The latest edition of “Prehistoric Times” magazine has arrived and once again it is jam-packed with fascinating features, informative articles and lots of amazing reader submitted artwork. The highly respected palaeoartist Mark Hallett has provided the front cover, a piece entitled “Venus of the Steppes” as it features a female Neanderthal and inside the magazine Mark provides an update on Neanderthal research and examines how our perception of our “close cousins” has changed.
The front cover of “Prehistoric Times” magazine edition 138 (summer 2021). The artwork is entitled “Venus of the Steppes”.
The in-depth article looks at how Neanderthals hunted, examines evidence of a “Neanderthal culture” in the form of art, ornaments and a belief in an afterlife. Mark also considers the cause of their extinction and reviews their legacy in terms of the genes that parts of the modern human (H. sapiens) population have inherited.
The famous Chapelle aux Saints Neanderthal skull.
Tenontosaurus and Plesiosaurus
The featured prehistoric animals in issue 132 are Tenontosaurus and Plesiosaurus. Phil Hore provides plenty of information and the articles include lots of reader submitted artwork. Stand outs for us when it comes to Tenontosaurus include Kurt Miller’s striking Tenontosaurus pair and Diane Ramic’s colourful geometric pastiche. When reading the Plesiosaurus feature, we admired the big-eyed plesiosaur illustration reminiscent of “Nessie” by Anders Bang and the silhouetted plesiosaurs and other Mesozoic marine life depicted by Jacob Micallef.
The talented Tracy Lee Ford focuses on Hypsilophodon (H. foxii) in his regular “How to Draw Dinosaurs” piece. As well as providing detailed views of skeletal anatomy including evidence of an “opposable toe”, he also demonstrates how Hypsilophodon has been depicted over the last 110 years or so, concluding his well-written article with a modern H. foxii life reconstruction.
Burian’s Ornithopods
John Lavas continues his long-running series on the remarkable career of the influential Czech artist Zdeněk Burian. The focus is on the Ornithopoda and some stunning images are reproduced including an illustration of Iguanodon (I. bernissartensis) that may have been the inspiration for how the movie monster “Godzilla” was depicted. In turn, Burian’s iguanodontid artwork may have been influenced by tales from African explorers of “elephant graveyards”.
An illustration of Corythosaurus casuarius by Burian. This artwork is featured in the series showcasing the career of the illustrious Czech artist.
The book “Locked in Time: Animal Behavior Unearthed in 50 Extraordinary Fossils” by chums of Everything Dinosaur Dean Lomax and Bob Nicholls is reviewed by editor Mike Fredericks in the “Mesozoic Media” section and look out for Randy Knol’s update on new prehistoric animal figures. Our thanks to Dr Andreas Forrer for the article recreating the Pleistocene of Germany in his article discussing the remarkable fossil finds associated with the Wipper Valley of Thuringia. The summer edition of “Prehistoric Times” is crammed with lots of interesting articles, features and illustrations.
To subscribe to “Prehistoric Times” magazine: Subscribe!
With all the problems occurring in global logistics due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Everything Dinosaur team members were delighted to receive a large shipment of Papo prehistoric animal models. Dozens of different types of Papo prehistoric animal model including the Giganotosaurus, Pentaceratops and the Chilesaurus model were carefully unpacked and put into the various product bays at Everything Dinosaur’s warehouse.
Everything Dinosaur received (mid July 2021) a large shipment of Papo prehistoric animal models. More than a dozen Papo figures are now back in stock at Everything Dinosaur. More Papo figures are in stock at Everything Dinosaur. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A Craving for Cryolophosaurus
Team members have been busy updating waitlists and emailing customer who had requested Papo models to be reserved for them. Dinosaur model collectors have been craving for the return of the Papo Cryolophosaurus, waiting patiently for Parasaurolophus and queuing for Quetzalcoatlus. Staff have spent much of the afternoon contacting customers to let them know about the stock updates.
