January, 2017 | Everything Dinosaur Blog

15 01, 2017

Prehistoric Times Winter 2017 Reviewed

By Mike|2023-05-14T14:39:20+01:00January 15th, 2017|Dinosaur Fans, Magazine Reviews, Main Page|0 Comments

Prehistoric Times Issue 120 Reviewed

Our dinosaur themed reading material for the New Year gets off to a cracking start with the arrival of the latest instalment of “Prehistoric Times”, the magazine for fans of prehistoric animals and dinosaur model collectors. Issue 120’s front cover showcases the remarkable artwork of British palaeoartist John Sibbick and the dramatic image is a foretaste of the exciting contents as this latest edition of the quarterly magazine is packed full of fantastic artwork and articles.

The Front Cover of Prehistoric Times (Winter 2017)

The front cover of “Prehistoric Times” magazine (Winter 2017).

Picture credit: Mike Fredericks

Long-spined, Short-tailed Wyoming Stegosaur

Renowned palaeontologist Kenneth Carpenter (museum director of the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum in Utah), has penned a highly informative feature on a new type of Stegosaur from the Morrison Formation (Alcovasaurus longispinus). The copy includes a skeletal reconstruction of this long-spined, short tailed member of the Thyreophora by Gregory S. Paul, look out for an in-depth article on Gregory S. Paul’s second edition of the excellent “The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs”, a book that Everything Dinosaur team members have been fortunate to review. “Prehistoric Times” editor, Mike Fredericks provides further insight and Greg has written an article giving readers an inside track on how the second edition came together.

Recommended Reading for Fans of Dinosaurs

"The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs" - 2nd edition.

The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (second edition).

Picture credit: Princeton University Press

To read more about “Prehistoric Times” and to subscribe: Prehistoric Times Magazine.

To read Everything Dinosaur’s review of “The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs”: A Review of the Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs.

Toxodon and Concavenator

Phil Hore provides the information on the two featured prehistoric animals that grace the winter issue (Toxodon and the theropod Concavenator). Look out for some splendid reader submitted illustrations, the mother and baby Toxodon sketch by Clinton Harris being our personal favourite, although Ryan McMurry’s aggressive looking Concavenator runs it close. Check out the illustration of Concavenator on page 16, as well as the ceratopsian sketches that accompany news about new CollectA models for 2017.

Eagle-eyed readers may well recognise these illustrations from Everything Dinosaur’s own fact sheets. Tracy Lee Ford focuses very much on the Theropoda with an examination of the jaw mechanics of big meat-eating dinosaurs. Tracy informs us that this article is his 98th contribution to “Prehistoric Times”, we look forward to celebrating Tracy’s centenary of prehistoric prose – look out for this in issue 122!

For models and replicas of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models.

2016 Palaeontology in Perspective

American Steve Brusatte, based at the University of Edinburgh, has produced a beautifully composed piece that reviews the big dinosaur palaeontology news stories of 2016. It’s a fantastic summary and it is great to see the likes of Dracoraptor included, a new Early Jurassic dinosaur discovered by brothers Nick and Rob Hanigan. Look out for the explanation for the survival of birds put forward by a team of scientists led by Derek Larson (University of Toronto), seed eating may have helped the Aves survive the Cretaceous mass extinction event!

Palaeozoic Fish and Invertebrates – Zdeněk Burian

John Lavas continues the series of articles on Zdeněk Burian, the Czech artist and book illustrator, regarded as one of the pioneers of scientific illustration. In this edition, the focus is on Palaeozoic fishes and invertebrates and a number of Burian’s wonderful illustrations adorn the pages of “Prehistoric Times”.

Zdeněk Burian’s Illustration of the Cambrian Painted in 1951

Life in the Cambrian by Zdeněk Burian.

Picture credit: Zdeněk Burian.com

“Prehistoric Times” issue 120 also includes articles on the Marx model series, the role of music in prehistoric animal movies (the Sound of Mesozoic), more wonderful examples of John Sibbick’s artwork plus news on the latest models and kits.

For further information on this excellent magazine and to subscribe: Subscribe to Prehistoric Times Magazine.

