A Flock of Dracorex Comes this Way
It is always interesting to see how manufacturers display their models in their catalogues. Not only is there a great deal of attention and care given to the design process, but the same attention is lavished on the models when it comes to displaying them in the company brochures. Take for example the new additions to the Wild Safari Dinos range made by Safari Ltd. There are four new replicas being introduced into this popular line this year, and the company has found a novel way of highlighting the New Safari Ltd dinosaur models. The new dinosaur figures are Acrocanthosaurus, Vagaceratops, Ceratosaurus and Dracorex, all these models are eagerly anticipated by Everything Dinosaur team members. The colourful Dracorex model is shown in a skilfully crafted scene in the Safari Ltd product catalogue. A flock of these Pachycephalosaurs (or should that be a herd), is shown crossing a river with a pterosaur flying overhead.
The Safari Ltd Catalogue Image – Dracorex
A flock of Dracorex crossing a river. A novel way of highlighting new Safari Ltd dinosaur models.
Picture credit: Safari Ltd
Safari Ltd Dinosaur Models
Scientists believe that dinosaurs such as Dracorex did live in groups and the scenery chosen by the designers at Safari Ltd is reminiscent of the sort of habitat in the Late Cretaceous where these bone-headed dinosaurs would have lived. The only slight issue we would have with this artwork, is the depiction of a Rhamphorhynchus pterosaur flying overhead. The Rhamphorhynchus is a model in the Wild Safari Dinos replica range, it is a very beautiful item in its own right. Unfortunately, this type of flying reptile is associated with marine deposits from the Middle and Upper Jurassic. No rhamphorhynchoid pterosaur ever flew over a group of Dracorex, this type of flying reptile was long extinct before the dinosaur known as Dracorex evolved.
We have altered the original image, and replaced the Rhamphorhynchus with a model of Quetzalcoatlus, a pterosaur known from the Late Cretaceous, which is more in keeping with the geological time period associated with Pachycephalosaurs.
The Dracorex Image as Modified by Everything Dinosaur
Prehistoric animals from the Late Cretaceous.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur/Safari Ltd
Perhaps with a little more time, and a little more skill we could scale down one of the images of the Dracorex, change the colouring slightly, losing the bright red throat patch and then insert into the picture a representation of a juvenile dinosaur following the adult animals in the herd.
To view the Safari Ltd range of prehistoric animal models and figures: Prehistoric Animal Models and Figures (Safari Ltd).
An interesting point. Dracorex (D. hogwartsia) is known from the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota. The fossils are associated with strata dating from the very end of the Cretaceous (70-65 million years ago approximately). The reconstruction of Dracorex has been based on the fossils of another Pachycephalosaur, a dinosaur called Stygimoloch that lived at the same time and in the same environment. In fact, some papers have been published that postulate that Dracorex fossils could represent immature specimens of other already described Pachycephalosaurs (Pachycephalosaurus and Stygimoloch. These creatures are all associated with the very end of the age of dinosaurs, a time when only a very few types of Pterosaur including the Azhdarchid Pterosaurs – such as Quetzalcoatlus were around. Hence we replaced the long-extinct Rhamphorhynchus image with the more fitting image of the Quetzalcoatlus in our picture. For every named dinosaur that Everything Dinosaur supplies we include a fact sheet which gives customers more information on that dinosaur and the geological time period in which it lived.