May, 2016 | Everything Dinosaur Blog

15 05, 2016

Great Work from Year Two at Great Wood Primary

By Mike|2023-04-27T17:06:00+01:00May 15th, 2016|General Teaching, Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on Great Work from Year Two at Great Wood Primary

Wonderful Dinosaur Drawings and Letters from Year 2 Classes

After a dinosaur workshop at the school, (Great Wood Primary), Everything Dinosaur challenged the two classes of Year 2 with a number of extension activities and exercises. For example, we asked the children to think about what a dinosaur might need to survive and then to have a go at designing their very own prehistoric animal. We received some wonderful dinosaur drawings and very clever prehistoric animal designs. For example, Lydia sent us in a very well labelled blue and yellow dinosaur with amazing armour. Aidan sent in a dinosaur drawing with a big nose horn.

Dinosaur Drawings

A Dinosaur Designed by a Pupil

Aidan (Year 2) designed a long-necked dinosaur.

Picture credit: Great Wood Primary School (Aidan)

We received lots of beautifully labelled dinosaur drawings and not just dinosaurs too. Caleb for example, drew a picture of his favourite prehistoric animal – a giant sea monster! The sea monster had giant flippers and enormous teeth. Our congratulations to Caleb.

A Letter Writing Exercise

Another extension activity we proposed whilst conducting our dinosaur workshops with the Year 2 classes was to have the children write thank you letters to Everything Dinosaur. We received letters from all the children and just like the excellent dinosaur drawings, we have pinned them up on one of the walls in our warehouse. They do make a colourful display.

One of the Letters Sent into Everything Dinosaur

A thank you letter sent into Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

This exercise permitted the children to practice their handwriting skills as well as helping to reinforce learning with regards to the dinosaur term topic. The children also had the opportunity to ask questions, as unfortunately, we could not answer all the questions during our visit to the school. For example, Nathan asked were there lots of tall dinosaurs? There were certainly lots of very tall dinosaurs, perhaps the tallest of all were those long-necked dinosaurs whose front legs were longer than their back legs.

Sauropod Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs like Brachiosaurus, Giraffatitan or Lusotitan, whose fossils were found in Portugal, all had very long necks and would have stood very tall, perhaps as high as a five storey building. Then there is the immense Mamenchisaurus from China. This Chinese dinosaur had one of the longest necks of all the known dinosaurs. The tall dinosaurs evolved so that they could feed off the tops of trees, the parts that other plant-eating dinosaurs could not reach. The children wanted to know about long-necked dinosaurs.

A Papo Brachiosaurus Dinosaur Model

Papo Brachiosaurus dinosaur model. Exploring the laws of Darwinism.

In our studio – Papo Brachiosaurus. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view the range of Papo prehistoric animal models and figures: Papo Dinosaur Models.

For further information on Everything Dinosaur’s work in schools and to contact the company to request a quotation: Contact Everything Dinosaur

Once again, a very big thank you to all the children in Year 2 at Great Wood Primary school. We really appreciate the letters and drawings and we are glad everyone enjoyed our dinosaur workshops. Have fun with the rest of the dinosaur themed term topic.

15 05, 2016

Year 2 Classes at Great Wood Primary – Dinosaur Hunters

By Mike|2023-04-27T07:53:23+01:00May 15th, 2016|Educational Activities, Main Page, Teaching|0 Comments

Year 2 Classes at Great Wood Primary Explore Dinosaurs

Last month, we visited Great Wood Primary in Lancashire to work with the two classes of Year 2 to help them explore dinosaurs and fossils as part of their term topic entitled “Dinosaur Hunters”. Our thanks to the talented teaching team Mrs Parkin, Mrs Coulthard, Mrs Stroud and Miss Nicholson for their assistance on the day.

Dinosaur Hunters

A special thank you to Mrs Norman for helping to put the gym mats away once the two dinosaur workshops had concluded. An extension idea we suggested was to challenge the children to “design their own prehistoric animal” and we received last week a set of beautiful and very creative dinosaur designs. We loved looking all the different animals and reading the labels that the children had carefully added to their drawings.

A Very Colourful Display of Dinosaur Designs by Year 2 Children

A selection of prehistoric animal designs by a Year 2 class at Great Wood Primary.

Picture credit: Great Wood Primary School

One of the Wonderful Dinosaur Designs (Great Labelling by Great Wood Primary)

Blake_o_saurus by Blake. An extension activity after a dinosaur workshop.

Picture credit: Great Wood Primary School (Blake)

Some very impressive labelling of the dinosaur’s body parts by Blake (Mrs Parkin’s class).

Aidan Designed a Long-Necked Dinosaur with a Sharp Nose Horn

Aidan (Year 2) designed a long-necked dinosaur.

Picture credit: Great Wood Primary School (Aidan)

Creative Dinosaur Designs

Challenging the class to design their own prehistoric animal is a great way to help reinforce learning. Labelling of the various body parts helps a child to develop their vocabulary as well as exploring ideas about what the dinosaur might have eaten, its colour and where it might have lived – this leads on to exploring simple food chains and animal adaptations.

Both classes of Year 2 children wrote letters and these were kindly sent into Everything Dinosaur by the teaching team. An extension activity such as writing a thank you letter gives the children the opportunity to practice their handwriting and there were certainly some splendid letters sent into us. The letters and drawings have been posted up on one of the walls in our warehouse.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

A Lovely Letter Sent in by Hannah

A thank you letter sent in by Hannah to Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Great Wood Primary School (Hannah)

Studying Stegosaurus

Hannah and her class mates certainly seemed to have enjoyed the dinosaur workshop. She asked how many years did a Stegosaurus live? That’s a fascinating question and palaeontologists have been able to use the fossilised bones of dinosaurs to work out how old some dinosaurs were when they died and how quickly they grew. The most famous Stegosaurus fossils come from the United States and these fossils are more than 145 million years old. It is likely that some stegosaurs could live for perhaps as long as twenty years.

For models and replicas of Stegosaurus and other prehistoric animals: Papo Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animal Models.

A Letter from Charlie

Charlie wrote that he now knew that birds are related to dinosaurs.

Picture credit: Great Wood Primary School (Charlie)

A very big thank you to both classes of Year 2 at Great Wood Primary, we are sorry that we can’t answer all the questions but we will post up more examples of the children’s work on our social media pages and email the school to say thank you for sending them all into our offices. As we post up the letters and drawings it will help to remind us about the fun we had delivering the dinosaur workshop for Year 2.

For further information about Everything Dinosaur’s work in schools: Contact Everything Dinosaur

14 05, 2016

Stone Tools and Fossil Bones From Sinkhole Revises American History

By Mike|2023-04-27T07:46:59+01:00May 14th, 2016|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|0 Comments

The Oldest Floridians

The discovery of ancient mammal remains plus stone tools in association with them is helping a team of scientists to redraw the map of human settlement in the Americas. Evidence suggests that the north-western part of Florida (United States), was inhabited by humans some 1,500 years earlier than previously thought. The research paper detailing the discoveries and the dating information has just been published in the open access journal “Science Advances”.

Stone Tools and Fossil Bones

Lead author of the scientific paper, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Florida State University Jessi Halligan, had to employ her skills as a diver to reach the site, as the evidence of pre-Clovis existence has come from a sinkhole in the middle of the Aucilla River some ten metres below the water surface. Radiocarbon dating of the artefacts excavated suggests that humans inhabited this part of Florida some 14,550 years ago.

Assistant Professor Halligan with Some of the Fossil Bones

Scientists state that humans occupied the south-eastern United States 1,500 years earlier than previously thought.

Picture credit: Bruce Palmer/Florida State University

The picture about shows Jessi Halligan and some of the prehistoric mammal bones recovered from the site. In the foreground (left) is a vertebra from a Mastodon, in the foreground (right) is the lower jaw (dentary) of a prehistoric Llama.

Prior to this research, it had been widely believed that the first people to live in this part of the Americas were the Clovis people which reached this part of the continent some 13,000 years ago. The Clovis people are believed to have migrated across the Bering land bridge from Asia as the Last Ice Age ended, they moved through Canada and into the northern parts of the United States and over many generations gradually moved further and further south.

The Clovis Culture

The Clovis culture is believed to represent the first widespread human culture in the New World and it is likely that the Clovis people were the ancestors of the native American Indians. It is from the Clovis culture that the various native American cultures evolved. Named from the distinctive stone tools such as finely crafted spear points found at Clovis in New Mexico, many Clovis sites have been excavated and DNA evidence suggests that more than three-quarters of all living native Americans in North and South America are directly related to the Clovis people.

Human Migration Through the Americas is a Complex Picture

As the last Ice Age ended and the ice sheets retreated, so humans migrated across the Bering Strait land bridge (Beringia) and into the New World. However, mapping the extent of this colonisation and the journey south has proved extremely difficult, with a range of dates given for different sites. There has been evidence presented before that suggested humans lived in parts of the Americas earlier than 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, but the evidence had been controversial.