14 01, 2017

Trilobite Reproduction Puzzle Solved

By Mike|2023-05-14T14:29:26+01:00January 14th, 2017|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

Trilobite Eggs Found in Ordovican Fossil

Trilobites are some of the most recognisable fossils to be found in Palaeozoic strata. However, despite there being tens of thousands of exceptionally preserved specimens, little is known about how trilobites bred. Trilobite reproduction has remained a bit of a mystery. A team of scientists from Western Illinois University in collaboration with colleagues from Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee), writing in the academic journal “Geology” have published a paper on a remarkable fossil find. They report finding the first evidence of trilobite eggs preserved within a fossil specimen.

A Trilobite Fossil

The definition of benthic. A pair of trilobite fossils. Trilobites feature in the televison programme "First Life".

“Mike and Sue” – the trilobites. A pair of trilobite fossils. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

The Trilobita

Trilobites are an extinct, geographically widespread and abundant group of Palaeozoic arthropods that evolved in the Cambrian and survived until the Permian mass extinction event some 252 million years ago. Trilobites have a distinctive threefold longitudinal division of the body and a tough exoskeleton. At least ten Orders of Trilobita have been assigned and although most trilobites were small, the largest specimens grew to up to a metre in length.

All trilobites lived in marine environments and they evolved to occupy a number of ecological niches from active, predatory nektonic animals to epifaunal forms. In order to grow, these animals had to moult and shed their exoskeleton. The cast exoskeleton readily fossilised and as a result, huge numbers of trilobite fossil material is present.

Triarthrus eatoni

An analysis of an exceptionally well-preserved specimen of the Late Ordovican trilobite (Triarthrus eatoni) from the Lorraine Group found in the United States has revealed the presence of nine tiny eggs, clustered together in an area located underneath the head shield (the genal area of the cephalon). Other specimens also show evidence of eggs within the fossilised form.

Digital Images from the Computerised Tomography Showing the Tiny Eggs

A digital reconstruction of T. eatoni shows evidence of Trilobite egg formation.

Picture credit: Geological Society of America

The image above shows close up views of the cephalon and the upper portion of the trunk. Picture K represents a dorsal view (view from the top), picture L (ventral view), viewed from underneath and picture M is a left ventral view. The egg cluster, represented by the tiny white dots can be clearly seen.

Spherical and Elliptical Eggs

Like many fossil trilobite specimens from the Lorraine Group, the complete exoskeleton has been replaced with pyrite. The eggs are described as being spherical to elliptical in shape, although the fossilisation process could have distorted the material. Each egg is approximately 200 μm in size, that’s around half the width of a human hair. The eggs are only visible ventrally with no dorsal brood pouch or recognised sexual dimorphism.

Triathrus eatoni (Ordovician Whetstone Gulf Formation) Reveals Eggs

Fossil eggs in Trilobite fossil discovered.

Pyritised specimens of Triarthrus eatoni showing evidence of fossil eggs.

Picture credit: Geological Society of America

The picture above show a pyritised specimen of T. eatoni, part of the collection of the Yale Peabody Museum showing nine eggs (picture A is ventral view). Picture B shows a second specimen with four eggs preserved in the right genal area. The image (picture C) is a close up of the eggs in specimen B, whilst D is a closer view of the eggs preserved in specimen A.

Highly magnified (scanning electron microscopy), views of an egg cluster (E) with a closer view of a single egg (F). Picture G shows the egg surface under high magnification.

A close up of a single limb from specimen A is shown in picture H, whilst images I and J show pyritised elements of the body fossil.

Trilobtie Reproduction Strategy Similar to Modern Horseshoe Crabs

The location of the eggs is consistent with where extant female horseshoe crabs release their unfertilised eggs from the ovarian network within their head. Trilobites probably released their gametes (eggs and sperm) through a genital pore of as-yet unknown location (likely near the posterior boundary of the head). If the T. eatoni reproductive biology is representative of other trilobites, they spawned with external fertilisation, possibly the ancestral mode of reproduction for early members of the Arthropoda.

An Trilobite Model

CollectA Redlichia rex trilobite. "First Life"

CollectA Redlichia rex trilobite model.

To view the CollectA model range: CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Popular Models and Figures.

As pyritisation preferentially preserves the external rather than internal features of fossils, it is suggested that there is likely a bias in the fossil record toward the preservation of arthropods that brood eggs externally, animals with an exoskeleton that brood their eggs internally are unlikely to preserve any evidence of their mode of reproduction.

