato: My Nays and Tats (Father) bought me dinosaur toys and read dinosaur books
to me.
We watched television features on dinosaurs. The National Geographic on
Sat.
afternoons at Chanel 2 sometimes features dinosaurs. We went to dinamation
(dinosaur animation) at Philtrade or Philcite in CCP Complex. There were
dinosaurs exhibits and robotics (they move and made sound).
Magozine: How did you come about your theory about dinosaurs and humans?
Gato: When Nays said that dinosaurs lived a millions years, I
thought she meant they were really alive that long. I was only 6 years old
at that time. So I thought they were intelligent because they thought of
ways to live longer than many animals. I also thought they changed their
appearance. I saw a
National Geographic feature that said that birds may have come from
dinosaurs. This is the archeopterix. So I thought some of the dinosaurs
turned into humans.
Magozine: Are you going to be a paleontologist some day? If not, what do
you want to be?
Gato: No. I will be like my Tats who is into computers,
communication technology, the Internet, and designing websites.
But my younger brother wants to be a palentologist. He is very interested
in dinosaurs. I already gave him my dinosaur toys and dinosaur books and
dinosaur movies. When there was the "Paleo World" at the Discovery Channel,
I watched it with him on days when there was no school. Sometimes we visit
dinosaur websites and we download dinosaur pictures.
