August, 2014 | Everything Dinosaur Blog

25 08, 2014

Dinosaur Toy Forum Diorama Contest Still Time to Enter

By Mike|2023-03-16T09:42:33+00:00August 25th, 2014|Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Press Releases|0 Comments

Entries for Dinosaur Toy Forum Contest Have to be in by Sept. 27th 2014

Please note this competition is now closed.

Everything Dinosaur is proud to sponsor this year’s Dinosaur Toy Forum diorama competition. Not long to go now before the closing date for this prestigious contest (Saturday, September 27th), so model makers and landscape designers are going to have to get a move on if they want to claim the accolade of creating the best (as voted for by forum members), prehistoric diorama of the year.

Everything Dinosaur Sponsors The Dinosaur Toy Forum’s Annual Competition

Proud to sponsor the competition. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Rules and Regulations

The rules and regulations for the 2014 contest are as follows:

-Entry is free.

-All members of The Dinosaur Toy Forum, including staff, are invited to participate. Non-members wishing to participate are invited to register to the forum, this is free.

-Dioramas have to feature prehistoric creatures: from trilobites to Triceratops, it doesn’t matter, so long as it is prehistoric.

-The deadline for entries is Saturday 27th September 2014. (Entries received after 00.00 hours GMT September 27th will be invalid.)

-One diorama per member. Once submitted it cannot be exchanged for an alternative entry.

-Entries must be accompanied by a creative title.

-Dioramas have to be new (never published on the web before) and you must have produced the diorama yourself. Stealing somebody else’s diorama will result in disqualification.

-Photoshop is allowed, but the original photograph(s) must be your own.

-Winners will be selected by a poll open to all Dinosaur Toy Forum members (there will be no professional judges), that will take place shortly after the closing date. There will be three winners in first, second and third place respectively (no joint positions), as selected by the poll. In the event of a tie for any position, a tie-break poll will be created. There will also be three non-prize winning honourable mentions.

As well as the honour of the title, there are a range of prehistoric animal models up for grabs supplied by ourselves and we look forward to viewing all the entries.

How to Enter

-Entries will remain anonymous until the winners are announced. For this reason we request that entrants do not watermark or sign their entries.

-Entries should be submitted as a .jpg file 1000px wide.

-Entries should be sent via email as an attachment to [email protected]. The email title should read as follows: “dinosaur diorama contest 2014 – [forum username]”, and the email body should include the diorama title.

Dinosaur Toy

For further guidance Everything Dinosaur recommends that The Dinosaur Toy Forum should be viewed and consulted or emails can be sent to the email address provided immediately above.

A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur explained:

“The model making community is very well informed about ancient life. Model makers in our experience, are also very imaginative and we have had the pleasure of viewing dioramas that have been submitted as competition entries in previous years. We are all really looking forward to seeing this year’s entries.”

To view the huge range of prehistoric animals available from Everything Dinosaur: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models.

The very best of luck to all of this year’s entrants, as fans of dinosaur toys and models ourselves we are really excited to be involved.

Woolly Mammoth Diorama

Can you create a realistic Ice Age scene?

24 08, 2014

Remembering the Remarkable Samuel Husbands Beckles (1814-1890)

By Mike|2024-05-02T11:56:24+01:00August 24th, 2014|Dinosaur Fans, Famous Figures, Main Page|0 Comments

Samuel H. Beckles and Iguanodonts plus Becklespinax

Whilst going over some notes in a rare office tidy up, we came across a handful of old genealogy papers relating to research on Samuel Husbands Beckles. Who, you might ask? One thing that is for certain, names such as Gideon Mantell, Sir Richard Owen and Mary Anning may be quite well known, but few people outside the Earth sciences (and perhaps one or two in the disciplines we group together as the Earth sciences), may not be familiar with the name.

Samuel Husbands Beckles

Samuel Husbands Beckles was born in 1814 (April 12th we think), on the island of Barbados. He came from a wealthy and well-to-do family and he found great success as a lawyer. Samuel Beckles had always been keen on studying the natural world and science, although he lacked any real, formal scientific training.