The scientific paper: “Pyritised in situ Trilobite Eggs from the Ordovician of New York (Lorraine Group): Implications for Trilobite Reproductive Biology” published in Geology.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

13 01, 2017

Key Stage 1 Study Dinosaurs

By Mike|2023-05-14T14:17:44+01:00January 13th, 2017|Educational Activities, Main Page, Teaching|0 Comments

Year 1 and Year 2 Study Dinosaurs

A day of studying dinosaurs and fossils was in store for the children in Key Stage 1 at Rykneld Primary as they braved the snowy conditions to make it into school. The trip was certainly worth it with one enthusiastic Year 2 pupil declaring that today had been his “best day ever”, as the children learned all about dinosaurs and fossils in a series of workshops with Everything Dinosaur.

Dinosaurs and Fossils

The spacious, newly constructed sports hall provided a splendid venue for the four dinosaur themed workshops. The three classes that make up the Year 1 cohort were combined together so that two lengthy workshops could be conducted in the morning. Half of Mrs Chell’s class took part in the first workshop, the remainder joined in with the second workshop that commenced later in the morning.

In the afternoon, it was the turn of the ninety children that make up Year 2. Once again, in order to provide longer workshops, one class was split with half of them joining the first workshop of the afternoon and the other half taking part in the fourth and final workshop.

Inspired by Seeing and Handling Ammonite Fossils Children Made Clay Ammonites

Key Stage 1 children make clay ammonite fossils.

Year 1 children make clay ammonite fossils. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Ammonite Fossils

Ammonite fossils were used to help the children learn about how fossils form and what they can tell us about life in the past. After the inspiring fossil workshop, one Year 1 class spent part of the afternoon making their own clay ammonite fossils. The Everything Dinosaur team member who conducted the dinosaur workshops was most impressed by the various spiral shapes and patterns the children had created.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

Cephalopods in the Classroom Fossils in the Field

A big fossil close to the Ammonite Pavement. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Some of the ammonites that Everything Dinosaur had brought were very large and heavy. Lucky pupils got the chance to hold these big fossils to see for themselves just how heavy (and cold) fossils can be. One of the challenges set was to help the children develop their vocabularies by thinking of words to describe some of the specimens. We had some amazing adjectives – well done Year 1 and Year 2.

An Impressive “Wow” Wall in a Classroom

A “Wow” Wall in a classroom with a wonderful volcano exhibit. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Themed Displays

The well-appointed and roomy classrooms had lots of prehistoric animal themed displays. Year 4 had been studying the Stone Age and outside their classroom was a magnificent Woolly Mammoth model, complete with curly tusks. However, our favourite piece of prehistoric themed art was spotted in one of the Year 1 classrooms. The picture above shows a splendid three-dimensional volcano model, complete with lava erupting from its top. Just like Everything Dinosaur’s workshops, such wonderful art is bound to inspire and motivate the Key Stage 2 pupils.

To request information about Everything Dinosaur’s dinosaur and fossil workshops in schools: Email Everything Dinosaur.

13 01, 2017

Magnificent Venue for Dinosaur Workshop

By Mike|2023-05-14T13:14:18+01:00January 13th, 2017|General Teaching|Comments Off on Magnificent Venue for Dinosaur Workshop

Great Dinosaur Workshop Venue at Rykneld Primary

The magnificent, recently built sports hall at Rykneld Primary (Burton-on-Trent), was home to Everything Dinosaur for the day as it provided the venue for a series of dinosaur workshops with Key Stage 1. The sports hall was very spacious. It permitted the three form cohorts making up Year 1 and Year 2, plenty of space to conduct the physical activities to help reinforce learning about fossils and life in the past in a dinosaur workshop.

A Wonderful Resource for a Primary School

A wonderful venue for a dinosaur workshop. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

A Dinosaur Workshop

One of the teaching assistants informed the Everything Dinosaur staff member that one of the children who had taken part had confided with her and exclaimed “it’s my best day ever”!

Team members at Everything Dinosaur are very adaptable and they can conduct their fossil and dinosaur themed workshops in a variety of locations from outdoor marquees, classrooms, school halls to magnificent buildings such as the new sports hall at Rykneld Primary.