The Papo Cryolophosaurus dinosaur model. Introduced in 2016, this dinosaur model is quite hard to track down but Everything Dinosaur has brought in more stock for the summer (July 2021).
Papo Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animal Models
The Papo “Les Dinosaures” model range is very popular with collectors, but like many companies, Papo have encountered problems moving stock from the factory into markets. The Everything Dinosaur shipment contains all the 2019 and 2020 additions to this range plus some of the more difficult to obtain figures such as the Papo Cryolophosaurus and the popular Brachiosaurus figure.
In our studio – Papo Brachiosaurus. The popular Papo Brachiosaurus dinosaur model is in stock at Everything Dinosaur (July 2021). Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur confirmed that this shipment contained prehistoric mammal models as well as dinosaur figures. They were able to reassure collectors that the magnificent Papo Megaloceros, an introduction to the Papo range in 2020, was back in stock.
The beautifully painted Papo Megaloceros model. The Papo Megaloceros model is back in stock at Everything Dinosaur. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
To view the Papo Megaloceros, the Brachiosaurus and the Papo Cryolophosaurus along with the rest of the Papo model range available from Everything Dinosaur: Papo Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models.
When asked to name an armoured dinosaur, we suspect that most readers would quickly reply with “Stegosaurus” or possibly “Ankylosaurus”. True, some armoured dinosaurs are very famous, having seeped into the public consciousness thanks to countless appearances in the media, dinosaur documentaries and films. However, very little is known about the origins of this diverse and highly successful ornithischian clade. Newly, published research on the labrador-sized early thyreophoran Scutellosaurus (S. lawleri) is helping scientists to better understand the evolutionary origin of these dinosaurs.
A life reconstruction of the Early Jurassic, primitive member of the Thyreophora Scutellosaurus (S. lawleri). This labrador-sized dinosaur is helping to shed light on the early evolution of the armoured dinosaurs and is the only definitive bipedal thyreophoran described to date. Picture credit: Gabriel Ugueto.
A Palaeontological Project Lasting Sixteen Years
The scientific paper, the first detailed anatomical assessment of Scutellosaurus covering its entire skeleton, has been published in the on-line, open access journal Royal Society Publishing. The dedicated research team consisted of PhD student Benjamin Breeden (University of Utah), Professor Richard Butler (University of Birmingham), Professor Timothy Rowe (University of Texas at Austin) along with PhD student Tom Raven and Dr Susannah Maidment (Natural History Museum, London).
This research project was first proposed back in 2005. Sixteen years after the project’s inception, the paper has been published providing a new perspective on the evolution of the armoured dinosaurs.
Scutellosaurus lawleri, holotype (MNA.V.175) dentaries. Left dentary in lateral (a) and medial (b) views. Right dentary in lateral (c) and medial (d) views. Picture credit: Breeden et al.
Scutellosaurus lawleri
Named and described in 1981, from material discovered ten years earlier. Scutellosaurus lawleri fossils come from the Kayenta Formation of Arizona, more specifically mudstones associated with the “middle third” of this Formation (Lower Jurassic). It has been estimated that the Scutellosaurus fossils are around 181 to 186 million years old (Pliensbachian and Toarcian stages).
More than seventy Scutellosaurus specimens are known, representing all parts of the skeleton. As such, Scutellosaurus fossil material is much more abundant than that of other early armoured dinosaurs such as Scelidosaurus (S. harrisoni), which was named and described by the famous Victorian anatomist Richard Owen. This relative abundance of fossil material in comparison with other early armoured dinosaurs makes Scutellosaurus an ideal candidate to help palaeontologists to better understand the evolution of this important group of plant-eating dinosaurs.
Views of selected tail bones (caudal vertebrae) of the ornithischian Scutellosaurus lawleri. Picture credit: Breeden et al
Scutellosaurus was a Biped
One of the key findings of this research is that based on limb proportions and postcranial skeletal assessments, Scutellosaurus was bipedal. As such, it is the only bipedal thyreophoran known to science. It had been suggested that as thyreophorans evolved into larger and more heavily armoured forms they lost this ability to adopt a bipedal posture.
