2008 | Everything Dinosaur Blog

12 09, 2008

The Importance of the Fossil Collecting Code

By Mike|2024-04-15T12:18:28+01:00September 12th, 2008|Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Geology, Palaeontological articles, Press Releases|0 Comments

Hints and Tips to Keep Safe when Fossil Hunting near the Coast

After so much bad weather over the last few weeks and with the increased number of mudslides and landslips along the Dorset coast, team members at Everything Dinosaur thought it would be helpful to publish a list of hints and tips to help keep fossil hunters safe, for us to provide a reminder of the fossil collecting code. These hints and tips are useful advice for fossil collectors in general, but we have listed below a few specific guidelines to help those fossil hunters who might be exploring beaches for fossils.

When Walking on Coastal Paths or Approaching a Beach

Always obey the Countryside Code and be respectful of the environment
Keep well away from cliff edges and unsure that children and pets are kept under control and properly supervised
Take your litter home with you
Observe and obey all restricted access and diversion signs
Take advice from the local tourist office or National Trust Office about specific parts of the national coastal pathway

On the Beach

Always stay away from the cliffs
Do not climb on the cliffs or any recent landslips/mudflows
Tell a responsible person where you are going and when you are expected back
Have a mobile phone handy in case of emergencies
Beware of the threat of landslides, especially during or just after bad weather
Note the tide times particularly high tide and take the advice of the local coastguard etc.
Aim to collect fossils on a falling tide, be aware of the incoming tide especially around headlands where you could easily get cut off
In rough weather, be aware of strong winds and high waves and the fact that the footing underneath might be treacherous
Wear suitable clothing and shoes

When Collecting Fossils

Do not collect or hammer into the cliffs, rocky ledges or other geological features
The best and safest place to find fossils is on the beach where the sea has washed away soft clay and mud – let nature do some work for you
Keep collecting to a minimum, don’t be greedy, perhaps select a few specimens at the end of the session to take home
Avoid removing “in situ” material be content with a photograph, leave the fossils for someone else to enjoy
Do not collect from buildings or walls. Take care not to undermine fences, bridges stone walls etc.
Take your litter home with you
Observe all notices, some land is privately owned and fossil collecting is not permitted without permission

These are just a few pointers to help make fossil hunting safe and to allow the hobby of fossil collecting to continue without causing harm to others and the environment.

Everything Dinosaur supplies a range of replicas of iconic animals from the fossil record such as belemnites, ammonites and trilobites.

To see this range in stock at Everything Dinosaur: Replica Fossil Animals and Models.

11 09, 2008

The Rare Carnegie Collectibles Baryonyx Dinosaur Model Reviewed

By Mike|2024-04-15T12:18:58+01:00September 11th, 2008|Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur Products, Product Reviews|0 Comments

Carnegie Collectibles Baryonyx

Safari Ltd have a number of theropod dinosaur models in the scale prehistoric animal model series called Carnegie Dinosaur Collectibles. Amongst, the meat-eating dinosaurs represented is the European Early Cretaceous fish-eating dinosaur known as Baryonyx.

The Baryonyx Dinosaur Model (Carnegie Collectibles)

1:40 scale model of Baryonyx. The model is part of the now retired (2014), Carnegie Collectibles model range.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Baryonyx Dinosaur Model

This colourful dinosaur model balances well and it measures an impressive twenty-two centimetres in length. Like all the Safari Ltd prehistoric animal models it is extremely well painted and the replica shows lots of details. This is a hand-painted prehistoric animal model.

To view Everything Dinosaur’s full range of Safari Ltd prehistoric animal models and other prehistoric animal model ranges stock by the UK-based company: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models.

A number of reviews by customers have been published on the Carnegie Collectibles Baryonyx, a typical review can be found below:

Customer Review

“Nice sculpt, faithful to the fossil material. Paint job is well suited and well executed. Overall an excellent collectible model by Safari Ltd.”

10 09, 2008

What is the Title of Charles Darwin’s Famous Book?

By Mike|2023-02-25T20:16:30+00:00September 10th, 2008|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Famous Figures|0 Comments

The Full Title of the “Origin of Species”

Everything Dinosaur team members get sent in to their offices lots of questions about dinosaurs, fossils and general science. Over the last few months we have received a number of emails and letters with questions about Sir Charles Darwin, evolution and natural selection. This is not surprising really as next year (2009), marks the 200th anniversary of this great scientist’s birth. Next year, it is also the 150th anniversary of the publication of his ground breaking work “The Origin of Species”.

One of the questions our team members were asked recently was:

“What is the full title of the book about natural selection written by Charles Darwin?”

Charles Darwin wrote many books, papers, articles for journals and so forth. He also entered into a great deal of correspondence in his lifetime, on a huge range of subjects from the formation of coral atolls, to the behaviour of dogs and how they befriend mankind to the musical preferences of earthworms.