A spokesperson from the Cheshire-based company stated:

“When you see some of the facilities in primary schools these days, it makes you feel very jealous of all the children. What fantastic facilities and we know how much the pupils and the teachers appreciate them.”

For dinosaur themed prehistoric animals: Dinosaur Gifts and Toys.

The sports hall at this school is certainly well used, no sooner had the day of dinosaur themed workshops ended all the fossils had to be packed up in readiness for this building’s use by the after-school club.

The sports hall at Rykneld Primary school certainly made a magnificent venue for a Key Stage 1 dinosaur workshop.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

12 01, 2017

Year 5 and Year 6 Explore Deep Time

By Mike|2023-05-14T13:05:39+01:00January 12th, 2017|Educational Activities, Main Page, Teaching|0 Comments

Stone Age/Iron Age and Before with Upper Key Stage 2

Year 5 and Year 6 pupils at Thorne Greentop School are exploring deep time this term. The dedicated teaching team have compiled an exciting and challenging scheme of work covering recent human history and introducing evolution, natural selection and profiling Charles Darwin.

Exploring Deep Time

A member of the Everything Dinosaur teaching staff was invited into the classroom to provide a tactile provocation to introduce some of the topic areas to the children. The enthusiastic pupils had already created some fine artwork reflecting early cave paintings. In addition, suspended from the classroom ceiling, there was a row of Stone Age spears that had been made by Upper Key Stage 2, their flint tips represented by carefully shaped tin foil.

During each workshop, examples of how animals adapt or fail to adapt to environmental changes were provided. Evidence about life in the past was explored using fossils and the concepts of extinction and de-extinction were examined.

As well as learning about life in the past, the thought provoking scheme of work challenged the children to consider how might our own species evolve over time? What changes in us and our bodies will take place? How will technology affect the evolution of mankind?

How Will Our Species Evolve?

How will our species evolve?

Picture credit: Thorne Greentop School

Learning About Coelacanths

One of a number of extension activities set by the visitor involved the children researching the story of the Coelacanth. Coelacanths were thought to have died out with the non-avian dinosaurs some sixty-six million years ago, until one was caught by a fisherman off the eastern coast of South Africa in 1938.

The Story of the Discovery of the Coelacanth Can Help to Support Lesson Plans Focusing on Adaptation and Natural Selection

The Coelacanth fossil (Whiteia woodwardi) from the Lower Triassic of Madagascar. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Coelacanth catches are rare, marine scientists have expressed concern about these remarkable fishes, once thought to be very closely related to the first land animals, numbers may be dwindling as commercial activity and pollution destroys their habitat.

To read about a recent Coelacanth catch: Coelacanth Caught off the Island of Zanzibar.

Creating a Record of the Children’s Work

The innovative plan for the term is to build up the children’s knowledge using a wide range of teaching methods and learning styles culminating in the publication of a workbook that takes the reader through a chronological history of mankind and our planet. We have been promised a copy and we are looking forward to receiving it.

Having discussed the types of animals that roamed the landscape some twenty thousand years or so before the school was built, our teaching team member set the children a creative writing challenge. Could they imagine what it would have been like to take part in a Woolly Mammoth hunt?

For models and replicas of Woolly Mammoths and other prehistoric creatures: Papo Models of Prehistoric Animals.

Preparing for a Woolly Mammoth Hunt

Neanderthals attacking a Woolly Mammoth.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

We look forward to hearing more news from Thorne Greentop school as they explore our Earth’s amazing history.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

11 01, 2017

Hyoliths Find a Home

By Mike|2023-05-14T11:10:37+01:00January 11th, 2017|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page, Photos/Pictures of Fossils|0 Comments

Ancient, Long Extinct Animal Finds Place on Tree of Life

A bizarre shelled marine creature’s place in the Animal Kingdom has finally been resolved thanks to the efforts of a remarkable student at the University of Toronto. Undergraduate student Joseph Moysiuk has identified Hyoliths, not as members of the Mollusca, which many palaeontologists had previously believed, but as lophophores and as such, they are closely related to brachiopods.

An Illustration of the Hyolith Haplophrentis

An illustration of the Hyolith Haplophrentis.

Picture credit: Royal Ontario Museum/Danielle Dufault

In the Hyolith illustration above, a tiny brachiopod can be seen attached to the nearest appendage of Haplophrentis.

Studying Hyoliths

The distinctive appearance and structure of the Hyolith skeleton has obstructed previous attempts to classify these animals. All Hyoliths had an elongated, bilaterally symmetrical cone-shaped shell and a smaller cap-like shell that covered the opening of the conical shell (known as an operculum). Some species also bore a pair of rigid, curved spines (helens) that protruded from between the conical shell and operculum (the shell cap), structures with no equivalents in any other group of animals.

An Extensive Fossil Record

The mineralised external skeletons (argonite) and their sessile/semi-sessile habit (living on the seabed), gives these animals, which range in size from 1 cm to around 5 cm in length, a good fossil preservation potential.

The earliest fossil evidence for this type of creature occurs in rocks dating from around 540 million years ago (Cambrian). These filter feeders seem to have persisted throughout the Palaeozoic and the Hyolith fossil record is relatively abundant and geographically widespread.

The Hyolitha were very diverse during the Cambrian and the subsequent Ordovician geological period, before their fossil record and their presence as an important member of marine benthos communities (animals and plants living on the sea floor) declines. Hyoliths are one of many types of marine invertebrate that failed to survive into the Mesozoic.

The Cambrian Hyolith Haplophrentis

Soft tissue of a Cambrian Hyolith (Haplophrentis) has been preserved.

Picture credit: Royal Ontario Museum

Diverse in the Palaeozoic

In the picture of a Hyolith fossil above, (genus Haplophrentis – H. carinatus), the conical shape of the shell can be clearly made out and the partially extended lophophore (feeding organ) can be seen. The lophophore consisting of numerous, blackened, thin, finger-like extensions is highlighted against the operculum. The curved spines are the helens.

Writing in the academic journal “Nature”, student Joseph Moysiuk and his fellow authors, Durham University’s Martin Smith and Burgess Shale fossil expert Jean-Bernard Caron, studied over 1,500 fossil specimens from the mid-Cambrian strata that represent elements of the Burgess Shale (British Columbia) and the Spence Shale Formations (Idaho and Utah). The Hyolith material (Haplophrentis) and its exceptional state of preservation permitted the team to assess the soft tissue structures and from this information the team were able to deduce their taxonomic affinities.

Dr Caron explained:

“Burgess Shale fossils are exceptional because they show preservation of soft tissues which are not usually preserved in normal conditions.”

Not Closely Related to Snails, Cephalopods and Other Molluscs

The analysis showed that Hyoliths are not closely related to snails, squid or other members of the Mollusca. They are instead, more closely related to the Brachiopoda, a group of animals with a rich fossil record but with few extant representatives. Brachiopods have a soft body enclosed between upper and lower shells (valves), unlike the left and right arrangement of valves in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopods open their valves at the front when feeding but otherwise keep them closed to protect their feeding apparatus and other body parts.

Student Moysiuk commented:

“Our most important and surprising discovery is the Hyolith feeding structure, which is a row of flexible tentacles extending away from the mouth, contained within the cavity between the lower conical shell and upper cap-like shell. Only one group of living animals – the brachiopods, has a comparable feeding structure enclosed by a pair of valves. This finding demonstrates that brachiopods, and not molluscs, are the closest surviving relatives of Hyoliths.”

The undergraduate added:

“It suggests that these Hyoliths fed on organic material suspended in water as living brachiopods do today, sweeping food into their mouths with their tentacles,”

A Diagram Showing the Proposed Anatomy of a Hyolith

Diagrams showing the anatomy of the Cambrian Hyolith Haplophrentis.

Picture credit: Royal Ontario Museum/Danielle Dufault

The Function of the Helens

Examination of the orientation of the helens in multiple Hyolith specimens from the Burgess Shale suggests that these spines may have been used like stilts to lift the body of the animal above the sediment, elevating the feeding apparatus to enhance feeding.

Dr Caron led recent field exhibitions to the Burgess Shale. This resulted in the discovery of many specimens that form the basis of this research. The key specimens came from recently discovered deposits near Stanley Glacier and Marble Canyon in Kootenay National Park, about twenty miles south-east of the original Burgess Shale site in Yoho National Park.