Although the exact layout of the dermal armour of Scutellosaurus is not known, the researchers tested the hypothesis that heavier armour led these dinosaurs to adopt a quadrupedal stance.
The research team calculated the centre of mass of Scutellosaurus with its armour, without armour, with the armour of Stegosaurus and with the armour of the Late Cretaceous ankylosaurid Euoplocephalus. They found that the addition of armour did cause the centre of mass to move slightly further back in the body in all the tests. However, the team concluded that the evolution of armour probably was not the reason to cause early armoured dinosaurs to adopt quadrupedal locomotion.
More derived taxa of armoured dinosaurs required forelimb support for their body weight for other, as yet not understood reasons.
Armoured Dinosaurs Grew Slowly
Detailed analysis of Scutellosaurus bones indicate that this dinosaur grew very slowly throughout its life. This supports other studies that suggest that thyreophorans had lower metabolic rates when compared to other dinosaurs, even closely related ornithischians.
Lots of Variety in Early Jurassic Dinosaur Faunas
The supercontinent Pangaea did begin to break-up during the Jurassic, but at the time Scutellosaurus roamed what was to become the western United States, this landmass was largely intact, which in theory would have helped homologous populations of dinosaurs to evolve. That is to say, that given the absence of any geographical barriers preventing movement, similar dinosaur faunas would have existed across Pangaea. When this study of Scutellosaurus is looked at from the wider perspective of dinosaur evolution and radiation, a different picture emerges.
The ornithischian dinosaurs from the Kayenta Formation are represented by Scutellosaurus lawleri, a larger unnamed thyreophoran known from isolated bones and an undescribed hetrodontosaurid. Scutellosaurus fossils are the most abundant dinosaur fossils associated with the Kayenta Formation, they are much more common than theropod or sauropodomorph fossils. In contrast, the roughly contemporaneous upper Elliot Formation of South Africa has many more sauropodomorphs than ornithischians and the dinosaur biota of the Lufeng Formation of China is dominated by sauropodomorphs with ornithischian material exceptionally rare.
A comparison of plant-eating dinosaur faunas from three Lower Jurassic Formations. The grey silhouettes represent ornithischian dinosaurs which in the case of the Kayenta Formation is dominated by the thyreophoran Scutellosaurus. The black silhouettes represent members of the Sauropodomorpha, which in the Kayenta Formation is represented by Sarahsaurus.
This suggests that there was considerable variation in the composition of dinosaur biotas during the Early Jurassic.
The scientific paper: “The anatomy and palaeobiology of the early armoured dinosaur Scutellosaurus lawleri (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) from the Kayenta Formation (Lower Jurassic) of Arizona” by Benjamin T. Breeden, Thomas J. Raven, Richard J. Butler, Timothy B. Rowe and Susannah C. R. Maidment published by Royal Society Publishing.
Earlier this month (July 13th, 2021), Everything Dinosaur announced that PNSO were adding a replica of the controversial Late Cretaceous tyrannosaur Nanotyrannus to their product range. Logan the Nanotyrannus will join several other tyrannosauroid figures in the exciting and highly respected PNSO mid-size, prehistoric animal model range. A Tarbosaurus figure has been announced (Chaunzi the Tarbosaurus) and earlier this year, Everything Dinosaur announced that this range would also include a replica of Yutyrannus huali (Yinqi the Yutyrannus).
The new for 2021 PNSO Nanotyrannus dinosaur model (Logan the Nanotyrannus).
A Controversial Tyrannosaur Genus
Nanotyrannus (N. lancensis) was named and scientifically described in 1988 (Bakker et al), based on a slender skull (CMNH 7541) discovered by David Dunkle from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (Ohio) in 1942. Bakker et al concluded that the skull represented an adult animal, but this has been refuted by a number of authors since publication. Other T. rex fossil finds, most notably the teenage specimen known as “Jane” excavated by palaeontologists from the Burpee Museum of Natural History (Illinois) and now part of a permanent tyrannosaur display, have demonstrated that the body shape of T. rex changed dramatically as it grew.
The narrow-skulled, long-limbed and more gracile tyrannosaur specimens probably do not represent a pygmy form of tyrannosaur that shared the Late Cretaceous habitat with the bruiser T. rex, these specimens are juveniles. However, as part of Everything Dinosaur’s commitment to education, we still have to prepare a fact sheet on Nanotyrannus to accompany sales of the PNSO Logan the Nanotyrannus dinosaur model.
A cast of CMNH 7541 skull of Nanotyrannus lancensis (lateral view). Picture credit: S. Anselmo.The teeth of juvenile T. rexes are more slender compared to the very robust teeth of adult T. rexes which also tend to be “D-shaped” in cross section.
Nanotyrannus Scale Drawing
Logan the Nanotyrannus could represent N. lancensis or perhaps it could represent a teenage T. rex. That decision ultimately rests with the purchaser, team members at Everything Dinosaur will be supplying their customers with a fact sheet and this will contain a scale drawing based on the original estimated size for Nanotyrannus of a little over five metres in length.
A spokesperson from the UK-based mail order company confirmed that the illustration will be used in the Nanotyrannus fact sheet. In addition, the spokesperson explained how commissioning such drawings helped to support the wider community.
To view the PNSO prehistoric animal models currently in stock at Everything Dinosaur: PNSO Age of Dinosaurs.
PNSO will be adding a 1:35 scale replica of a female Tyrannosaurus rex in a resting pose to their 1:35 Scientific Art model series. This exciting new for 2021 dinosaur model will be in stock at Everything Dinosaur later in summer.
Although the position of the hind legs in this resting pose is controversial it is great to see a manufacturer introduce a figure of a theropod dinosaur in a prone, resting position.
A Prone Tyrannosaur
PNSO has received praise for the number of tyrannosauroid models that they have introduced. In the last few weeks Everything Dinosaur has announced Tarbosaurus and Nanotyrannus replicas that are being added to the company’s mid-size model range. These figures will join a Yutyrannus replica and the Qianzhousaurus dinosaur model. The PNSO Andrea the female T. rex is the first to show a tyrannosaur in resting pose and the first, definitive indication of a female dinosaur being reflected in a PNSO model sculpt.
PNSO Andrea the T. rex measures 19.7 cm long, accounting for the curve of the tail. The model is 13.8 cm wide and it has a stated scale of 1:35.
A 1:35 Scale T. rex Replica
Andrea the female T. rex has been designed to accompany the recently introduced new version of Wilson the T. rex. This implies that the two 1:35 scale replica rexes represent a pair, the larger, more robust female resting whilst the male (Wilson) stands nearby. In one of the promotional shots to illustrate Wilson, an illustration of a skeletal reconstruction of a resting Tyrannosaurus rex was included, a hint from the manufacturer about a future model release (Andrea).
The new PNSO “Wilson” Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur model. The skeletal reconstruction was a hint about the forthcoming addition of a T. rex figure in a resting pose.The PNSO 1:35 scale T. rex dinosaur model in a resting pose.
Model Measurements
The resting Tyrannosaurus rex model measures 19.7 cm long, accounting for the curve of the tail. The model is 13.8 cm wide. Wilson the standing T. rex figure measures just over 34 cm in length and stands a fraction under 12 cm tall. Both figures have a declared scale of 1:35 and each model has an articulated lower jaw.
PNSO Andrea the female T. rex dinosaur model has an articulated lower jaw.
An Eagerly Awaited Dinosaur Model
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented that dinosaur model fans and collectors had been requesting a theropod dinosaur in a resting pose. The spokesperson also confirmed that they receive lots of emails asking questions about sexual dimorphism in the Dinosauria. Collectors have the chance to display a male and female T. rex together with the female representing a robust form.