However, at the Aucilla River site, some seventy-one items have been radiocarbon dated and they all support the idea that the stone tools and bones, many of which show cut marks made from tools , indicate human habitation as early as 14,550 years ago.

Commenting on the significance of this research, Assistant Professor Halligan stated:

“This is a big deal! There were people here. So how did they live? This has opened up a whole new line of inquiry for us as scientists as we try to understand the settlement of the Americas.”

The Remarkable Page-Ladson Site

The excavations took place at a site on a bend in the Aucilla River some twenty miles east of the Florida State capital Tallahassee. Animal bones had been found in this region for many years but it was first explored and mapped extensively by diver Buddy Page who found Mastodon remains and brought the site to the attention of archaeologists and palaeontologists. The site is owned by the Ladson family and as result the sinkhole and subsequent cores that have been taken from the river bed are collectively referred to as the Page-Ladson prehistory site.

The location represents a water hole that was filled in by deposits and these deposits represent Late Pleistocene material at the bottom, leading up through to younger Early Holocene deposits that are exposed on the river bed.

Working up to Ten Metres Underwater to Find Traces of Human Activity

Underwater excavation reveals evidence of the earliest humans from the south-eastern United States.

Picture credit: Florida State University

Stone Tools and Fossil Animal Bones Preserve Evidence of Human Activity

There are a cluster of sites dotted all over North America that date to around 13,200 years ago, but there are estimated to be only about five in all of the New World that are believed to provide older evidence of human habitation.

Assistant Professor Halligan worked in collaboration with Michael Waters from Texas A&M University and Daniel Fisher (University of Michigan) to excavate the site. The research team were aware that a number of fossil bones and other finds had already been excavated from the site, but between 2012 and 2014 the Page-Ladson prehistory site was once again opened up and explored.

One of the team’s most significant finds was a biface, a stone tool flaked on both sides to produce a knife-like instrument with two cutting edges. Daniel Fisher (vertebrate palaeontologist), also took a close look at the Mastodon tusk that had been retrieved in the 1980s and he was able to identify cut marks indicating that the tusk had been removed by people. The scientists are not certain whether the Mastodon was killed by humans or its carcase was scavenged.

Michael Waters ( Texas A&M’s Centre for the Study of the First Americans) explained:

“The new discoveries at Page-Ladson show that people were living in the Gulf Coast area much earlier than believed.”

Examples of Stone Tools Recovered from the Page-Ladson Prehistory Site

Examples of stone tools excavated from the Page-Ladson site (Florida).

Picture credit: Science Advances with notation by Everything Dinosaur

The picture above show examples of the stone tools recovered from the Page-Ladson location. The biface stone tool “top” has two flaked cutting blades and would have performed the role of a small knife, similar to the type of tool that created the butchery marks in the animal bones. The stone tools (middle and bottom) are typical flakes, the middle flake shows signs of wear (use).

Pleistocene Marine Transgression

Florida in the latter stages of the Pleistocene Epoch was much drier than it is today. Sea levels were over one hundred metres lower. The Page-Ladson site represents a spring fed waterhole that existed in a ravine. It may have been the only reliable water source for miles around and as such, it attracted animals and people to it. With the rise in global temperatures, the great ice sheets that covered much of the Northern Hemisphere began to melt. This led to a rise in global sea levels resulting in low-lying areas becoming flooded (the Late Pleistocene marine transgression). The Page-Ladson site was buried with an influx of sediment and left submerged.

This location in north-western Florida is helping anthropologists to understand more about the migration of humans into the New World and also provides further information with regards to the megafauna that shared this Late Pleistocene habitat.

An Illustration of the Page-Ladson Prehistory Site

An Illustration of the Page-Ladson Prehistory Site (Florida 14,500 years ago).

Picture credit: Greg Harlin

For replicas and figures of early hominins and prehistoric mammals: Safari Ltd. Wild Safari Prehistoric World Models.

13 05, 2016

Egerton Primary School and Dinosaurs

By Mike|2023-04-27T07:37:09+01:00May 13th, 2016|Educational Activities, Teaching|0 Comments

Reception Class Learn All About Dinosaurs

Last month a team member from Everything Dinosaur visited Egerton Primary School (Cheshire), to conduct a dinosaur themed workshop with the Reception class. The children really enjoyed handling all the fossils and learning about prehistoric animals such as Tyrannosaurus rex, ammonites and Triceratops.

Dinosaurs

As part of our work with schools we always try to provide extension materials and ideas for activities to help the teaching team reinforce learning. For example, our fossil expert challenged the children to have a go at writing a dinosaur fact within a dinosaur footprint. This morning, amongst all our correspondence we found an envelope from the school and within it there was a set of wonderful dinosaur footprints, showcasing the handwriting of the children.