Exploring the Burgess Shale

Student Joseph Moysiuk (left) in the field with Dr Jean-Bernard Caron.

Picture credit: Joseph Moysiuk

Solving a Puzzle

Palaeontology lecturer Martin Smith expressed his delight at being able to help solve a 175-year-old palaeontological puzzle. Hyolith fossils have been included in a number of fossil studies previously, but until now, where these creatures featured in the tree of life remained open to speculation.

Dr Smith stated:

“Resolving the debate over the Hyoliths adds to our understanding of the Cambrian Explosion, the period of rapid evolutionary development when most major animal groups emerge in the fossil record. Our study reiterates the importance of soft tissue preservation from Burgess Shale-type deposits in illuminating the evolutionary history of creatures about which we still know very little.”

Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of the University of Toronto in the compilation of this article.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

10 01, 2017

In Praise of “TheDinosaurMan 245”

By Mike|2023-05-14T11:03:37+01:00January 10th, 2017|Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur videos, Main Page|0 Comments

Praising All Dinosaur Model Reviewers

At Everything Dinosaur, we get lots of emails and letters from fans of dinosaurs and prehistoric animal model collecting. We do read them all and we respond to all those that require a reply. Answering questions and commenting on all the amazing things that we get sent from our customers is something that we have always tried to do. These days, the overwhelming majority of our correspondence is via email, the number of letters that we receive as a proportion of the total is dropping year on year.

Dinosaur Model Reviewers

However, we do get a great many thank you letters from school children who have taken part in our dinosaur and fossil themed workshops. We are keen to encourage the children with their hand-writing and a thank you letter makes a great extension exercise for the teachers.

We also receive lots of links to videos that dinosaur model fans have made. A wide variety of subjects are covered, from comments about model collections, suggestions for new replicas, unboxing videos, lists of favourite dinosaurs even homemade “Jurassic Park” movies. We do our best to watch as many as we can, although, there never seems to be enough hours in the day, what with all our other commitments.

Creating YouTube Model Reviews

Around ten days ago, we were emailed by the father of a young dinosaur fan who contacted us to thank Everything Dinosaur for the speedy dispatch of some dinosaur models. We were also informed, that, like many of our customers, his son posted up prehistoric animal themed videos. The young man’s video channel contains reviews of his Everything Dinosaur purchases, collection updates, as well as video game footage. The eager young video maker goes by the moniker “TheDinosaurMan 245”.

Everything Dinosaur Unboxing Video by “TheDinosaurMan 245”

Video credit: “TheDinosaurMan 245”

In Praise of All the Dinosaur Model Video Makers

We make some videos ourselves, these are our way of helping to pass on some of the background on new models as well as providing information about the prehistoric animals the models represented. With so much going on in the company, we just don’t get the time to make as many as we would like. Those videos we have made, have had millions of views and we are grateful for every “like” and comment received.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur YouTube channel: Everything Dinosaur on YouTube.

Today, we pay tribute to all those collectors of dinosaurs and prehistoric animal models, who take the time and trouble to share their passion and enthusiasm for this hobby.

Reviewing a Prehistoric Animal Model

Rebor Saurophaganax in the "Badlands" colour scheme, the product video showcase.

The Rebor Saurophaganax maximus in a scale of 1:35. This is the Notorious Big “Badlands” colour variants, one of three versions produced and the first to have a product video showcase posted up on Everything Dinosaur’s YouTube channel. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The image (above) shows a Rebor dinosaur model. To see the range of Rebor dinosaurs available: Rebor Replicas, Models and Figures.

Our thanks to “TheDinosaurMan 245” and to everyone like him, who are fascinated with dinosaurs and enjoying telling the world about their collections.

Take a look at the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

10 01, 2017

FS3 – Dinosaur Roar

By Mike|2023-05-14T10:50:13+01:00January 10th, 2017|Early Years Foundation Reception|Comments Off on FS3 – Dinosaur Roar

Reception Children at Leigh Primary School Study Dinosaurs

Children in classes FS2 and FS3 had an exciting afternoon learning all about different types of dinosaur. The wet weather outside did not dampen their spirits as these children aged between four and five years old moved like dinosaurs and handled lots of fossils. The budding young explorers learned about fossils and how they formed. Real fossils feel as cold as a stone! Our team members enjoyed exploring dinosaurs with Reception children.