PNSO Andrea the female Tyrannosaurus rex (1:35 scale model in the scientific art series), product packaging.
Teasing Collectors
The first image of Andrea the female T. rex to be released by PNSO revealed just the head of the dinosaur model. Collectors remained unaware of the innovative pose that the design team had chosen for their female T. rex.
A close view of the head of the PNSO female T. rex. This image was the first one to be released, model collectors were unaware that the model showed T. rex in a resting position.
Whilst there has been some debate about the positioning of the rear legs of the figure, the introduction of a theropod dinosaur model in a recumbent position has attracted lots of positive comments from fans of dinosaur models who are looking forward to adding this attractive replica to their collections.
Andrea the resting T. rex will be in stock at Everything Dinosaur later in the summer.
To view the extensive range of PNSO dinosaur models available from Everything Dinosaur: PNSO Age of Dinosaur Models.
The test report commissioned by Everything Dinosaur into the Dino Hazard Irritator challengeri dinosaur model has been received. Before a dinosaur model can be legally sold, an importer such as Everything Dinosaur has to ensure that it meets defined safety standards.
Team members have produced a short video and posted it up on the company’s YouTube channel explaining why product safety tests are conducted and revealing the result of the report by Eurofins into the Dino Hazard Irritator challengeri 1:20 scale figure.
The test results are in! In Everything Dinosaur’s short YouTube video (duration 5:12), we explain why product safety tests are carried out and reveal the results of the independent product safety tests carried out by Eurofins on the YvY Figures Dino Hazard Irritator challengeri dinosaur model.
The Importance of Product Safety
Product safety is very important. Customer safety is paramount and if Everything Dinosaur is going to bring a new model into stock, it is vital to make sure that it is safe and fit for purpose. Indeed, as a company that sources products from all over the world, we are obliged under international law to undertake certain actions to ensure that what we purchase and intend to “place on the market” is safe.
The Dino Hazard Irritator challengeri dinosaur model. Everything Dinosaur commissioned independent product safety tests prior to entering into negotiations to bring this model into the UK. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
As such, when offered the opportunity to bring in the Dino Hazard Irritator challengeri figure, one of the first things we must do is to establish what product safety tests, if any, have been undertaken. Hence our decision to get a sample sent into us and to ask the independent testing company Eurofins to conduct tests under the General Product Safety Directive.
Test Results
The Regulatory Manager at Eurofins responsible for the tests concluded:
“I am of the opinion that the product was reasonably safe under normal conditions of use and is fit for its intended purpose”
However…
In order for this dinosaur model to receive a favourable report, Everything Dinosaur team members had to make changes to the product packaging, the labelling and the customer information that is provided with this figure. As far as we are aware, no other product safety tests have been carried out and as such, Everything Dinosaur is the only company to have commissioned tests and taken sensible steps to modify the product offering to help it to get a favourable report from an independent testing company.
An Everything Dinosaur team member holds the Dino Hazard Irritator challengeri dinosaur model, which in turn is holding in its claws the replica of a lungfish (Equinoxiodus alcantarensis) which is supplied as an accessory with this dinosaur figure. After negotiating with the manufacturer, Everything Dinosaur plans to introduce this model in the late summer of 2021. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Successful Negotiations
After concluding successful negotiations with the manufacturer the Irritator challengeri 1:20 scale dinosaur model is expected in stock at Everything Dinosaur in the late summer of 2021.
To enquire about the Dino Hazard range or to reserve an Irritator dinosaur model: Email Everything Dinosaur.
Palaeontologists can examine the behaviours of animals alive today to gain an insight into the potential behaviours of closely related extinct animals. However, for many types of prehistoric animal, there really isn’t a living analogy and it is challenging to determine how some types of extinct creatures moved around and kept themselves safe from predators.
Ammonites
For example, earlier this month a scientific paper was published in PeerJ that looked at how straight-shelled ammonites might have escaped predation. The ammonite that was studied is known as Baculites and it was geographically widespread during the Late Cretaceous. The fossil record shows that many different types of straight-shelled cephalopods evolved repeatedly through time, but how these molluscs moved and how they avoided being eaten has puzzled scientists and the lack of a modern-day analogue made research more challenging.
The heteromorphic ammonite Baculites compressus swims in a Late Cretaceous ocean whilst in the background a large Xiphactinus swims slowly by in the background.
Three-dimensional Models and a Water Tank
Three-dimensional models of the heteromorphic ammonite Baculites compressus were created and placed in a water tank in order to test how these molluscs moved. The regularly coiled ammonite is well-known to fossil collectors and the general public, however these types of ammonite underwent a steady decline in diversity through the Cretaceous. The heteromorphs, those ammonites that did not have regularly coiled shells, continually produced new and often bizarre species indicating a certain level of success at occupying new ecological niches.
A stunning fossil of a Jurassic ammonite on display at the London Natural History Museum. These ammonites with their regularly coiled shells went into decline in the Cretaceous and many more bizarre forms evolved with heteromorphic shells. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Vertical Propulsion
Ammonites played an important role in Mesozoic marine food chains, filling a variety of ecological niches. Throughout the long evolutionary history of the cephalopods, orthoconic conchs (straight shells) have evolved in a wide variety of families not just the Ammonoidea. For example, prior to the evolution of the ammonites, during the Ordovician nautiloid cephalopods were extremely numerous and some genera were giants, such as Cameroceras.
An early scale drawing design for the Orthoceras/orthocone fact sheet produced by Everything Dinosaur. During the Ordovician numerous types of straight-shelled nautiloid cephalopod evolved. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
CollectA includes a number of ammonite and nautiloid replicas as well as an orthocone (Orthoceras) in its prehistoric life model range: CollectA Prehistoric Life Models.
The models tested in the water tanks revealed that orthocones required very little energy to be exerted for rapid movements and increase in velocity. These molluscs could dart vertically in the water column at a very low metabolic cost.
This suggests that avoid predation these types of cephalopod were able to make sudden vertical movements under rapid acceleration that would have permitted them to avoid the lunge of a marine predator such as a mosasaur.
The cruising mosasaur first notices the prey (i), then begins to accelerate (ii). After closing in (iii), the predator makes its final lunge for the prey (iv). Cones surrounding the predator indicate hypothetical turning radiuses. For a successful dodge, the orthocone cephalopod must wait until the last possible moment or else the incoming predator could adjust its vertical trajectory.
In the tests, the models were able to move more than two body lengths upwards in less than a second. Whilst these cephalopods likely assumed low energy lifestyles day-to-day, they may have had a fighting chance to escape from larger, faster predators by performing quick, upward dodges.
The researchers concluded that these experiments suggest that orthocones sacrificed horizontal mobility and manoeuvrability in exchange for highly streamlined, vertically-stable, upwardly-mobile shells.
The scientific paper: “Vertical escape tactics and movement potential of orthoconic cephalopods” by David J. Peterman and Kathleen A. Ritterbush and published in PeerJ.
Scientists have reported the discovery of a hadrosaur pedal ungual (the bone on the end of a toe that supported the keratin claw or hoof), that shows a series of small bite marks made by a theropod dinosaur. The toe claw seems to have been bitten repeatedly and although scrapes and scratches on fossil bones that are incidental feeding traces left by meat-eating dinosaurs have been well documented, these bite marks might represent something very different.
Did a baby tyrannosaur or possibly a dromaeosaurid gnaw on the toe bone of a dead duck-billed dinosaur?
A life reconstruction of a juvenile tyrannosaur biting down on the hadrosaur pedal ungual causing the bite marks that have been preserved in the fossil (TMP 2018.012.0123). Picture credit: Joshua Doyon.