Unlike people in the UK today, who might dream of early retirement in the Caribbean, Samuel decided at the grand old age of 31 to give up the vast majority of his legal work and retire in England. As a rich, and well connected member of Georgian/Victorian high society, he did much to fund and popularise the study of the geology and fossils found in southern England (he lived at St Leonards-on-Sea, E. Sussex).

Collecting and Studying Fossils

He dedicated much of the rest of his life to collecting fossils and learning about the geology of the Weald. He is credited with the discovery of three, articulated, tall-spined dorsal vertebrae (back bones), no vertebrae fossils had ever been found that looked like these, indeed the exact location of the find remains uncertain. We do know that these fossils were found at a site close to the small town of Battle, in East Sussex, it is probable that these fossils came from a cutting or quarry that represented strata that make ups the Hastings Subgroup of the Weald basin. This would suggest that the fossils came from a dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous.

The Fossil Material and Original Drawing (Becklespinax)

The three articulated dorsal vertebrae that represent Becklespinax.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Becklespinax altispinax

These fossils were identified as belonging to some sort of large, carnivorous dinosaur (Theropoda). Following a review of the known fossil material in 1988, the genus Becklespinax was erected (Gregory S. Paul), the species name being Becklespinax altispinax. The genus name honours the work of Samuel Husbands Beckles (the name translates as Beckles’ tall spines).

The contribution he made to palaeontology and geology was recognised in his own lifetime, when against the custom of the day, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London. Although he had accumulated a vast amount of fossil material and been actively involved in cataloguing and analysing a substantial amount of vertebrate fossil material, his close friendship with the highly influential Richard Owen may have contributed to his appointment.

An Illustration of the Humped-Back Dinosaur (Becklespinax altispinax)

Becklespinax – an English dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The design team at CollectA have introduced several dinosaur models based on British fossil finds including a Becklespinas replica: CollectA Prehistoric Animal Models.

Samuel H. Beckles

Samuel H. Beckles collected a large number of fossil specimens from the Weald of Sussex which at the time were described as belonging to the Iguanodon genus. Iguanodon was rapidly becoming a bit of a “catch-all” when it came to large dinosaur bones with affinities to the material described by Gideon Mantell. The Iguanodon genus was completely revised following a study in 2000 which reviewed the British “Iguanodon” material, including a lot of the fossils originally collected by Beckles and now the property of the Natural History Museum (London).

Although more closely associated with the study of dinosaur remains found in southern England, Samuel Beckles played a significant role in helping to interpret the geology and fossil material found on the Isle of Wight. In 1854, he described a series of three-toed prints, the first to be described from the Isle of Wight (Compton Bay).

A Formal Description

In February 1862, he published a formal review of the dinosaur footprints that he had found in the quarterly journal of the Geological Society. The paper had the snappy title – “On some Natural Casts of Reptilian Footprints in the Wealden Beds of the Isle of Wight and of Swanage”.

So today, in recognition of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Husbands Beckles we take time out to recognise his contribution to geology and palaeontology.

For further information on fossils of dinosaurs from the British Isles check out “Dinosaurs of the British Isles” by Dean R. Lomax and Nobumichi Tamura which is available from Siri Scientific Press: Siri Scientific Press.

23 08, 2014

Updates on Alberta’s Unique “Scrambled Eggs”

By Mike|2024-05-02T11:00:56+01:00August 23rd, 2014|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Dinosaur Fans|0 Comments

“Egg-citing” Times Ahead for Palaeontologists on Prehistoric Egg Hunt

With the summer excavation season drawing to a close and with wet and unsettled weather forecast, fieldworkers from the Royal Tyrrell Museum (Alberta, Canada) are in a race against time to identify and protect dinosaur eggs being eroded out of the hillsides at the Devil’s Coulee dig site. Earlier this week, the Royal Tyrrell Museum in association with the Devil’s Coulee Dinosaur and Heritage Museum held an open day, inviting the media and members of the public to tour the highly fossiliferous site located close to the small town of Warner (southern Alberta).

