My dinosaur knowledge basically ends in the 1970’s and contains whatever information bled over into mainstream edutainment. A National Geographic article or PBS documentary was as hardcore as paleontology got for me. I didn’t keep up with all of the newly discovered species or the rapidly evolving theories that emerged over the last several decades. My interest in dinosaurs was largely resurrected during the Covid pandemic, when I purchased my first SLA printer and stumbled across some skeletal models. I have about a quarter-century wide knowledge gap and it covers the period when paleontological knowledge was advancing at its most rapid pace.

So… Most of the subjects I model are new-to-me “discoveries”, or at least known-to-me species that we know a lot more about today. Naturally, before I tackle a subject, I want to gain a basic understanding of how/where/when they lived. This is the kind of information that informs the choices I have to make when I paint them or create a diorama to place them into. This is a hobby and I don’t expect anything I create to withstand scientific scrutiny, but I do want to at least attempt to get the basic facts straight, or be able to make an informed choice to ignore the current science.

I wanted a quick “profile card” that answers specific questions. Rather than using Google Search, where I’d need to wade through a lot of ads, clickbait, and noise, I tried Chat GPT. It took me four or five iterations to write a prompt I was happy with, but most of the revisions were regarding formatting the text to make the process of copying it to my website easier.

The final result is a quick to read, easy to digest profile, with a consistent structure and hierarchy of information. Chat GPT writes the whole thing and I just add in some images from Wikimedia.

Here’s the prompt for anyone who’d like to use it as-is, or tweak it to their liking: