Rebor GrabNGo Komodo Dragon – Examining the Underside
Everything Dinosaur team members have been busy fielding all the questions we have received about the exciting new GrabNGo product line from Rebor. The first of these new replicas, a 1:6 scale replica of a Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), is due to arrive in November, but we are expecting to receive some more production samples before then. In the meantime, staff have been responding to the emails, phone calls and social media messages about this new product line.
Several customers commented on the beautiful detail on the skin that they could see from our photographs, but asked us to show pictures of the underside of the model as well. We always try to help our customers out, so without further ado we set about posting up a short YouTube video showing the “belly of the beast.”
The Rebor GrabNGo Komodo Dragon 1:6 Scale Model – What Lies Beneath?
Video credit: Everything Dinosaur
The Detailed Underside of the Rebor GrabNGo Komodo Dragon
In this short video (it lasts a fraction under fifty seconds), we show a view of the belly of the lizard replica. The fine detail associated with the top of the model is mirrored underneath. The figure is beautifully crafted and at about half a metre in length, it is an impressive size. We are not sure why many of our customers wanted to see the underside, we suspect that inferior figures may not have the detailing or finish. Our customers can rest assured, the Rebor GrabNGo underside shows the same care and attention to detail as the rest of the model, although we would point out that our production prototype is missing a cloaca.
Examining the Underside of the Rebor GrabNGo Komodo Dragon Replica
Showing the underside of the Rebor GrabNGo Komodo dragon lizard. A Komodo dragon model goes “belly up”!Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The Priority List is Now Open
The model has been priced at just £13.32 plus tax (if due) and postage. Everything Dinosaur opened a reserve list for this figure a few days ago and the company has already logged a great many reservation requests. The model is due to be in stock sometime in November (2019).
Kit out your budding, young palaeontologists like seasoned dinosaur hunters with these two super additions to the Everything Dinosaur product range. We have a young palaeontologist field kit and a child’s dinosaur themed hard hat to help turn enthusiastic young dinosaur fans into experienced fossil collectors.
The Dinosaur Explorer Hard Hat
Go exploring for dinosaur fossils with this child’s dinosaur explorer hard hat.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Young Palaeontologists Go Hunting for Dinosaur Fossils
Go exploring for dinosaur fossil bones and teeth with this super, child’s dinosaur themed hard hat. The hard hat comes complete with a headlamp torch to help illuminate the young explorer’s path. Please note, this is a hat ideal for role play and dressing up games and that this is not a piece of actual safety apparel, although the hat with its motif of dinosaur skeletons, claws and teeth is much more attractive than our own hard hats that we wear.
The torch requires two AA batteries (not supplied), but the hat comes with comprehensive instructions about fitting/changing batteries. The child’s hard hat even has an adjustable plastic strap, just like a real hard hat, so you can ensure that the hat fits snug and secure.
The Dinosaur Explorer Palaeontologist Field Kit
The young palaeontologist dinosaur explorer kit contains a sturdy plastic water bottle along with a toy compass and a pair of dinosaur themed binoculars.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
What a super idea for a Christmas gift! We suspect that your young dinosaur fan will be roaring with excitement when they see this field palaeontologist kit. The field kit contains the essentials to help budding young dinosaur hunters to explore and hunt for dinosaur fossils. There is a sturdy and robust bright red water bottle, which you can write your name on. The kit also includes a pair of dinosaur themed binoculars and a toy compass to help you plot your way through the Hell Creek Formation of Montana, or your garden, whichever is the nearest.
The Young Palaeontologist Dinosaur Explorer Palaeontologist Field Kit (Contents)
Dinosaur Explorer Young Palaeontologist Field Kit. The kit contains a toy compass, a sturdy, plastic water bottle and a pair of dinosaur themed binoculars to help you spot fossils!Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The child’s hard hat and the dinosaur explorer field palaeontologist set are great for creative and imaginative play. Helping to enthuse the next generation of Earth scientists with exciting games and role play.
To view the dinosaur explorer young palaeontologists field kit and the child’s hard hat, simply visit this section of our website: Dinosaur Gifts and Toys.
