Everything Dinosaur Counts Down the Top Ten Prehistoric Animals of 2014 (Part 1)

As 2014 draws to a close, it is time for Everything Dinosaur team members to put together a list of the top ten most popular prehistoric animals over the last twelve months.  We have looked at product purchases, requests for fact sheets, questions asked, email subjects, social media comments as well as information put together as a result of our many school visits.

Everything Dinosaur

All this data has been compiled to produce a top ten of the most popular dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, this is the first part of our countdown, dealing with those animals in positions ten down to six.

10). Dreadnoughtus schrani

The super-heavy weight titanosaur Dreadnoughtus (D. schrani) made a Boeing-737 sized impression when the scientific paper detailing the discovery of this huge dinosaur was published back in September.  We were bombarded with emails requesting further information about this enormous South American titanosaur.  The blog article we wrote providing more information was widely circulated and even the scientists behind the research into Dreadnoughtus, one of the largest land animals ever described wrote to congratulate us on our work.

Making a Big Impression in 2014 – Dreadnoughtus schrani

Huge dinosaur from southern Patagonia.

Picture credit: Jennifer Hall

The Influence of “Jurassic World”

9). Diabolus rex (Jurassic World) – Indominus rex

This is the first time in the history of our annual survey that a dinosaur only seen in a movie has made the top ten.  In November, Everything Dinosaur’s weblog was one of the first blogs to feature the official trailer to the film “Jurassic World”.  The big villain in this new film, due to premier in June 2015 is a genetically modified theropod dinosaur known as Diabolus.  So far only tantalising glimpses of this new dinosaur have been provided by the film makers, but on the strength of this, we received an amazing number of enquiries.

Even pointing out that in essence, all the dinosaurs featured in the “Jurassic Park” franchise were genetically modified (dino DNA mixed with frog DNA in the book if our collective memories recall correctly), did not dampen people’s enthusiasm for this “new” type of dinosaur.   Described as a cross between Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptor, a snake and a cuttlefish we can’t wait to see more of this new dinosaur on the block.

A Sneak Peek of Diabolus rex (Jurassic World Trailer)

A model of a genetically designed dinosaur. Inspired by InGen?

As Christ Pratt ‘s character (Owen, after Sir Richard Owen perhaps) says:

“You just went and made a new dinosaur?  Probably not a good idea.”

We suspect that this dinosaur is going to climb even further up our chart in 2015.

Prehistoric Animals

8). Giganotosaurus

Not an imagined animal, but definitely for real, well as far as we can tell from the fossil record.  In at number eight Giganotosaurus (Giant Southern Lizard).  This Cretaceous dinosaur, which is believed to be one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs that ever lived has remained popular all year.  There was a “spike” in requests for fact sheets featuring this theropod when news about Dreadnoughtus broke but this dinosaur from Argentina remains amongst the most popular of all the carnivorous dinosaurs, particularly with young dinosaur fans (the boys anyway).  Giganotosaurus retains the number eight slot in our countdown (it was number eight in 2013 and did not feature in our top ten in 2012).

The Schleich Giganotosaurus Dinosaur Model

Biggest land carnivore known to science with a “Big Bite”.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

We expect this dinosaur to remain a firm favourite especially with Schleich bringing out a new replica and Papo including a Giganotosaurus in their new for 2015 tub of mini dinosaurs.

Woolly Mammoth

7).  Woolly Mammoth

The only mammal to feature in our top ten (unless of course the genome of Diabolus rex contains mammalian DNA), is the Woolly Mammoth.  We were sent a large number of Woolly Mammoth drawings this year and there was quite a lot of media interest in this extinct elephant when the documentary entitled “Woolly Mammoth – the Autopsy”, aired in late November.  The controversy over the potential cloning of a Woolly Mammoth helped give this prehistoric animal’s popularity a bit of  boost.

In at Number Seven – Mammuthus primigenius

Will the Woolly Mammoth return?

Picture credit: Schleich/Everything Dinosaur

Brachiosaurus

6).  Brachiosaurus

Just out of the top five and falling one place from last year’s survey is Brachiosaurus.  Sales of Brachiosaurus models have been particularly strong this year, leading the way, in part, was the Papo Brachiosaurus replica.  The Papo Brachiosaurus is one of the largest sculpts that Papo have attempted, it certainly is a beautiful model and it has proved popular with professional collectors and young dinosaur fans alike.

The Papo Brachiosaurus Dinosaur Model

Large size model of a Brachiosaurus (Papo Brachiosaurus).

Picture credit: Papo/Everything Dinosaur

Measuring around forty centimetres in length, this 1:55 (approx.) scale model has received rave reviews since it was launched.

A typical review received recently stated:

“I don’t consider this to be a toy, it’s an awesome model that can be enjoyed by adults just as much as by children who like dinosaurs. Of course you won’t play with it as an adult, but it’s just as much fun to just look at it, put in on a place in your living room.  This model is just perfect, I wouldn’t change a thing about it.  The details are what makes it so special, you can see muscles, wrinkles in the skin, even the eyes look almost real.”

Praise indeed for Brachiosaurus.

In our next blog article we will conclude our countdown of the top ten most popular prehistoric animals of 2014.

To view the huge selection of dinosaur models and prehistoric animal figures in stock at Everything Dinosaur: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models.