Dinosaurs with Reception Children

Children design rules for their dinosaur museum. Dinosaurs with Reception children. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

For dinosaur themed toys and gifts: Dinosaur Themed Toys and Gifts.

Feedback from a Teacher

One of the teachers emailed on behalf of the children and the rest of the hard-working and dedicated teaching staff at the school, she said:

“Thank you for visiting Reception yesterday. We had lots of fun learning about dinosaurs. We think you are very clever and you know lots about dinosaurs. Fletcher enjoyed learning about T. rex. Miller enjoyed holding the fossil and showing his friends. Heidi thought it was cool holding the dinosaur’s head. We couldn’t believe that a dinosaur’s brain was so small. Thank you for showing us the model of the dinosaur. We loved being dinosaurs and showing our teeth and dinosaur fingers. We liked roaring like a dinosaur and Mrs Thomas [class teacher] is going to put our photo on the school website. I hope we don’t scare the mums and dads! “

Today, the enthusiastic children are going to get busy making dinosaur pictures, which sounds wonderful. We hope to see some pictures of the children’s creations very soon.

So pleased to hear that the young children enjoyed the school dinosaur workshop, our dinosaur expert certainly enjoyed teaching about dinosaurs in school.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

9 01, 2017

A Superb Ammonite Aquarium Created by Model Fan

By Mike|2024-03-14T09:25:15+00:00January 9th, 2017|Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on A Superb Ammonite Aquarium Created by Model Fan

Ammonites on Display

When working with Key Stage 1 classes we like to give the young children the opportunity to handle and explore fossils. Fortunately, we have lots of fossils to show them, including a lot of different sized ammonites.

We ask the children to think of words that mean the same as “small” when it comes to describing the ammonites and we delight in being told that we have “tiny”, hand-sized”, “baby” ammonite fossils. Then we ask the class to think of words that mean the same as “big” to help us describe the larger ammonite fossils that we bring into the classroom. We have lots of amazing words, “giant”, “gigantic”, “huge” and even “enormous”. This is a great exercise that not only explores the properties of materials (the fossils), but allows the children the opportunity to develop their vocabulary too.

An Ammonite Aquarium

Ammonites on display.

Picture credit: Paleo Paul

For models and replicas of ammonites and other prehistoric creatures: Models of Iconic Fossils such as Ammonites.

Ammonites

Ammonites were all marine creatures, (they all lived in saltwater). The picture above shows a photograph of ammonite models in a pretend aquarium. This is a great way to show what the animals whose fossil shells the children have been handling actually looked like. An ammonite aquarium, can make a useful addition to the Key Stage 1 scheme of work especially when it comes to considering what animals need to live and what animals live where.

Extension Topic Ideas

Lots of challenging questions can come out of an exploration of ammonite fossil shells:

What other animals live in the sea? Can the children make a seascape?
Why do the shells fossilise? Why doesn’t the rest of the ammonite become a fossil too?
What food did ammonites eat?
Ammonites live in the sea and they have tentacles, what other animals live in the sea today which also have tentacles?

To purchase ammonite models, plus real fossils to use in school, visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Visit Everything Dinosaur’s Website

9 01, 2017

Palaeontology Predictions for 2017

By Mike|2023-05-14T10:11:38+01:00January 9th, 2017|Dinosaur Fans, Main Page, Press Releases|0 Comments

Palaeontology Predictions for 2017

As 2017 commences, the start of a new year is often a good time to consider what changes, developments and news stories we might expect to blog about in the next twelve months. For scientists, including those who specialise in the Earth sciences, 2017 will no doubt be filled with exciting discoveries.

The team at Everything Dinosaur has compiled a list of predictions, trying to guess what the next year will bring, it’s just a bit of fun, we shall see how things turn out in another year likely to be remembered for some remarkable fossil discoveries.

Here in no particular order are our predictions for 2017:

A New Epoch – Arise the Anthropocene!

The work of the Anthropocene Work Group (AWG), will once again enter the scientific spotlight as the debate regarding the introduction of new geological epoch to mark the trend in global warming “hots up”. Our forecast, the 1950s could be formally recognised as the start of the Anthropocene.

