The problem with logic!

[Writer’s_Magic]

I have so many projects; I don’t know, which is the current one. Well. One of them is the story about a woman, who is stranded on a place, where human and dinosaurs live peacefully together. However, I don’t wanna have a child book atmosphere. So, I need a reason why those dinosaurs are civilized. Of course! Not every dinosaur (e.g. T-Rex) isn’t civilized. It has to be explained! I don’t have any idea how. Can you give me some tips or ideas? … Please, no “Oh! It’s magic! Puff.”

 

[skip.knox]

Puff the Magic Dinosaur?

I don't know how you make them civilized. The word means people who live in cities and I don't see how any creature builds cities without hands. Full stop.

If, otoh, you merely mean peaceful, or not dangerous, then that's easier. Few dinosaurs were carnivores. Even among those that were, there could be easier prey than pesky humans. That would leave just the handful people needed to be careful of. Like living in most any pre-modern society where one generally lived peacefully but still had to be careful of wolves or tigers. Or honey badgers.

 

[Orc Knight]

Oooh, Dinotopia. Might use that book series to leap off of.

 

[Writer’s_Magic]

skip.knox No. I meant it like a magic trick. Well... Kinda. There is a place... Bang... there are peacefully dinosaurs

 

[summondice]

To be fair...there are plenty of examples of communal insects that have "cities" without having hands

But in seriousness to the question at hand: Skip.Knox does give you a reasoning - humans just aren't worth being un"civilized" with. If you mean that they are, literally, peaceful and everything is rainbows, then you're really going to have a hard time steering clear of the kid's book feel you're aiming to avoid :s

Unless your dinosaurs aren't the kind of dinosaurs we think of. Turn your dinosaurs into a different kind of "giant lizard monster" with several species that happens to be living peacefully with humans, then you're fine - there's no real need for a reader to question their suspension of disbelief.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

You could have different levels of dinosaur evolution the same way we have different levels of primate evolution. Create the dinosaur equivalent of lemurs, monkeys, apes and Have some dinosaurs with dextrous hands and arms, and capable of oral and written language. Since dinosaurs existed before humans it's possible for them to have made achievements such as farming and animal domestication before us. This would also explain why early humans didn't wipe them out, we were always a little behind them in knowledge and skills. Hope this helps.