A Dinosaur Footprint Themed Writing Exercise

A collection of dinosaur footprints sent in to Everything Dinosaur by Reception children.

Picture credit: Egerton Primary School

Helping to Gain Confidence with Writing

The dinosaur footprint exercise helps to build confidence with writing. Using a cut-out dinosaur footprint, the challenge for the children is whether they can produce a piece of writing within the confined area of the footprint. This helps develop hand-to-eye co-ordination as well as helping the children develop their concentration. A simple handwriting exercise such as this assists with finger spacing of words and enables the children to write about a fact they had learned or perhaps something that they did during the dinosaur workshop.

Thank You Very Much Everything Dinosaur

A thank you note from a child in Reception class.

Picture credit: Egerton Primary School

“Dinosaur Mike” enjoyed working with the children. They were very enthusiastic and eager to learn.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Visit Everything Dinosaur.

Design a Dinosaur

As well as the examples of handwriting we also received some beautiful dinosaur and flying reptile drawings. We challenged the children to have a go at designing their very own prehistoric animal. Could they label the body parts such as the skull, the teeth and the claws?

A Wonderful Dinosaur Design by Emily (Reception Class)

A colourful drawing of a flying reptile (pterosaur).

Picture credit: Egerton Primary School

The picture above shows a very colourful drawing of a flying reptile (pterosaur) by young Emily in a Reception class. We love the name “Emilyosaurs” – very creative.

These children at Foundation Stage 2 (Reception), produced some fantastic prehistoric animal drawings and many of them had wings, it seems that pterosaurs are particularly popular at Egerton Primary this year. Super labelling of the body parts – well done all!

For models and replicas of pterosaurs and other prehistoric creatures: CollectA Prehistoric Life Models and Figures.

12 05, 2016

New Species of Fossil Dog Identified from Tooth

By Mike|2023-04-27T07:30:18+01:00May 12th, 2016|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|1 Comment

Tooth Reveals New Dog Species

A PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania has identified a new species of prehistoric dog based on the analysis of a single tooth found by an amateur fossil hunter exploring a beach on the Maryland coast. The tooth provides new evidence to help support the scarce fossil record of carnivores from the Middle Miocene of eastern North America and it extends the fossil record of these types of canids in the United States by several million years.

Fossil Dog

An Illustration of a Prehistoric Dog Similar to the New Species (Cynarctus wangi)

An illustration of the Miocene canid Cynarctus wangi.

An illustration of a typical Middle Miocene canid such as Cynarctus wangi.

Picture credit: Mauricio Antón from “Dogs, Their Fossil Relatives and Evolutionary History.”

Fossil Tooth from a Prehistoric Dog

The fossil tooth, thought to be second molar from the right side of the upper jaw. comes from a type of prehistoric dog that would have been roughly the same size as an English Springer Spaniel. It was a member of the extinct subfamily of the Canidae called the Borophaginae. These dogs are referred to as “bone crushing dogs” as they possessed short, but very strong jaws and they probably could deliver a very powerful bite. The species name erected honours Xiaoming Wang, the Curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and an expert on extinct mammalian carnivores of the northern hemisphere.

Lead author of the scientific paper published in the “Journal of Paleontology”, student Steven Jasinski, explained the shape of the dog’s jaw:

“In this respect they are believed to have behaved in a similar way to hyenas today.”

The Choptank Formation

The fossil tooth was found on a beach which underlies cliffs representing the Choptank Formation, (part of the Chesapeake Group), it was stored at the Smithsonian Institute. Measuring a little over one centimetre in length it had not been studied in great detail, however, the fine details on the surface of the tooth (the biting surface) enabled the researchers to distinguish this tooth from the fossils of another, older member of the Borophaginae known as Cynarctus marylandica.

A Picture and Accompanying Line Drawing Showing the Fossil Tooth

A fossil molar from the newly named dog species Cynarctus wangi.

Picture credit: The University of Pennsylvania/Journal of Paleontology

Working in collaboration with co-author Professor Steven C. Wallace (East Tennessee State University), Jasinski was able to establish that their initial assumption about the tooth being from an already described species of prehistoric dog was incorrect.

Tooth Indicated a New Species

They had presumed that the tooth represented material from another borophagine dog called Cynarctus marylandica, fossil teeth of which had been found in the same area but from much older strata (the Calvert Formation, also part of the Chesapeake Group). C. marylandica is only known from teeth associated with the lower jaw. It was when the researchers compared the features on the occlusal surfaces (the biting surfaces) of the teeth, where the top and bottom teeth would have met, they found significant differences, enough to suggest that, in all probability this tooth from the upper jaw was an entirely new species.

