The Top Five Compiled from Customer Feedback etc.

We are at the business end of our countdown of the ten most popular prehistoric animals of the year.  This list has been compiled by reviewing customer comments, requests for fact sheets and drawing materials, product sales and so on.  It has taken quite a while to put this list together so without further a do, here is the top five.

5. Velociraptor

The speedy dromaeosaur makes it into the top-half of our list for 2012.  Velociraptors and other dromaeosaurs such as Deinonychus are always popular, especially with young dinosaur fans.  We get sent quite a lot of dinosaur drawings and Velociraptor with its sharp teeth and second toe sickle-shaped claw is a favourite subject matter.   With the release of Jurassic Park in 3-D next year we expect this turkey-sized predator to have a strong showing in next year’s list as well.

One of the Many Dromaeosaur Drawings Sent into Everything Dinosaur this Year

Deinonychus sketches by Ryan Grundy

Picture credit: Ryan Grundy

4. Stegosaurus

Just pipping the dromaeosaur to the number four spot in the Everything Dinosaur countdown is the Late Jurassic, armoured dinosaur Stegosaurus.  Stegosaurus is very popular with girls, this peaceful herbivore with its spiked tail is one of the most famous dinosaurs known from the Morrison Formation of the Western United States.  New model introductions by Schleich (the World of History Stegosaurus) has helped maintain the popularity of this thyreophoran dinosaur, known as “plated or roof lizard”.

The 2012 Schleich Stegosaurus Dinosaur Model

Stegosaurus continues to be popular.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

3. Spinosaurus

The top three begins with Spinosaurus, moving up into the top three for the first time in the history of our survey.  Everything Dinosaur team members wrote a number of presentations featuring this huge, African Cretaceous carnivore and this has contributed to the increasing popularity of this theropod amongst those customers who gave us feedback.  Spinosaurus is now a mainstay of most company’s model and figure ranges (prehistoric animal series).   We have been working on a Spinosaurus soft toy as a prototype, we will see how this project pans out next year.  There has also been a trend for Spinosaurus to appear on the front cover of a number of new dinosaur books, building on the momentum from the “Planet Dinosaur” hardback that accompanied the BBC television series last year.  With some estimates from palaeontologists giving Spinosaurus a mass of twenty tonnes and a length of over sixty-two feet, this dinosaur is believed to be the largest terrestrial carnivore known to science.

The beautiful markings on the Wild Safari Prehistoric World Spinosaurus dinosaur model.  Spinosaurus is in at number three!

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

2. Triceratops

The runner up in our compilation is the herbivorous, horned dinosaur Triceratops.  Once again, like Stegosaurus, this dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous proved to be immensely popular amongst girls.  It came out top when the number of requests for drawing materials was counted by Everything Dinosaur staff.  Over the last two or three years a whole range of bizarre and amazing new horned dinosaurs have been named and described.  The new dinosaur discoveries have helped to maintain horned dinosaurs and Triceratops in the spotlight.   We are working on a Triceratops soft toy and team members at Everything Dinosaur have also written a dinosaur themed lesson plan aimed at Key Stage 3 science classes which explains a little more about what we know and what we don’t actually know about this famous Ornithischian dinosaur. In this Olympic year, the silver medal goes to Triceratops.

 The Runner Up in our Survey of Prehistoric Animal Popularity – Triceratops

Triceratops takes silver (second place) in Everything Dinosaur’s prehistoric animal survey.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Number 1. – The Tyrant Lizard Still Reigns Supreme

The most popular prehistoric animal for 2012, the title holder from the previous year Tyrannosaurus rex manages to retain his title, despite strong competition from other Cretaceous dinosaurs.  Although not featured in the BBC television series “Planet Dinosaur” and not part of a recent touring museum exhibit in the United Kingdom, T. rex has remained on top of the pile when it comes to prehistoric animal popularity.

New Model Introductions Aided Tyrannosaurus rex 

The Papo baby T.rex models from Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

New model introductions from the likes of Papo, Schleich and CollectA helped to maintain this fierce carnivore’s popularity as did one of our museum events when we compared Tyrannosaurus rex to a heavy-weight boxer.  Although known to science for the best part of 140 years (Manospondylus etc), T. rex still out there as number one when it comes to our dinosaur and prehistoric animal surveys.  So in this Olympic and Diamond Jubilee year, it is the “King of the Tyrant Lizards” that still reigns supreme.

Tyrannosaurus rex Dinosaur Drawing

“King of the Tyrant Lizards”

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Well done to T. rex and with Jurassic Park set to hit cinema screens in April of next year, we suspect this tyrannosaur is going to reign supreme for a while longer.

To view the wide range of prehistoric animal models and figures available from Everything Dinosaur: Dinosaur Toys, Models and Prehistoric Animal Figures.