The Devil’s Coulee

Palaeoecologist Dr Francois Therrien identified a possible Maiasaura nest site at Devil’s Coulee and this week, the Drumheller based scientist conducted a tour of the Devil’s Coulee giving the media a rare insight into the current research work being undertaken.

Dr Francois Therrien with a Cast of a Baby Dinosaur

A cast of a baby duck-billed dinosaur fossil.

Picture credit: Devil’s Coulee Dinosaur and Heritage Museum

Campanian Faunal Stage

The mudstones in this area were formed around seventy-five million years ago (Campanian faunal stage of the Late Cretaceous) and they have yielded a number of fossil finds including dinosaur bones and turtle shells. However, the site is most famous for the numerous dinosaur eggs discovered and the fossilised remains of dinosaur embryos that have been found. Two different genera of giant, herbivorous dinosaurs used this area as a nesting site.

Maiasaura, whose fossils have been found in Montana in the main and a second duck-billed dinosaur known as Hypacrosaurus. Dr Therrien and his colleagues also believe that at least five different Cretaceous carnivores also nested at this location, just a dozen or so miles north of the Canadian/United States border.

The Media and Members of the Public are Taken on a Tour of the Fossil Site

An audience for an excavation.

Picture credit: Picture Credit: Devil’s Coulee Dinosaur and Heritage Museum

Dr Therrien commented:

“This is a really rich spot, the area is literally covered with dinosaur egg shells. Earlier this summer I was walking around the Devil’s Coulee and I saw egg shells breaking through the surface.”

Dinosaur Fossil Nests

The significance of the Devil’s Coulee site became apparent in 1987 when a local teenager exploring the site came across some strange objects eroding out of the soft mudstones. These turned out to be fragments of dinosaur eggs, since then, four fossilised embryos of the hadrosaur known as Hypacrosaurus have been discovered, including “Charlie”, a beautifully preserved baby dinosaur, one the most important baby dinosaur fossils known to science.

The Devil’s Coulee site was the first and so far only, extensive dinosaur nesting site to have been discovered in Canada, although the last nest to be excavated, that of a little carnivorous dinosaur called Troodon took place six years ago.

One of the problems with Devil’s Coulee is that there is a rapid rate of erosion. The harsh Canadian winters and hot summers have taken a terrible toll on the delicate fossils eroding out of the hillside. If sites such as this are not explored frequently then who knows what untold ancient treasures would be lost to the elements.

The best way to recover both fossilised eggs and any potential dinosaur embryos that may have been preserved is to identify fossil material at an early stage of erosion and then to carefully excavate and remove the surrounding rock. In this way, the large blocks containing the fossil material can be transported to a preparation lab and painstakingly excavated to reveal their fossilised secrets.

The eggs that Dr Therrien spotted are most likely those of a Maiasaura. The eggs are approximately the size of a galia melon.

A Model of a Maiasaura Dinosaur with her Nest

Model of “Good Mother Lizard” – Maiasaura.

Picture credit: Safari Ltd

The picture above shows a Maiasaura dinosaur model with a nest.

To view models and replicas of Late Cretaceous, North American dinosaurs: Wild Safari Prehistoric World Replicas and Models.

Explaining How the Fossils are Excavated

The doctor explained:

“When the egg comes to the surface, it falls apart so in order to preserve it we have to collect a big block of rock and take it back to the lab. We know the eggs will be inside the block.”

The Royal Tyrrell Museum field team are also examining a second, nearby location that might be the remains of a Hypacrosaurus nest. Unfortunately, this delicate process, literally a case of “avoiding treading on egg shells”, may have to be suspended as bad weather is forecast in the area. Once September draws to an end, the nights are getting increasingly longer and the temperature begins to drop.

The permineralised remains of the eggs of dinosaurs are then subjected to frequent freeze/thaw actions with the onset of winter. This can lead to the fragmentation and break-up of any exposed fossil material. Field workers help to minimise this damage by covering potential dig sites with jackets of burlap and plaster. These afford some protection for the fragile fossils held in the rocks underneath.

One of the Most Important Vertebrate Fossils Found in Canada

“Charlie” the baby Hypacrosaurus dinosaur.

Picture credit: Devil’s Coulee Dinosaur and Heritage Museum

We at Everything Dinosaur wish all those involved in the excavation and study the very best of luck and we thank the Devil’s Coulee Dinosaur and Heritage Museum for sending us some photographs of the media event.

22 08, 2014

Win with Everything Dinosaur in a Free to Enter Competition

By Mike|2024-05-02T11:57:00+01:00August 22nd, 2014|Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Everything Dinosaur Products, Photos of Everything Dinosaur Products|2 Comments

Everything Dinosaur Competition Time Again!

To celebrate the launch of Everything Dinosaur’s exclusive range of children’s dinosaur themed T-shirts, we have come up with a little, fun competition. A sort of T-errific , T-yrannosaurus, T-easer T-shirt competition. One of the designs on our new T-shirts features a baby T. rex. He (or she for that matter), looks quite cute but we don’t have a name for this little dinosaur.

Please note this competition is now closed.

The Range of Exclusive Everything Dinosaur T-shirts

The first of the dinosaur themed T-shirts from Everything Dinosaur. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Everything Dinosaur

So, our competition is this, name our baby dinosaur and we will send one lucky winner a dinosaur T-shirt from our new range* for their young dinosaur fan.

Think of a name for me to win a T-shirt! Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Clothing and Dinosaur T-shirts

To view the range of dinosaur themed clothing in stock at Everything Dinosaur: Dinosaur Clothing and T-shirts.

To enter the competition, a chance to win a dinosaur themed T-shirt for your own little monster, all you have to do is “Like” Everything Dinosaur’s FACEBOOK page, then comment on the picture of the baby dinosaur design on our red T-shirt (shown above). It certainly is a very cute looking dinosaur with a geological hammer in its claws, a very friendly looking “Apprentice Palaeontologist”, our little dino just needs a name.

Don’t forget, to enter, just visit Everything Dinosaur on FACEBOOK and “like” our page and leave a suggested name for our baby dinosaur by adding a comment to the baby dinosaur’s picture.

Everything Dinosaur on Facebook

Click the logo to visit our Facebook page and to give our page a “like”.

Everything Dinosaur on FACEBOOK: “LIKE” Our Facebook Page and Enter Competition.

We will draw the lucky winner at random and the name caption competition closes on Friday 19th September 2014. Good luck!

To view Everything Dinosaur’s range of dinosaur and prehistoric animal themed clothing click on the picture below:

Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Pjs, T-shirts, Sweatshirts etc.

Exclusive to Everything Dinosaur. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

*The range of T-shirt sizes available to the prize winner (please note this competition is now closed).

Competition winner can choose from these sizes.

* please note the red “Appentice Palaeontologist T-shirt is only available in sizes up to 9 yrs-11 yrs, chest size 82 cm.

Terms and Conditions of Name Our Baby Dinosaur Competition

Automated entries are not permitted and will be excluded from the draw.

Only one entry per person.

The prize is non-transferable and no cash alternative will be offered.

The Everything Dinosaur name a baby dinosaur caption competition runs until Friday 19th September 2014.

Winner will be notified by private message on Facebook or email.

Prize includes postage and packing.

For full terms and conditions contact: Email Everything Dinosaur.

Please note this competition is now closed.