Speculating on the importance of their research, Steven Jasinski said:

“It looks like it might be a distant relative descended from the previously known borophagine.”

The Demise of the Borophaginae

Once widespread in North America, the fossil record of the Borophaginae covers a period of approximately twenty-eight million years (Oligocene Epoch to the Late Pliocene). Once a diverse sub-family of the Canidae, represented by numerous species, it seems that the migration of predatory cats into North America from Asia along with the evolution of modern canids, the ancestors of today’s wolves and domestic dogs may have led to the decline and eventual extinction some 2.5 million years ago.

The shape of the tooth and from what has been inferred from other borophagine fossil material, it is likely that this prehistoric dog was not entirely reliant on meat to sustain itself.

The student stated:

“Based on its teeth, probably only about a third of its diet would have been meat. It would have supplemented that by eating plants or insects, living more like a mini-bear than like a dog.”

PhD Student Steven E. Jasinski Working on a Fossil Site

Student Steven Jasinski of Pennslyvania University.

Student Steven Jasinski of Pennsylvania University.

Picture credit: The University of Pennsylvania

This new borophagine canid expands the sparse fossil record of this group in north-eastern North America and extends further our knowledge of the fossil record of terrestrial taxa in the eastern part of the United States. The PhD student explained that most of the vertebrate fossils associated with this strata represent marine animals as they have a higher probability of becoming fossilised than land animals. He explained that fossil finds such as this tooth, are very rare but they help scientists to understand more about the terrestrial ecosystems that existed during Miocene Epoch.

Ancient dog fossils have not been the sole preoccupation of the student from the Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, last year Everything Dinosaur reported on Steven’s research that led to the identification of a new type of North American predatory dinosaur: Sniffing Out a New Dinosaur Species.

12 05, 2016

Dinosaurs on National Limerick Day

By Mike|2023-04-27T06:23:20+01:00May 12th, 2016|General Teaching, Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on Dinosaurs on National Limerick Day

Dinosaur Limericks and Poems

Today, May 12th, is regarded as “National Limerick Day”. It is an annual celebration marking the anniversary of the birth of the English poet, author and illustrator Edward Lear. It was Edward Lear who helped to popularise limericks and nonsense prose when he published his best-selling “Book of Nonsense” in 1846, a time when the public’s fascination with prehistoric animals and fossils was beginning to take hold. Can team members at Everything Dinosaur write a dinosaur poem or limerick?

Teaching Idea

Here’s a suggestion for primary school teachers, to help them develop schemes of work encompassing creative fiction within a dinosaur term topic – why not challenge the class to a dinosaur poem writing competition?

Below is a picture sent into us by a teacher who had found a book of limericks and poems all about prehistoric creatures and she was using this book to help encourage her own class with creative, fiction writing.

Poems About Dinosaurs – Building a Fiction Writing Element into the Dinosaur Themed Term Topic

A poem about the hadrosaur Parasaurolophus.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The Crested Dinosaur Parasaurolophus

Parasaurolophus was a duck-billed dinosaur, fossils of this herbivorous dinosaur have been found in North America. It is famous for having a very long crest. It had been thought that these animals lived in lakes and swamps and that the crest served as some form of snorkel. However, most palaeontologists now believe that these structures played a role in display and vocalisation – Parasaurolophus may have had a loud honk! Parasaurolophus was scientifically described and named in 1922 following the discovery of an almost complete fossil skeleton in the Canadian Province of Alberta.

A Model of the Dinosaur – Parasaurolophus

PNSO Wyatt the Parasaurolophus dinosaur model

A PNSO Wyatt the Parasaurolophus spotted going for a wander in one of Everything Dinosaur’s packing rooms.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view the range of PNSO dinosaurs in stock at Everything Dinosaur: PNSO Age of Dinosaurs Models.

Dinosaur Poems and Limericks

A dinosaur poem or limerick composition exercise can certainly be a fun and innovative way of helping to encourage the class to develop their skills in terms of word usage and creative writing. Boys sometimes can be very unenthusiastic when it comes to writing stories. However, with a focus on dinosaurs, even the most reluctant writer might be persuaded to compose a poem about a Tyrannosaurus rex!

With this in mind, here’s Everything Dinosaur’s contribution in honour of Edward Lear and National Limerick Day. The limerick is called “Extinction”.

A Dinosaur Inspired Limerick

A limerick inspired by dinosaurs by Karen Costello-McFeat.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

We hoped you liked our dinosaur limerick. What can you come up with?