Update on the New Rebor GrabNGo Komodo Dragon Figure
Everything Dinosaur has recently updated its newsletter subscribers about the introduction of the Rebor GrabNGo Komodo dragon model. This fabulous 1:6 scale replica of the world’s largest living lizard (Varanus komodoensis), is the first of a new range of exciting new figures entitled “GrabNGo”. The model measures around half a metre in length and Everything Dinosaur team members have been eagerly looking forward to receiving this model in time for the Christmas market.
The Rebor GrabNGo Komodo Dragon Model is Coming into Stock at Everything Dinosaur
The Rebor GrabNGo 1:6 scale Komodo dragon model is coming into stock in November (2019).Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A 1/6th Scale Rebor GrabNGo Komodo Dragon Replica
Details – The Rebor GrabNGo Komodo Dragon Model
The Rebor GrabNGo Komodo dragon model will be coming into stock in November (2019). Click on this image to contact Everything Dinosaur by email and request a Rebor Komodo dragon model be reserved!Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Product Details
Likely to be in stock around November (2019).
The first of a new Rebor range of both extant and extinct animals.
Price £13.32 plus tax and postage (pricing information correct as of September 2019).
A top quality, beautifully finished vinyl replica.
Measures around 50 cm in length.
Represents a 1/6th scale Komodo dragon figure but can also be used to represent the extinct super-predator Megalania* (1/12th scale replica approximately).
Limited stocks available on the first production run.
Megalania (Varanus priscus, or sometimes referred to as Megalania prisca)* – the actual size of the extinct, giant lizard Megalania is unknown, estimates of length based on the analysis of fossil dorsal vertebrae and comparisons with living varanids suggest a length of between 5 and 7 metres.
The Komodo Dragon Model Measures Around Half a Metre in Length
A dorsal view of the new Rebor GrabNGo Komodo dragon model. The fine detail on this 1:6 scale model can be seen in this view of the head, back and tail of the replica.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
New Study Examines the Impact of End Cretaceous Mass Extinction Event
A team of researchers, including scientists from Bristol University and the University of Southampton have published a new study looking at the impact of the extra-terrestrial Chicxulub impact event that devasted life on Earth 66 million years ago.
The non-avian dinosaurs may be the most famous victims of this mass extinction, but this study examined the consequences of a near instantaneous collapse of ocean food webs. The plankton, the base of the ocean ecosystem, as primary produces, were disrupted for around 1.8 million years. It then took a further 8 million years for global species numbers to fully recover.
End Cretaceous Extinction Event Disrupted the World’s Oceans for Millions of Years
Cataclysmic impact event that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, but the bolide impact devastated global oceanic ecosystems that subsequently took millions of years to recover.
Picture credit: Don Davis (Commissioned by NASA)
Major Oceanic Food Web Instability
Writing in the journal “Nature”, the research team, which also included scientists from the University of California, University College London and the Institute for Geoscience, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt (Germany), found that while the plankton in the oceans showed the first signs of ecological recovery almost immediately, these early communities of microscopic organisms were highly unstable and cell sizes unusually small.
With the collapse of the plankton population, the loss of these primary produces in the food chain would have devasted the vast majority of the other organisms in the ecosystem, resulting in their demise and in a lot of cases, their extinction.
Microscopic Nannoplankton Fossils
Microscopic Nannoplankton fossils.
Picture credit: University of Southampton/University College London ( Samantha Gibbs/Paul Bown)
The “Reboot” of a Global Ecosystem
The research team plotted the changes in the fossil plankton record by studying the number and composition of calcareous nannoplankton fossils deposited over a period of 13 million years. A “snapshot” of the population was mapped at intervals of approximately 13,000 years. Cell size, abundance and species diversity were all recorded. In total more than 700,000 fossils were studied. This scientific paper has provided a remarkable insight into how a global marine ecosystem “reboots”.
As much today as in the past, the marine ecosystem is dependent on plankton at its base and this study highlights the risks posed by diversity loss which may result in highly unstable communities, loss of important ecosystem functions and the long timescales of recovery. Important lessons to learn as we enter a period of extensive, global climate change.