21 08, 2014

Plans to Provide a Trail to Utah’s Dinosaur Tracks

By Mike|2023-03-16T09:08:37+00:00August 21st, 2014|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Dinosaur Fans, Main Page|0 Comments

Bureau of Land Management Plans to Provide a Trail to Dinosaur Trackway Site

Residents of the town of Moab in Utah are hoping that in the very near future, visitors are going to get much better access to a number of the preserved dinosaur footprints and tracks that have been found in the area. This part of Grand County (Eastern Utah), is famous for its extensive trace fossils of dinosaurs and other Mesozoic creatures, earlier this year, Everything Dinosaur reported on the theft of a three-toed dinosaur footprint. Such thefts are an all too common occurrence these days and news that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning a properly organised dinosaur footprint trail is most welcome.

Dinosaur Trackway Site

To read about the dinosaur footprint theft: Man Charged over Fossil Footprint Theft.

Last month, Utah resident Jared Ehlers, who had originally denied any involvement in the theft, admitted stealing and disposing of a dinosaur footprint fossil. By pleading guilty at a pre-trial hearing, Mr Ehlers was able to have the charges of theft, destruction of evidence and depredation of government property dropped. Under the terms of a plea deal, he was fined $15,000 USD (£9,000 GBP) and ordered to serve a year’s probation, including six months of home confinement.

The tracks that the BLM intend to create a trail for were discovered by a hiker in 2009. Scientists from the University of Colorado in conjunction with the BLM had began excavations last year, over the last few weeks a team of volunteers have been clearing away the last of the surface material in preparation for the first public tours. Up until now the actual location was kept under wraps, this has helped the palaeontologists and ichnologists (specialists who study trace fossils), to map the fossil site and to prevent any potential thefts.

Dinosaur Tracks

Typical Examples of Three-toed Dinosaur Footprints

Theropod print compared to an ornithopod print. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Over Two Hundred Individual Tracks

Over two hundred individual tracks have been uncovered to date and in at least one area an extensive trackway left by a single dinosaur has been discovered. This trackway consists of seventeen consecutive prints. Scientists estimate that at least ten different genera may be represented by the trace fossil material.

For Bureau of Land Management palaeontologist, Rebecca Hunt-Foster, the opportunity to help create a tourist trail leading to a greater understanding of the importance of this area for fossils, may help deter thefts in the future. It is all part of helping to educate and inform local residents and visitors to the area.

Commenting on the significance of the location, the palaeontologist stated:

“It helps kind of to fill in the gaps about these animals that we don’t know much about. We know they were here, but we just don’t find their bones.”

Such is the excellent state of preservation that even the tail drag from a prehistoric crocodile has been identified.

More Research to be Done

It is hoped that once the site has been cleared, BLM staff will finish formally mapping and plotting the extensive trackway using three-dimensional photography (photogrammetry). The fossils were found in strata that make up part of the Ruby Ranch Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation. The fossils are believed to be around 125 million years of age (Late Barremian faunal stage to Early Aptian faunal stage of the Cretaceous). As such, these trace fossils are slightly younger than the majority of the dinosaur footprints and other trace fossils preserved in the exposed Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight.

As the BLM’s regional palaeontologist, Rebecca admits that providing greater access to these sites whilst maintaining their security is a delicate balancing act. For example, a number of the prints were made by a three-toed theropod, these tracks are very similar to the one stolen and subsequently lost earlier this year.

Providing Some Protection

Once the volunteers have finished clearing the site and the mapping is completed, then the scientific value of these trace fossils will have some measure of protection. For having mapped and plotted the tracks very accurately the prints can be replicated, should the fossils be eroded away, damaged or even stolen the data recorded will still permit palaeontologists to study them.

Rebecca explained the importance of the systematic recording of the footprints and other trace fossils by stating:

“We will be able to replicate any of the tracks, should they ever be damaged or destroyed. And, also people will be able to study them without doing damage to the actual surface.”

The Bureau of Land Management is currently fund raising to build a trail to the dinosaur tracks. The agency hopes to have the site open to the public in about six weeks time.

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

20 08, 2014

Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” Dismantled and Reimagined

By Mike|2023-03-16T08:59:31+00:00August 20th, 2014|Dinosaur Fans, Main Page|0 Comments

Pixar’s Animated Dinosaur Adventure – “Dismantled and Reimagined” According to John Lithgow

Dinosaurs and cinema block busters seem made for each other. No time travelling film/exploration of a lost world is complete without at least one or two of the Dinosauria showing up somewhere along the way. For example, in the latest reincarnation of the BBC’s favourite Time Lord, due to hit our television screens this weekend, “The Doctor” is going to encounter dinosaurs in one of the forthcoming episodes.

So, whilst we were waiting for further news of Jurassic Park IV (Jurassic World) and learning all about “Dinosaur 13” via a wonderful documentary directed by Todd Douglas Miller, press releases about Pixar’s animated dinosaur film came to our attention.

“The Good Dinosaur”

Team members at Everything Dinosaur first mentioned that Pixar was going to make an animated feature entitled “The Good Dinosaur” back in the spring of 2012, since then there have been a number of delays and setbacks. The premier being postponed by eighteen months or so and rescheduled for November 2015.

The delay of eighteen months before release came about following the departure of the film’s director. It now turns out that this production has been undergoing a number of significant changes as alluded to by one of the voice over actors – John Lithgow.

The original storyline for the film imagined what would life on Earth be like if that huge extra-terrestrial object that stuck our planet and assisted the demise of the dinosaurs had missed. In essence, in Pixar’s view of the world, the dinosaurs survived and lived alongside early humans. John Lithgow had been contracted to play “Poppa” one of the dinosaur characters featured in the film. In a recent interview, the actor was asked to provide an update on production and he stated that after the director’s departure the entire film was “dismantled” and “completely reimagined.”

Rumours Circulating

There have been lots of rumours surrounding “The Good Dinosaur”. A number of media reports had cited serious issues behind the decision to change directors and expressed concerns over the quality of the story. It seems that John Lithgow’s comments may have given some of these reports credence. From Pixar’s point of view, they want to add to their stable of excellent, award-winning animations, so it is essential that the very best possible film is delivered.

It must be a bit like putting together dinosaur bones for an exhibit, these things take time, the process cannot be rushed and the final result is paramount. At the time of the change in director, Pixar’s President Ed Catmull told the Los Angeles Times:

“Nobody, ever remembers the fact that you slipped a film, but they will remember a bad film. Our conclusion was that we were going to give the film some more time.”

An On-going Project

More time certainly, but reading between the actor’s lines it suggests that Pixar may have begun the project all over again. John Lithgow had recorded his entire role for the voice of “Poppa” one of the daddy dinosaurs in the movie. However, with the changes that are being implemented, John is going to have to re-record his role all over again. The actor went onto explain that the film was coming out and it was going to be better than he ever imagined. All sounds good to us.

In the meantime, for dinosaur themed toys, models and games: Everything Dinosaur.

As far as team members at Everything Dinosaur know, the release date is still scheduled for November 2015, no further delays have been announced. We look forward to seeing the film when it does hit our screens and of course we can’t wait to meet John Lithgow’s character.

19 08, 2014

Everything Dinosaur Helping to Educate and Inform

By Mike|2023-03-16T08:54:31+00:00August 19th, 2014|Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on Everything Dinosaur Helping to Educate and Inform

What we do – Helping to Educate and Inform

Every day, team members at Everything Dinosaur receive drawings, pictures, photographs, letters and questions from school children and other young dinosaur fans. We try our best to respond to all those that require a reply. We encourage creative writing as part of the extension activities that lead on from our dinosaur workshops in schools, as a result, we get lots and lots of letters, stories and fact sheets sent in.

Everything Dinosaur

We read them all and we are grateful for every one that we get. We do our best to acknowledge all that we receive and we have prehistoric animal fans all over the world. This fact was brought home to us, when over the last two days we have had correspondence from the United States, Canada, India, Australia, Spain and Mexico.

