Entertainment

Dino-might

Call it survival of the fittest dancer.

Discovery’s new four-part series, “Dinosaur Revolution” — about how dinosaurs lived, loved and laughed — seems to be an evolutionary morphing of the adorable talking animals of “Madagascar” and the mindless, child-eating beasts of “Jurasic Park.”

In other words, here are some dinosaurs even your five-year-old might like enough to not run screaming from the room in total terror.

The miniseries brings us up-to-date on all the newest research into dinosaurs, which in many ways contradicts much of what we have always believed about the great beasts.

Using all CGI (computer graphics) all the time, the beasts here are colorful, (no, they weren’t all shades of vomitous green), they mate to form family units and are maternal, although not above killing and eating the young of their rivals to ensure survival of their genes.

In addition to coupling, many types of dinosaurs, we learn, either ran in giant herds or lived in harems with a single male supporting and taking his pick from a slew of “wives.” Sort of like Fundamentalist Mormon-osaurs.

On tomorrow night’s two-parter, “Evolution’s Winners” and “The Watering Hole,” we learn that although dinosaurs have traditionally gotten a bad rap and were dismissed as mere evolutionary mistakes, they were actually evolutionary winners — ruling the earth for 165 million years.

In fact, dinosaurs still exist — in the form of birds who evolved some 230 million years ago. In fact, in terms of species, birds today outnumber mammals two-to-one .

What’s weird, though, about the series is that the dinosaurs act just a little too Disney cutesy. In one segment, for example, a lady dinosaur looking annoyed, nudges her mate to take on the rival with a nagging toss of her head in the rival’s direction.

In another segment, the dinosaur couple make wide-eyed shocked faces at each other when an enemy shows up. What the heck is that? A shock-osaurus?

Like all good Discovery shows, you will learn a huge amount of interesting stuff, like the fact that there was one dinosaur with a giant “quiff” on his head, which earned it the nickname, “Elvisasaurus.”

Not the greatest dinosaur, er Discovery, but it’s a respite from the endless 9/11 coverage that will dominate next week’s fare.