Reducing Biodiversity
Co-author of the paper, palaeobiologist Dr Samantha Gibbs “University of Southampton” commented:
“Losing species today runs the risk of eliminating key creatures in ecosystems. What we’ve demonstrated from this fossil record is that function is achieved if you have the right players fulfilling key roles. Today, by reducing biodiversity, we are running the risk of losing our critical ecosystem players, many of whose importance we don’t yet fully appreciate.”
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a press release from the University of Southampton in the compilation of this article.
The scientific paper: “Diversity decoupled from ecosystem function and resilience during mass extinction recovery” by Sarah A. Alvarez, Samantha J. Gibbs, Paul R. Bown, Hojung Kim, Rosie M. Sheward and Andy Ridgwell published in the journal Nature.
Our thanks to Caldey who sent into Everything Dinosaur her latest prehistoric animal illustration. Caldey decided to produce a drawing of a Smilodon (Sabre-toothed cat) and what a carefully drawn member of the cat family (Felidae), has been produced. Normally, we receive lots of dinosaur drawings at our offices, our postbag contains pictures of Triceratops, Stegosaurus, sauropods and of course T. rex. Being sent a Smilodon drawing is quite a rarity.
A Smilodon as Illustrated by Caldey
Caldey’s illustration of a Smilodon (Sabre-toothed cat).
Picture credit: Caldey
Sabre-tooth Cat “Knife Tooth”
Smilodon is a genus of the extinct Felidae subfamily the Machairodontinae. These cats were both geographically and temporally widespread (Smilodon is associated with both North and South America), with the very last of them surviving into the Late Pleistocene.
The powerfully built Smilodon is famous for its huge upper canine teeth and palaeontologists have undertaken a great deal of research to determine just how these teeth functioned and how these predators hunted prey. The genus has been translated from the Greek as “knife tooth”, a reference to those huge canines that in some of our specimens measure more than 18 centimetres in length (Smilodon fatalis).
A Close-up View of the Head and Neck of Caldey’s Sabre-toothed Cat
This close up shows the fine detail on the head and neck of the Smilodon drawing.
Picture credit: Caldey
Smilodon Colouration
Although the exact coat colouration of Smilodon is unknown, there has been a recent trend to depict this animal with a mottled or spotted coat. It is thought that ancestral cats, which were small and confined to forested habitats probably had spotted coats that would have provided more effective camouflage. However, the colouration of Smilodon remains speculative.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“Caldey’s drawing show lots of amazing detail and she has taken great care to fill in the background for her big cat. We are sure that Smilodon feels very much at home in that landscape.”
Numerous research papers have been published about those monstrous jaws and huge skull of Tyrannosaurus rex. Many of the studies have examined the biomechanics in a bid to better understand the bite forces that this Late Cretaceous terror could generate.
It is widely accepted that T. rex had a bone crushing bite, but just how it managed to crush the bones of a Triceratops or an unfortunate Edmontosaurus without damaging itself, has puzzled palaeontologists. A new study, published in the journal “The Anatomical Record”, suggests that the T. rex skull was much stiffer than previously thought, much more like a crocodile skull or that of a hyena than a scaled-up, flexible bird skull.
New Study Suggests T. rex Had a Stiff Skull
A reconstruction of the skeleton of “Scotty” the T. rex. Regarded as the heaviest specimen of T. rex known to science. A new study suggests that like other bone-crushing tetrapods, the skull was functionally akinetic.
Picture credit: Amanda Kelley
Studying the Skull of Tyrannosaurus rex
One of the co-authors of the study, Kaleb Sellers of the Missouri University School of Medicine explained:
“The T. rex had a skull that’s about six feet long, five feet wide and four feet high and bites with the force of about six tons. Previous researchers looked at this from a bone-only perspective without taking into account all the connections, ligaments and cartilage that really mediate the interactions between the bones.”
Computer Generated Models Examined Stresses in the Upper Skull with a Focus on the Palatal Area
Computer generated models were created to assess the stresses placed on an adult T. rex skull.