A Triceratops Illustration from India (M. V. Eashwar)

Super drawing of a Triceratops from M. V. Eashwar.

Picture Credit: M. V. Eashwar

Our team members are happy to receive such correspondence, especially any letters or notes written by children as part of a teaching exercise. We are keen to help young people develop their writing skills and confidence. The above picture of a Triceratops was sent in to us by a dinosaur fan who lives in India – great drawing.

A big thank you to all those mums, dads, grandparents and guardians who praise us for our website: Dinosaur Toys, Models and Games.

We are happy to help.

19 08, 2014

Helping to Inspire, Inform and Educate Young People

By Mike|2024-05-02T11:59:33+01:00August 19th, 2014|Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Teaching|0 Comments

Everything Dinosaur Helps to Inform and Educate

It seems like a long time ago now, but when our happy band got together we set about creating a mission statement, a sort of who we are, what we do and why do we do it. Other organisations had such things and we thought we ought to have one too. As a teaching team, we wanted to help inform and educate and our mission statement for our work in schools reflects this.

Everything Dinosaur

Teaching Mission Statement

“Everything Dinosaur’s aim is to help motivate young people to learn more about Earth sciences by participating in hands-on, dinosaur themed teaching activities and dinosaur workshops. Our mission is to engage and inspire the next generation of young scientists by having dinosaurs and fossils in school.”

Every day we receive letters, drawings, photographs, pictures all sorts of things from schoolchildren. It is always a pleasure to see them. We encourage creative writing as part of our work in schools and as a result we get lots of thank you letters, stories and fact sheets sent in.

A Typical Letter Sent in by a Dinosaur Fan

Helping to encourage sentence construction and creative writing.

Picture Credit Phoebe (Year 1)

We do our best to reply to all the questions we get asked and we try to make sure that everyone’s efforts are acknowledged. We have young dinosaur fans all over the world, we get correspondence from Scandinavia, Brazil, Spain, Germany, Australia, just about every country you can think of.

Drawing of a Triceratops (M. V. Eashwar from India)

Super drawing of a Triceratops from M. V. Eashwar.

Picture credit: M. V. Eashwar

In two weeks time the new school year starts and we can’t wait to meet all the enthusiastic palaeontologists during our many scheduled classroom visits to conduct dinosaur workshops.

To visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Visit Everything Dinosaur.

18 08, 2014

“Great Eggspectations” Team Members Await News from the Royal Tyrrell Museum

By Mike|2023-03-16T08:50:14+00:00August 18th, 2014|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Dinosaur Fans, Main Page|0 Comments

Scientists Hope to Find More Dinosaur Eggs and Dinosaur Babies in Alberta

Palaeontologists from the Royal Tyrrell Museum (Drumheller, Alberta), one of our favourite parts of the world, have a busy few hours ahead of them. Starting about now field staff from the museum led by the curator of dinosaur palaeoecology Dr François Therrien, will begin excavating an area which could potentially contain a nest of dinosaur eggs and fossilised embryos. If an intact or near complete nest of dinosaur eggs is found, it will be the first of its kind ever to be discovered in Canada.

Dinosaur Eggs

The Royal Tyrrell team will be exploring two locations within the Devil’s Coulee Dinosaur Egg Site, which is in the small town of Warner, about three hours drive or so from the Museum. Seventy-five million years ago or thereabouts, this part of southern Alberta was a duck-billed dinosaur nesting ground with at least two genera of hadrosaurs known to have nested in the area. The media has been invited in so that they can witness and report upon the progress of the excavation.

Hypacrosaurus

A Hypacrosaurus egg was discovered eroding out of a hill earlier this summer and a second site identified which contained a substantial amount of fossilised eggshells which were once part of a Maisaura’s nest. Hypacrosaurus was a member of the lambeosaurine clade of duck-billed dinosaurs. It had a dome-shaped crest on its head. Fossils of this large, herbivorous dinosaur have been found in Alberta and over the border in Montana (United States).