Origin of Species

His most famous book “The Origin of Species” was published in 1859 and went through several re-prints during Darwin’s lifetime. The full title of this highly influential tome is:

“The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”.

John Murray was the first publisher, perhaps for all our sakes, the book rapidly became a huge best-seller and its popularity ensured that the full title was not used that often, the book simply being referred to, more often than not as “The Origin of Species”.

Everything Dinosaur stocks a huge range of dinosaur and prehistoric animal themed toys, models games and clothing. To visit the company’s award-winning website: Visit Everything Dinosaur.

9 09, 2008

A Wonderful Thank you Letter from Becky

By Mike|2024-04-15T12:20:22+01:00September 9th, 2008|Educational Activities, Teaching|0 Comments

School Pupil Writes Thank you Letter to Everything Dinosaur on Behalf of Her Class

After another visit to a primary school to teach about dinosaurs and fossils, this time one in Lancashire, our dinosaur expert was asked by the school teacher for a small favour.

Would it be all right with you, if the children composed a thank you letter?

Fine by us, in fact we actively encourage creative writing in schools and we get asked for lots of ideas and advice when it comes to motivating young people at Key Stage 1 with creative writing tasks.

The teacher concerned (Miss O’ Hara), supported by her teaching assistant (TA) organised a brief session with the children in which they recalled and recounted some of the things they had done and what they had learned after the dinosaur workshop in school. Flip chart paper was used by the children to list facts about dinosaurs that they had learned and from these sheets, what was going to be said in the actual letter was determined. Then it was simply a question of briefing the children in what is expected when it comes to the layout of a letter. For instance, the correct starting phrase, appropriate use of punctuation, connectives and so on. I number of children wrote letters, and the teacher selected one to be sent on to the Everything Dinosaur offices.

Everything Dinosaur

It was Becky’s letter that was selected:

Young Becky (aged 6), wrote:

“Dear Everything Dinosaur,

Thank you for visiting our school this week, it was lovely to meet you. Please, please come back to us as we all had such fun learning about dinosaurs. We had fun with you and I liked making the fossil casts best. We all laughed when Miss O’ Hara got to hold he dinosaur dung, we said she should wash her hands before she has her dinner. I learned a lot and it helped me with my own dinosaur work.

From

Becky

(Class 1)”

Our team members get a lot of similar correspondence, however, we always acknowledge receipt of any such letters and email a reply to the school teacher responsible for the class. Glad we were able to make teaching about dinosaurs so much fun.

To learn more about Everything Dinosaur’s product range: Visit Everything Dinosaur’s Website.

8 09, 2008

Ammonites and Belemnites found In Liverpool!

By Mike|2022-12-06T08:19:53+00:00September 8th, 2008|Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page|0 Comments

Successful Fossil Hunt in Liverpool City Centre (Finding Ammonites and Belemnites)

We have just about recovered from yet another busy weekend for team members at Everything Dinosaur as last Saturday and Sunday we helped out at the BA Festival of Science event at the World Museum, Liverpool.

As part of a week long series of activities; this particular event was entitled “Science Explosion” and it enabled young people to get to grips with some real scientific puzzles and conundrums. Everything from the “Big Bang” to robots were on display and children (plus their mums and dads), were able to meet some of the scientists and to learn more about these fascinating subjects. Dinosaurs and fossils are always popular with young people and Everything Dinosaur did their bit by building a series of wooden trays, that once lined with plastic and filled with a mixture of stones and fossils, became an artificial beach on which we could take young children on a real fossil hunt.

A Fossil Hunt with Everything Dinosaur

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Everything Dinosaur attempted to create a typical fossil finding trip to part of the Jurassic coast of Dorset (Toarcian faunal stage), with fossils dating back some 180 million years.

Ammonites and Belemnites

In amongst the pebbles and stones we kept hiding a constant supply of belemnite guards, crinoids, brachiopods (mainly Rhynchonella), small vertebrate bones and other fossils. Ammonite fossils were especially popular and we made sure we kept a supply of various ammonite fossils going into the beds as well.

To see models of ammonites and belemnites and other prehistoric creatures: Prehistoric Animal Models.

Budding young palaeontologists were also supplied with drawing materials and fact sheets so that they could understand more about the fossils they had just found.

Still hard at It!

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

All our voices had just about given up by the end of Sunday afternoon, we had been bombarded with eager young palaeontologists keen to learn more about fossils and to see the dinosaur fossil casts we had on display. It is very hard work putting on this type of event but a lot of fun at the same time, perhaps in some small way we have helped to inspire the next generation of palaeontologists.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award winning website: Visit Everything Dinosaur.