Can the children in your class write a better limerick? Can they think of words to rhyme with dinosaur, Tyrant King and Triceratops? That’s a challenge for National Limerick Day!

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

11 05, 2016

Concerns for the Coastal Norfolk Fossil Sites

By Mike|2023-04-26T08:28:14+01:00May 11th, 2016|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Dinosaur Fans, Geology, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|2 Comments

Experts Fear for Fossils and Safety of Fossil Hunters

Scientists at the Norfolk Museums Service along with British palaeontologists and geology societies have expressed concern over the rise in unscrupulous fossil hunting activities being reported from parts of the Norfolk coast. These famous Pleistocene age deposits have yielded an extensive array of vertebrate fossils including many large mammals such as rhino and elephant.

The West Runton Elephant

One of England’s most important fossil finds, the spectacular West Runton elephant (more correctly termed a Steppe Mammoth – Mammuthus trogontherii), was found in the cliffs. The discovery, the first bones were found in 1990, represents the largest and oldest nearly complete fossil mammoth from the UK. Bones and teeth can still be found on the foreshore but sadly, there has been a rise in reports of fossil hunters digging into the cliffs in a bid to find more specimens.

A Model of a Steppe Mammoth

The size of the Eofauna Steppe Mammoth model.

The beautiful Eofauna Scientific Research Steppe Mammoth model.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The model (above) is an Eofauna Steppe Mammoth.

To view the Eofauna model range: Eofauna Scientific Research Models.

Concern for Norfolk’s Fossil Sites

A spokesperson for the Norfolk Museums Service advised against such excavation, not only would the digging potentially damage any fossil material but as the cliffs were unstable, working so close to the cliffs was very dangerous. He expressed grave concern following reports of a rise in the number of fossil hunters “hacking into the cliff tops”

The Foreshore and Cliffs of Many Locations Require Protection

Fossil hunting can be fun but beware of the cliffs.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Important Fossil Sites

The freshwater Pleistocene deposits and associated Cretaceous chalks yield a large number of different types of fossil. As well as freshwater molluscs and mammal remains from the freshwater beds, the chalk is highly fossiliferous and different types sea urchin and fossil sponges can be found. The picture above shows a typical UK coastal site with fossils. As the cliffs are eroded fossils are exposed.

A team member from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“This part of the Norfolk coast is subject to high levels of erosion, we would urge all fossil collectors to stay on the beach and look for fossils at low tide along the foreshore, the rapidly eroding cliffs are delivering lots of fossil material onto the beach area and this is a wonderful location for a family fossil hunt. However, please don’t dig into the cliffs and we urge all visitors to follow the fossil collecting code.”

For an article on the fossil collecting code and a guide to safe collecting: Everything Dinosaur’s Guide to Fossil Collecting Safely.

Register Fossil Finds with the Norfolk Museums Service

A partial Mammoth tooth was found nearby last month and no doubt other finds will be reported over the summer at this popular tourist attraction. Palaeontologist Dr. Waterhouse of the Norfolk Museums Service and the leader of the Cromer Forest-bed Fossil Project reminded fossil hunters that it was good practice to report finds to the Norfolk Museum Service, the museum at Cromer just a few miles from West Runton, was a good place to take any fossil finds and team members from the Norfolk Museums Service would be happy to assist with identification. As Mammoth fossils, especially tusks and teeth are very popular with collectors, it is likely that many of the overzealous fossil hunting activities have been driven by the high prices such fossils make on auction sites.

A Model of a Woolly Mammoth (M. primigenius)

A model of a Woolly Mammoth.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dr Waterhouse said:

“Norfolk is the best place in the country and probably Europe to find Mammoth remains because they went through about six sets of teeth in their lifetime, so there is a lot more teeth than there were Mammoths. Something that I think needs highlighting is poor and even dangerous fossil collecting by people hacking into the cliffs at places like West Runton. Ethical collecting is high on my agenda, and also recording fossil finds as part of the Cromer Forest-bed Fossil Project, so that important scientific information isn’t lost forever.”

At Everything Dinosaur we echo the views of Dr Waterhouse and we urge fossil hunters to take care and to abide by the fossil collecting code as well as local bye laws and regulations.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Visit Everything Dinosaur.