A Picture of Two Duck-Billed Dinosaurs (Hypacrosaurus)

Hoping to find a nest of dinosaur eggs.

Picture credit: Ohio State University

Saurolophini Clade

Maiasaura was a Saurolophini clade member of the duck-billed dinosaurs. The name means “Good Mother Lizard” and this dinosaur is most famous for being sent into space (another blog article) and for providing scientists with extensive evidence of dinosaur nesting sites. A nesting colony, nick-named “Egg Mountain” because of the wealth of fossil material, was discovered in Montana. Dr Therrien and the rest of the field team will be hoping to find intact eggshells and the preserved remains of dinosaur embryos or possibly dinosaur babies.

An Illustration of a Maiasaura and Her Nest

“Good Mother Lizard”.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

For models and replicas of hadrosaurs and other Late Cretaceous dinosaurs: Schleich Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals.

The Devil’s Coulee Site

The Devil’s Coulee site was discovered in 1987 when a local teenager found dinosaur eggshell fragments. Since then it has been one of the best known locations in the world for dinosaur nests and embryo fossils, however, no new evidence of a dinosaur nest has been found for over six years. The Royal Tyrrell team are hoping to rectify this and add to the research on the four Hypacrosaurus nests that have been found at this location.

Good luck to everyone involved. Hope you have smashing time (not literally of course).

Oh yes, that reference to Maiasaura in space, for an explanation: Dinosaurs in Space.

17 08, 2014

Exclusive Dinosaur Themed T-shirts

By Mike|2023-03-16T08:46:03+00:00August 17th, 2014|Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Everything Dinosaur Products, Press Releases|0 Comments

Everything Dinosaur’s Exclusive Dinosaur Themed T-shirts

The first of Everything Dinosaur’s exclusive dinosaur themed T-shirts are now in stock and team members are running around the office roaring with excitement. Three brand new designs have been added to our T-shirt range, just part of a number of new additions to the clothing section of our website.

Colourful, Dinosaur Themed T-shirts from Everything Dinosaur

The first of the dinosaur themed T-shirts from Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Themed T-shirts

The T-shirts are all great quality and hard wearing (185 gsm) and with help from our customers, we have set about creating the exclusive designs that have been produced as direct to garment prints. The pink and the sky blue dinosaur themed T-shirts are available in sizes from 3-14 years (chest size 66 cm to 90 cm), or in imperial measurements if you prefer, chest sizes 26 inches to 35¼ inches.

The red “Apprentice Palaeontologist” T-shirt is available in age ranges 3-11 years (chest size 66 cm to 84 cm), or once again in imperial measurements 26 inches to 33¼ inches.

Three Bright and Colourful Exclusive Dinosaur Themed T-shirts

Exclusive to Everything Dinosaur – dinosaur themed T-shirts.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To see Everything Dinosaur’s range of dinosaur themed tees for children: Dinosaur T-shirts and Clothing.

A Pink Dinosaur T-shirt

Our team members are especially proud of the pink (sorbet) T-shirt, which has been designed with budding Mary Annings in mind. The caption reads: “Palaeontologists think that T. rex girls were bigger and fiercer than T. rex boys – SO WATCH OUT!”

The females of many species of bird, the Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) for example, are much larger than the males. This trend is seen in a number of theropod dinosaurs too, including Tyrannosaurus rex. This is an example of Cretaceous girl power and since we at Everything Dinosaur are keen to encourage girls as well as boys to take up a career in the sciences, we thought it a good idea to create a sassy, dinosaur themed t-shirt with a girl power motif.

A special mention to those hard working guys at Shirt Monkey who helped us with the designs and produce the T-shirts for us. Is this an example of monkeys and dinosaurs working together? Whatever next!

We hope you like our range of dinosaur themed T-shirts, a special thank you for all the customers and Facebook fans who provided us with feedback and advice (we have made these T-shirts available in larger sizes as promised).

All we have to do now is get the photography sorted and of course start work on some new designs…