Picture credit: University of Missouri
Looking at the Roof of the Mouth (Palatal Area)
The scientists, which included Kevin Middleton of the Missouri University School of Medicine, M. Scott Echols of The Medical Centre for Birds, Lawrence Witmer of Ohio University and Julian Davis (University of Southern Indiana), used a combination of anatomical study, computer modelling and biomechanical analysis assessing the skulls of a gecko and a parrot to examine how the skull of this apex Late Cretaceous predator was adapted to deliver such powerful bites.
Casey Holliday, from the University of Missouri, who also helped to write the scientific paper commented:
“Dinosaurs are like modern-day birds, crocodiles and lizards in that they inherited particular joints in their skulls from fish — ball and socket joints, much like people’s hip joints — that seem to lend themselves, but not always, to movement like in snakes. When you put a lot of force on things, there’s a trade-off between movement and stability. Birds and lizards have more movement but less stability. When we applied their individual movements to the T. rex skull, we saw it did not like being wiggled in ways that the lizard and bird skulls do, which suggests more stiffness.”
A Functionally Akinetic Skull
Tyrannosaurus rex is considered to have one of the strongest bites of any terrestrial tetrapod. There are lots of scientific papers and other literature that document this evidence. Over the years, Everything Dinosaur have produced many articles on this subject area, including a blog post that summarised research published in “Biology Letters” – T. rex had a Bite More Powerful than any Other Land Animal.
The Skull and Jaws of Tyrannosaurus rex
A close-up view of the head of the Kaiyodo Sofubi Toy Box T. rex “classic” colouration. T. rex is famous for its huge and powerful jaws.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Everything Dinosaur stocks a huge range of tyrannosaur models.
The skull of T. rex has been regarded as quite flexible by palaeontologists, that is, it exhibits a degree of cranial kinensis. The joints in the skull are quite mobile and flexible in relation to each other and the animal’s braincase. This contradicts with what is seen in many extant tetrapods who are known to have a powerful, bone smashing bite.
Alligators and hyenas for example, have relatively robust and inflexible skulls, when compared to the skull of a bird or a lizard. If the T. rex skull was flexible but still capable of delivering an enormous bite force, this is a biomechanical paradox, it defies a logical explanation. Furthermore, the greatest bite forces measured for crocodilians and hyenas (ourselves for example too), are detected towards the back of the jaws, whereas, in Tyrannosaurus rex, the largest bite forces that have been calculated are recorded at the front of the jaws.
This New Analysis Suggests that the T. rex Skull was Functionally Akinetic
Lateral and ventral views of a T. rex skull. The skull may have been more robust and stiffer than previously thought.
Picture credit: University of Missouri
The researchers identified a number of adaptations in the cranium of T. rex to support the idea that the skull was not as flexible as previously thought. The scientists postulate that the skull was functionally akinetic (much stiffer than previously surmised).
Research that Provides a Better Understanding of Our Own Joints and Bones
This study will help palaeontologists to better understand the function of tyrannosaurid skulls and the researchers postulate that their findings can help advance human and veterinary medicine.
The study, “Palatal biomechanics and its significance for cranial kinesis in Tyrannosaurus rex”, was published in The Anatomical Record. Authors include Kevin Middleton of the Missouri University School of Medicine; M. Scott Echols of The Medical Centre for Birds; Lawrence Witmer of Ohio University and Julian Davis of University of Southern Indiana.
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a press release from the University of Missouri in the compilation of this article.
Global Climate Change in the Ordovician Caused by Dust from a Giant Asteroid
Scientists have been aware for some time that during the Middle Ordovician, our planet endured a prolonged but gradual period of global cooling. The average temperature on Earth fell and this opened up new ecological niches that permitted those animals and other organisms around at the time to adapt and to become more specious.
The cause of this world-wide ice age, one that started around 466 million years ago, is a mystery, but a team of scientists writing in the journal “Science Advances” think that they may have found the answer. They postulate that the global cooling was triggered by huge amounts of dust deposited in the atmosphere from an extraterrestrial asteroid collision.
An Enormous Impact in Outer Space
An artist’s impression of an extraterrestrial asteroid impact. Excessive amounts of dust in the atmosphere may have contributed to global cooling.