10 05, 2016

Four-Year-Old “Youngest Dinosaur Educator”

By Mike|2023-04-26T08:16:21+01:00May 10th, 2016|Early Years Foundation Reception, General Teaching|Comments Off on Four-Year-Old “Youngest Dinosaur Educator”

Australian Boy the “Youngest Dinosaur Educator”

News has reached the teaching team at Everything Dinosaur about a remarkable little boy from Sydney (Australia), whose parents have put forward to the Guinness World Records organisation in recognition of his great dinosaur knowledge. Proud parents Qing Zhang and Hill Wang have put forward their son four-year-old Makan in a bid to have him recognised as the “youngest dinosaur educator”. Speaking to the Australian media outlet 9news.com.au, which broke the story, mum Qing Zhang stated:

“He’s got an amazing memory. He can tell what each dinosaur’s traits are, what period they lived in, whether they’re omnivores or herbivores.”

Youngest Dinosaur Educator

Dinosaurs Help Children Learn

Now out of production the original Schleich Therizinosaurus replica. Dinosaurs help children learn.

Picture credit: Schleich

The Schleich range of prehistoric animals are ideal for robust play.

To view the Schleich range: Schleich Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animal Models.

Impressive Knowledge About Prehistoric Animals

Makan certainly loves dinosaurs and from the media release it is clear he has a great deal of knowledge. It is even more remarkable as he has yet to learn to read. However, we know that most Foundation Stage teachers will be aware of children who also seem to possess an encyclopaedic knowledge of prehistoric animals. At Everything Dinosaur we have had the great pleasure of meeting children, some of which are not much older than three years of age, who have demonstrated a remarkable amount of pre-knowledge about dinosaurs. Children seem to have a fascination for these long extinct creatures and relish the challenge of learning their long and complicated names.

Lots of Young Children Demonstrate Dinosaur Knowledge

Blake sent a dinosaur drawing to Everything Dinosaur. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

A Clever Little Boy

Makan’s parents state that their son has memorised more than thirty different species. He has built up his knowledge by watching dinosaur programmes. With the assistance of illustrated prompt cards, Makan can now recall the names of dinosaurs and facts about prehistoric animals on command. We think, that many teachers will have taught children who also demonstrated remarkable knowledge about dinosaurs and perhaps these children along with their teachers should be given recognition too.

Everything Dinosaur team members encourage children and help them. We are committed to helping young people learn about dinosaurs.

Visit the award-winning Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

Do You Know a Dinosaur Expert?

We praise Makan’s mum and dad for encouraging their son. Learning about dinosaurs will help to equip this talented little boy with the sort of life-long skills that will help him to adapt, adjust and thrive in formal education. Teachers, do you have a very knowledgeable dinosaur expert in your class? If you do, we would love to hear from you and perhaps, with the permission of the grown-ups in charge, your pupil could be put forward as the world’s “youngest dinosaur educator”.

To contact Everything Dinosaur: Contact Everything Dinosaur.

10 05, 2016

Is this Four-Year-Old the “Youngest Dinosaur Educator”?

By Mike|2023-04-26T08:04:38+01:00May 10th, 2016|Dinosaur Fans, Educational Activities, Main Page, Teaching|1 Comment

Australian Four-Year-Old Dinosaur Expert in the Guinness Book of Records?

During Everything Dinosaur’s daily trawl of news channels looking for prehistoric animal related media releases and dinosaur news stories we came across this piece from the Australian media outlet 9news.com.au. Sydney based Hill Wang and Qing Zhang have put forward their four-year-old son to the Guinness World Records organisation in a bid to have him recognised as the “Youngest Dinosaur Educator”.

The “Youngest Dinosaur Educator”

Many Children Have a Fascination with Dinosaurs?

Children playing with dinosaur and prehistoric animal models.

Picture credit: Schleich

To view the range of Schleich prehistoric animals and figures: Schleich Prehistoric Animal Figures.

Young Makan Wang has managed to memorise a lot of facts about prehistoric animals, especially dinosaurs. His parents claim that he has learned about more than thirty different species, hence their bid to have four-year-old Makan officially recognised by the Guinness World Records organisation as the “Youngest Dinosaur Educator”.

Makan’s mother Ms Zhang explained to a reporter at 9news.com.au that her son had memorised the information about these long extinct creatures by watching television programmes and as a result, with the aid of illustrated prompt cards, he can now recall a number of names and dinosaur facts on command.

Impressive But Not Exceptional

Given Everything Dinosaur’s extensive outreach work in schools and museums, our team members get to meet thousands of young people every year and although Makan has an impressive amount of knowledge, in the opinion of team members at the Cheshire (UK) based company, his ability to recall dinosaur facts and figures is not out of the ordinary.