7 09, 2008

Why not Try Dinosaur this Christmas? Great Gift Ideas

By Mike|2024-04-13T08:50:34+01:00September 7th, 2008|Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page, Press Releases|0 Comments

Why not Try Dinosaur this Christmas? Everything Dinosaur Christmas Press Release

It may not even be half way through September, but the team members at Everything Dinosaur are already busy with preparations for their Christmas press release. This year our testers and staff have drawn up a short-list of products and produced a Christmas gift themed press release. Here are a range of excellent dinosaur toys for Christmas.

Everything Dinosaur is a unique, British based mail order company staffed by parents, teachers and dinosaur experts. From soft and cuddly prehistoric animals, to educational posters, books, puzzles, models and kits Everything Dinosaur offers fabulous, fun and informative gift ideas for Christmas.

To visit the company website: Everything Dinosaur.

Run by passionate and knowledgeable amateur palaeontologists and teachers, this is no ordinary mail order business but one that strives to help motivate young people to learn more about Earth sciences through their fascination with dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures.

From the adorable and cuddly prehistoric animal soft toys such as the Woolly Mammoth Mum and Baby set to the clever Dinosaur Excavation game there is truly something for everyone, of all ages. And, if you need to give Santa a hand to fill stockings, then a visit to the company’s Party Gifts and Stocking Fillers section should have young dinosaur fans “roaring with delight” on Christmas day.

Prehistoric Animal Plush: Dinosaur Soft Toys.

For Mums and Dads wanting to provide their own little monsters with a Christmas gift that is both entertaining and educational, then the Start Exploring Dinosaur Kit fits the bill. This box set includes a whole host of dinosaur themed activities – model making, posters, stickers, fact sheets, a mobile and puzzles, just about everything needed to help fire the imagination of a budding palaeontologist!

For the person who loves an unusual present, why not surprise them with a replica fossil tooth from a Sabre-toothed cat! All the items on the Everything Dinosaur website have been tested by parents and children and the knowledgeable teachers and dinosaur enthusiasts behind the company pride themselves in being able to supply imaginative and informative gifts. Take for example our Weird dinosaurs poster – illustrating some of the wonderful and amazing new dinosaur discoveries.

The Dinosaur Toy Carrier/Tidy is ideal for little hands and prevents bedroom floors from becoming cluttered. After all, young dinosaur fans must keep their prehistoric animals under control.

The team at Everything Dinosaur are more than just mail order retailers; they are dinosaur enthusiasts who promote education and knowledge on this huge subject. The company specialises in the supply of dinosaur and prehistoric animal related toy and hobby products. Working in association with museums and other educational bodies, many of the items supplied help raise funds for palaeontologists so they can continue their research and put on dinosaur events and exhibitions.

6 09, 2008

The Beautiful Fforest Fawr Geopark

By Mike|2024-04-12T18:45:12+01:00September 6th, 2008|Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Geology, Photos|0 Comments

The First Geopark to be Established in Wales

In 2005, an area of the Brecon Beacons in south Wales became the first designated geopark in the whole of Wales, the site is to be called the Fforest Fawr Geopark. A geopark is an area of land regarded as having significant geological importance within Europe.

The Fforest Fawr Geopark (the name translates as great forest), is part of the Brecon Beacons National Park. It comprises the western half of the National Park, stretching from Llandovery in the north to the edge of Merthyr Tydfil in the south, from Llandeilo in the west to Brecon in the east. The landscape is breathtaking and extremely beautiful, it has been an area much cherished and admired by outdoor enthusiasts. It consists of a series of upland areas including mountain and moorland and extends for approximately 300 square miles (760 square kilometres), roughly 45% of the total area of the Brecon Beacon National Park.

Forest Fawr Geopark

The oldest rocks found within the geopark date from the Ordovician geological period and can be found at the very extreme west of the geopark. Rock strata dating from the later Silurian and Devonian are also present with considerable amounts of Carboniferous limestone exposures as well as some coal measures to the south of the geopark. The country of Wales has played an extremely important role in the naming of geological time periods. The three earliest periods that make up the Palaeozoic Era, the Cambrian, the Ordovician and the Silurian have names that have Welsh origins. The Cambrian was named by Adam Sedgwick after Cambria (the Latin name for Wales), The Ordovician was named after the Ordovices tribe of North Wales (named by Charles Lapworth). The Silurian was named by Roderick Murchison after the Silures tribe of Ancient Britons who inhabited south Wales during Roman times.

The Beautiful Countryside of Wales

Everything Dinosaur’s van exploring Wales on a fossil hunting trip.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Fforest Fawr Geopark

The Everything Dinosaur vehicles get to some beautiful parts of the British Isles. Whilst on a fossil hunting expedition in Wales it is always a pleasure to spend a few minutes taking in the amazing countryside and fantastic views before returning to our scouring and searching of scree slopes for fossils. We always take plenty of photographs, we like to leave what we find where we found it so others may enjoy them too.