Picture credit: Don Davis, Southwest Research Institute
Dust from Outer Space
The Earth’s atmosphere is constantly bombarded by extraterrestrial space dust, but normally it only makes up a tiny proportion of all the dust in the atmosphere. Most of these tiny particles come from other sources such as volcanoes, forest fires, fine sand grains from deserts, pollution or from sea salt. However, the research team, which included scientists from the University of Chicago and Sweden’s Lund University postulate that the break-up of a 93-mile-wide asteroid in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter led to the deposition of much more than just the normal background dosage of space dust.
Large amounts of dust would have interrupted the filtering of solar radiation to the surface of our planet and led to a period of dramatic global cooling.
Philipp Heck (University of Chicago), one of the co-authors of the paper published in “Science Advances” explained:
“Normally, Earth gains about 40,000 tons of extraterrestrial material every year. Imagine multiplying that by a factor of a thousand or ten thousand. Our hypothesis is that the large amounts of extraterrestrial dust over a timeframe of at least two million years played an important role in changing the climate on Earth, contributing to cooling.”
Giant Asteroid has Global Impact
If large amounts of ice were formed due to this cooling effect, then sea-levels would have fallen as evidenced by the geological record of strata that was formed during this time in Earth’s turbulent history. Falling sea levels would have changed ecosystems, potentially opening up new environments for organisms to exploit.
Lead author of the research paper, Birger Schmitz of Sweden’s Lund University added:
“Our results show for the first time that such dust, at times, has cooled Earth dramatically. Our studies can give a more detailed, empirical-based understanding of how this works, and this in turn can be used to evaluate if model simulations are realistic.”
Searching for the Evidence
The researchers analysed Ordovician rocks looking for rare Earth particles that could be associated with cosmic dust. Tiny micrometeorites collected from Antarctica were used to provide a base level of normal cosmic deposition. Evidence of rare helium isotopes along with other rare Earth metals confirmed that dust deposits were extraterrestrial in nature.
The Middle Ordovician cooling period could therefore have been caused by this excessive dust. The amount of water in the Earth’s oceans influences the way that rocks on the seabed form, and the rocks from this time period show signs of shallower oceans, an indication that some of the Earth’s water was trapped in glaciers and sea ice. Schmitz and his colleagues are the first to show that this ice age correlates with the extra dust in the atmosphere.
A Fragment of a Meteorite Preserved in Ordovician-aged Rock (Note the Orthocone Fossil)
A fragment of a meteorite preserved in red sandstone dating from the Ordovician. Note the orthocone fossil (above).
Picture credit: John Weinstein/Chicago Field Museum
Gradual Climate Change Could Have Benefitted Life on Earth
Whilst the authors note that sudden and dramatic climate change can be very detrimental to ecosystems, the Middle Ordovician cooling could have proved to have been extremely beneficial.
Associate Professor Heck argues:
“In the global cooling we studied, we’re talking about timescales of millions of years. It’s very different from the climate change caused by the meteorite 65 million years ago that killed the dinosaurs, and it’s different from the global warming today—this global cooling was a gentle nudge. There was less stress.”
Rocks from Southern Sweden Record the Dramatic Increase in Cosmic Dust
These are cliffs made of sedimentary rock that was once an ancient seabed. The grey horizontal line in the rock shows where the dust from the asteroid collision fell. These deposits provide “smoking gun” evidence of the outer space asteroid collision.
Picture credit: Philipp Heck (University of Chicago)
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a press release from the University of Chicago in the compilation of this article.
At Everything Dinosaur, we are always keen to see how the prehistoric animal models that we supply are displayed. Our staff are constantly amazed by the incredible dinosaur dioramas and prehistoric landscapes that are built by our customers. Take for example, Donovan from Canada. An enthusiastic collector of Papo figures “Les Dinosaures”, Donovan has built a substantial display case for the Papo models within his collection.
A Prehistoric World Dominated by Papo Prehistoric Animals
A fabulous display of Papo prehistoric animal figures.