Mike Walley, one of the teaching team members commented:

“It is always great to hear that dinosaurs are capturing the imaginations of young children and helping them to develop their vocabulary and their understanding of the world, but we meet dozens and dozens of children every year who demonstrate an astonishing level of knowledge and whilst Makan’s recall of facts and figures is impressive, based on what information we have from the news story, he is not exceptional.”

A Very Big Fan of the Dinosauria

Grown up but still a big fan of dinosaurs.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

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

Proud Parents

Makan’s parents should be very proud of their clever little boy. His fascination for dinosaurs is clearly evident but is he the “Youngest Dinosaur Educator”? This title is an epithet that the parents themselves came up with, but we have met many equally enthusiastic dinosaur buffs who could give Makan a run for his money.

His mum, Qing Zhang explained:

“He’s got an amazing memory. He can tell what each dinosaur’s traits are, what period they lived in, whether they’re omnivores or herbivores.”

Makan’s dinosaur expertise at such a young age is admirable, especially when you consider that the little boy can’t read, however, in our experience working with Nursery and Reception-aged children, most classes tend to have a classroom dinosaur expert with an equally impressive ability to recall dinosaur facts and figures.

With an application submitted to the Guinness World Records, we wish Mr Wang, Ms Zhang and young Makan all the very best with this endeavour and we wholeheartedly agree with their sentiments when mum comments:

“We wanted recognition that he is young and is doing an amazing job. Whether he wins it or not, for us, it doesn’t really matter that much. We want him to continue to learn and this is encouragement for him. We’re so proud of him and we’re happy to see where he goes from here.”

Do You Know of a Young Dinosaur Expert?

Mums and dads, grandparents and guardians, do you know of a budding palaeontologist that could take on the title of being the “Youngest Dinosaur Educator”? Our team members are constantly amazed by the level of pre-knowledge that very young children demonstrate when it comes to introducing a dinosaur topic at school, our dinosaur experts have even been corrected on a few occasions when we ourselves have tripped up over our dinosaur facts and figures – we would be delighted to hear from other proud grown-ups who might have their very own resident dinosaur expert in the family.

Now there’s a challenge!

9 05, 2016

JurassicCollectables CollectA 2016 Unboxing (Part 2)

By Mike|2023-04-26T07:04:16+01:00May 9th, 2016|Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur Products, Everything Dinosaur videos, Main Page|2 Comments

JurassicCollectables and CollectA 2016 (part 2)

Over the weekend Everything Dinosaur team members were able to catch up with their correspondence and time was found to view some of the prehistoric animal videos that we had been looking forward to seeing. One such video was this excellent review of the next batch of CollectA prehistoric animals to hit the shelves in our warehouse.

JurassicCollectables

This was a sort of “peep behind the scenes” by JurassicCollectables, the five models featured in this short review are not yet released and they won’t be available for a few weeks yet, so we are grateful to the talented team at JurassicCollectables who took time out to make this ten minute video – just enough to whet the appetites of dinosaur fans and model collectors.

New for 2016 CollectA Unboxing by JurassicCollectables (Part 2)

Video credit: JurassicCollectables

The models featured are (in appearance order) the majestic marine reptile Thalassomedon (pronounced Fal-lass-so-me-don), the “ostrich mimic” Struthiomimus, a tyrannosaurid Lythronax and last but not least the deluxe 1:20 scale Andrewsarchus and the Deinocheirus figure. The narrator takes the viewer through each replica in turn and takes care to point out the details, such as the splendid feathers on the theropods and the air brushing on the fearsome Andrewsarchus.

CollectA Deinocheirus Model

Particular attention is paid to the Deinocheirus replica, a model of a dinosaur that recently (2014), received a makeover following the publication of a new scientific paper reporting on a study of more complete fossil material, first muted a few months earlier at the annual Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology meeting.

Coming Soon the New Interpretation of Deinocheirus (D. mirificus)

Available from Everything Dinosaur in 2016.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view the range of CollectA not to scale models available at Everything Dinosaur: CollectA Prehistoric Life Models.

For the CollectA Deluxe and the Supreme range of replicas: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric Life Scale Models.

This is the second CollectA unboxing video that JurassicCollectables have shot in the last few months. In their first CollectA unboxing video, posted up on the Everything Dinosaur blog in the last week of April, the earlier 2016 CollectA releases featured including the splendid Torvosaurus dinosaur model. To see this video: JurassicCollectables CollectA Unboxing (Part 1)

JurassicCollectables can be found on YouTube and their channel is packed with lots of amazing and extremely informative prehistoric animal videos, check out this most professional YouTube site, we urge you to take a look and we suggest that blog readers may like to subscribe: Check out the JurassicCollectables YouTube Channel