The Fforest Fawr Geopark is well worth a visit, although we would recommend stout walking gear and sensible clothing when exploring some of the highest peaks in the whole of southern Britain.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

5 09, 2008

Taking a Tyrannosaurus rex to Liverpool for a Special Event

By Mike|2024-04-12T18:45:41+01:00September 5th, 2008|Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page|0 Comments

Gearing up for the BA Festival of Science – Science Explosion

Team members have been busy all week preparing for the BA Festival of Science which is taking place at the Liverpool World Museum over the weekend. Many of us have been “burning the midnight oil” going over the plans we have for our part of this exhibition that will feature the likes of the Open University and many national museums as well as ourselves waving the flag for palaeontology.

Our intention is to bring a little bit of the Mesozoic to Merseyside by recreating Charmouth beach at the museum and encouraging the young visitors to go on a fossil hunt to see what they can find.

We have built two, large collapsable wooden trays, each lined with plastic that will form the framework for our beach display. These trays will be filled with pebbles, gravel and all sorts of typical items you would find on a beach. However, in amongst all the stones will be fossils of belemnites, ammonites, crinoids, brachipods, pieces of ichthyosaur bone and other cool stuff, representing what you would find if you visited places like Church Cliffs or the Black Ven on the Dorset coast.

As well as providing a glimpse into the Jurassic, our team will be bringing over some life-size cast replicas of dinosaur fossils including the premaxilla and maxilla (upper jaw) of a Tyrannosaurus rex.

Tyrannosaurus Maxilla

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The casts will give young people the chance to get to grips with some really exciting dinosaurs, as well as T. rex we have the dentary (lower jaw) of a Triceratops, some fossil dinosaur poo from a sauropod and lots of teeth and claws so that people can see for themselves just how big some of these critters got.

Should be a fun day, we will take a camera so expect a couple of pics.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

4 09, 2008

Oldest Evidence of Stone Tools in Prehistory

By Mike|2023-02-25T17:05:27+00:00September 4th, 2008|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|0 Comments

Australopithecus africanus – Stone Making Ancient Hunters

Although no stone tools have been found in the same sediments as Australopithecus africanus fossils, for a long time scientists believed A. africanus was a hunter (the habitat in which this species lived is believed to have been a mixed savannah-forested environment). Precisely, when early hominins started to use tools is difficult to determine. While working in the Afar Region of Ethiopia (northern Ethiopia), a research project team (the Dikika Research Project), found fossilised bones bearing unambiguous evidence of stone tool use – cut marks inflicted whilst removing meat from the bone and percussion marks made when bones were deliberately broken to extract the highly nutritious marrow.

Australopithecus

Whilst it has been speculated that the Australopithecines at Dikika were using sharp-edged stones to carve meat from the bones of animals, it is not possible to determine from the marks themselves whether the stones used were simply found or shaped deliberately. However, the bones are most definitely marked by scratches and percussion impressions. Analysis has demonstrated that these marks were created before the bones were fossilised, eliminating the possibility that the marks could have been made more recently.

At home on the plains.

The model (above) is a retired Bullyland Australopithecus figure. To view the range of Bullyland dinosaur and prehistoric animal models in stock: Bullyland Prehistoric Animal Models and Figures.

No flaked stone tools were found at the Dikika sites, this could indicate that the Dikika residents were simply opportunistic, just finding and using sharp-edged stones where they happened to be. Most of the marks on the bones at Dikika do have features that indicate that they were made by stone tools. Intriguingly, regardless of whether or not the stone tools were being made, the fact that they were being used to access the very nutritious bone marrow would have had significant implications for early hominin development and ultimately our own evolution.

3 09, 2008

New Schleich Dinosaur Models (Dinosaurs)

By Mike|2024-04-12T18:46:15+01:00September 3rd, 2008|Adobe CS5, Everything Dinosaur Products|0 Comments

Schleich Dinosaur Models

Team members at Everything Dinosaur have created an image which shows three Schleich dinosaur models, namely Brachiosaurus, the sail-backed Spinosaurus and Allosaurus.

A Trio of Schleich Dinosaurs

Schleich dinosaurs are available from Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Schleich Dinosaur Models

The German model manufacturer Schleich has built up a solid reputation for making dinosaur toys and prehistoric animal models. These replicas are great for imaginative, creative play. All three dinosaur models are new for this year (2008) and are part of an extensive prehistoric animal range manufactured by the German company.

To view Everything Dinosaur’s current range of Schleich dinosaur toys and the other prehistoric animal figures the UK-based company stocks: Schleich Dinosaurs and Other Dinosaur Models.