Picture credit: Donovan
Papo Prehistoric Animal Models on Display
The recent Everything Dinosaur purchases have been added to Donovan’s dinosaur diorama. The new for 2019 Papo Pentaceratops can be seen on the left of the picture (above), in between the huge Papo Brachiosaurus and just behind the Papo Ankylosaurus model. It had better look out as emerging from the trees we can see a Papo running T. rex model lurking, perhaps getting ready to ambush the unwary horned dinosaur!
Papo Prehistoric Animal Models on Display
Papo models on display. A wonderful display featuring Papo dinosaur models and a number of other prehistoric animal models. Can you spot the Papo Dimetrodon?
Picture credit: Donovan
Clever Use of Silhouettes
Providing a backdrop to the model display are some excellent silhouettes that help to provide an illusion of depth. They are very well drawn and we congratulate our Canadian customer for such a creatively constructed prehistoric landscape. There is certainly plenty of detail to admire, including a Therizinosaurus defending itself from an attacking Acrocanthosaurus and an unfortunate Styracosaurus that has been grabbed by a crocodile.
After providing permission for Everything Dinosaur to post up some pictures of his handiwork, Donovan explained that his personal prehistoric park took many hours to plan and to build, he commented:
“It took a lot of hard work for me to build that toy box/ display case. I hope to finish the bookshelf case this winter that will go with the toy box and display the other half of our Papo figures.”
A Variety of Landscapes Feature in the Display Including a Desert and a Watering Hole
A desert scene has been incorporated into the Papo model display. Note the rare, original Papo Oviraptor model in the foreground.
Picture credit: Donovan
For prehistoric animal models and other dinosaur themed items visit: Everything Dinosaur.
We congratulate Donovan on his fine prehistoric animal display, the diorama even has lighting to showcase his model collection.
Beware of the Dinosaur! The Fantastic Prehistoric Animal Model Display Case
A beautifully lit Papo prehistoric animal display case.
The Second Velociraptor Species – Velociraptor osmolskae
The second Velociraptor species to be scientifically described – V. osmolskae, is very similar to V. mongoliensis. However, the known fossil material has sufficient autapomorphies to support the erection of a separate species.
Velociraptor mongoliensis and Velociraptor osmolskae
It is intriguing that the Djadochta and Bayan Mandahu Formations have yielded a very similar dinosaur fauna. For example, Velociraptor mongoliensis, Protoceratops andrewsi, and Pinacosaurus grangeri are synonymous with the Djadochta Formation. In contrast, V. osmolskae is associated with the Bayan Mandahu Formation, and this member of the Velociraptorinae subfamily shared its environment with Protoceratops hellenikorhinus, and Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus.
These differences in the biota associated with each geological formation might be due to some form of natural barrier separating the regions where these two deposits were formed. Evidence for any substantial barrier that would deter the movement of animals from one area to another has proved elusive. It might be and indeed, many palaeontologists favour this hypothesis, that the different faunas can be explained by there being a temporal difference between the two formations, i.e. one formation is younger than the other.
Both Velociraptor species are featured in the Beasts of the Mesozoic range of articulated dinosaur figures.
Everything Dinosaur’s Scale Drawing of Velociraptor osmolskae
A drawing of Velociraptor osmolskae. It is estimated that this little “raptor” measured around 1.8 metres in length (mostly tail), stood approximately 1 metre high and weighed around 15 kilograms.Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
The Fantastic Box Art on the PNSO Megalodon Figure (Patton)
Team members at Everything Dinosaur have received a lot of very positive comments about the cover sleeve artwork on the PNSO Megalodon model. The company has gained a tremendous reputation for its artwork, thanks largely to the input of famous Chinese palaeoartist Zhao Chuang. This person has illustrated numerous scientific papers highlighting fossil discoveries. The artwork, showing a large shark breaking the surface with its huge teeth-lined jaws gaping has received lots of praise.
The PNSO Megalodon Model
The Beautiful and Highly Detailed Cover Sleeve Artwork – PNSO Megalodon Model “Patton”
The amazing, colourful sleeve artwork on the PNSO Megalodon figure. A fantastic illustration of the giant prehistoric shark Megalodon.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
PNSO have lots of other prehistoric animal figures in the pipeline, we look forward to seeing the box art that will accompany these models.