More Mini Dinos – The “Microsaurs” are Coming!”

The very biggest dinosaurs (see next prediction), might get all the media attention, but team members at Everything Dinosaur foresee that more fossil evidence will emerge indicating a hither to virtually unknown type of dinosaur – very small theropods, not much bigger than a mouse. Tantalising evidence has emerged in recent years of tiny, bipedal dinosaurs that occupied an invertebrate hunting niche amongst the leaf litter of Mesozoic forests.

Small woodland animals generally have a very low fossil preservation potential and the delicate bones of such small creatures would be, in all likelihood, too fragile to survive fossilisation in all but the most perfect of geological circumstances. However, improved CT scanning technology and a greater focus on the hunt for micro-fauna might just mean that 2017 becomes the year of the “Microsaur”!

More Fossil Evidence Suggesting Tiny Dinosaurs Predicted

Minisauripus, potentially the smallest dinosaur known to science.

Picture credit: Zhang Zongda/China Daily

“Enormosaurus” to Get a Formal Scientific Name

From the sublime to the ridiculous. Early last year, the American Museum of Natural History erected a life-size cast of the largest dinosaur yet discovered, a huge 37-metre long giant from South America. The dinosaur, a titanosaur, is so large that it is just a bit too big for its new home the Wallach Orientation Centre on the museum’s fourth floor. It’s head and neck extend out towards the visitor lifts. Despite having been on public display for nearly a year, the fossilised remains of this Cretaceous monster have yet to be formally described. We predict that “Enormosaurus” will get a binomial scientific name in 2017.

A Field Team Member Poses Next to the Giant Femur of “Enormosaurus”

The thigh bone of one of the giant titanosaurs.

Picture credit: Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio (MEF)

In January 2016, Sir David Attenborough narrated a remarkable documentary all about this huge plant-eater.

To read our article about Sir David Attenborough and the huge Titanosaur: Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur.

Chinese Feathered Dinosaurs Get Us Brits into a Flap

With the arrival of the eagerly anticipated “Dinosaurs of China – Ground Shakers to Feathered Flyers” exhibition in the summer of 2017, Chinese dinosaurs are going to be very much in our thoughts but expect new research into feathered theropods from China to hit the headlines this year as well. The exhibition, which starts in July is a three-way partnership between the University of Nottingham, Nottingham City Council and the Chinese Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology. Expect the likes of Gigantoraptor and Mamenchisaurus to cause a bit of a stir in the East Midlands.

Chinese Feathered Dinosaurs Are Coming to the UK

Feathers used for display and courtship.

Picture credit: BBC Planet Dinosaur television series.

A New Website from Everything Dinosaur

Plans are well advanced for a new website from Everything Dinosaur and we predict that it will go live in the early spring of this year. It has lots more interactivity and it is mobile device friendly. It should be live in time to welcome the myriad of new prehistoric animal models Everything Dinosaur intends to introduce over the next twelve months.

A Bigger, Better Everything Dinosaur Website for 2017

The new website from Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

Fossil Sites and Vandalism

Sadly, we also expect this year to feature several news stories and reports of deliberate damage to fossil sites and fossils from thoughtless collectors. Stories of the deliberate damage and vandalism are becoming more commonplace and with the strong “black market” for dinosaur fossils driving demand, we are bracing ourselves for having to write a number of articles this year that involve damage to valuable scientific specimens and important fossil-rich locations.

Expecting to Report on More Cases of Damage and Vandalism

“Fossil Vandalism”

Picture credit: Scottish National Heritage

Dinosaur Eggs Make the News

Last but not least, our final prediction for 2017 is that somewhere around the world, perhaps in Canada, Portugal or in India, a series of dinosaur eggs and fossil nests will be discovered. A number of nest sites are known but dinosaur eggs and the potential embryos that they might contain remain exceptionally rare. Let’s hope that we can blog about some “egg-citing” news in 2017.

Relatively Little is Known About Dinosaur Nesting Behaviour and Dinosaur Embryology

The Rebor Club Selection Lourinhanosaurus replica.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The picture (above) shows the “Bony Bonnie” Rebor figure.

To view the range of Rebor replicas in stock at Everything Dinosaur: Rebor Models and Figures.