Gnawing Behaviour
Gnawing behaviour is synonymous with many types of mammals, specifically members of the Carnivora and rodents (Rodentia), but it is not commonly associated with the Dinosauria. Coprolites thought to have come from tyrannosaurs contain a lot of bone fragments, tests demonstrate that large tyrannosaurids were capable of crushing bone and it had been thought that coprolite bone content came about as bones were ingested through general consumption.
However, a trio of scientists – Caleb Brown and Darren Tanke from the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology (Alberta) in collaboration with Dr David Hone, Senior Lecturer in Zoology at the University of London, have recently published a paper in PeerJ, that suggests that the unusual bite marks on the hadrosaur pedal ungual might represent dinosaur gnawing behaviour.
Ammonium chloride powder coated photographs of the hadrosaurid pedal showing bite marks (viewed from the bottom – ventral/plantar view). (A) View of TMP 2018.012.0123 (A), with marks highlighted in blue (A’). Close-up of the bitten region (B), with marks highlighted in blue and numbered in Arabic numerals (B’). Note scale bars = 1 cm.
Documenting Unusual Dinosaur Behaviour
The fossil toe claw bone (specimen number TMP 2018.012.0123), comes from a bonebed (bonebed 50) that contains the disarticulated remains of several different types of duck-billed dinosaur including Corythosaurus. Although the bone came from an adult, it is not possible to confirm the dinosaur species. Thirteen, distinct and highly localised tooth marks have been identified. Their pattern suggests that a small, meat-eating dinosaur delivered up to six repeated, powerful bites to the claw bone. There would have been very little meat on this part of the hadrosaur’s body, gnawing on the pedal ungual represents an unusual and rare form of behaviour.
The researchers reviewed pedal unguals of duck-billed dinosaurs from the Dinosaur Park Formation. They identified tooth marks and feeding traces on four other toe claw bones, but this represents less than 1% of all the hadrosaur toe bones found and feeding traces were much more common on other bones.
Right articulated hadrosaurid pes in dorsal view (A), with ungual of digit three highlighted (white) and the position of the tooth marks (ventral side) indicated in black. Shaded line drawing of the ventral view of the ungual (B), showing the position of the bite marks (black). Close-up view of bite mark size (C) and (D) Close-up view of bite marks showing potential alignment of tooth row parallel with the long axes of the tooth marks. Hollow fills in C indicate potential bite marks missing from rows/columns. Note scale bars = 1 cm.
Dromaeosaur or Tyrannosaur?
The tracemaker cannot be definitively identified but the researchers rule out crocodilians, small mammal feeding traces and snake bites, leaving a theropod dinosaur as the likely tracemaker whose unusual behaviour has been recorded in the fossil. The number of theropods capable of causing such marks and known from the Dinosaur Park Formation is relatively small. The scientists considered dromaeosaurids and their close relatives the Troodontidae, as the tooth marks could have been made by a large troodontid such as Latenivenatrix. The team also considered whether the tracemaker was a young tyrannosaurid.
Given the lack of evidence of denticle spacing present on the bite marks, and that both Tyrannosauridae and Dromaeosauridae were capable of delivering bites resulting in deep furrows and pits to the bone surface, the team speculated that either a dromaeosaur (such as Dromaeosaurus or Saurornitholestes), caused the damage or perhaps the marks were made by a very young tyrannosaurid. Two genera of tyrannosaur are known from the Dinosaur Park Formation, namely Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus.
Perhaps, a very young Gorgosaurus, the lowest ranked animal in the pack was left to pull at and gnaw on the toe of the hadrosaur, whilst the rest pack gorged themselves on the more attractive, nutrient rich parts of the carcase.
Can Dogs Provide an Answer?
Anyone who has kept horses and dogs will tell you that when the horse’s hooves are trimmed dogs love to eat the trimmings. The hooves are made from keratin, the same protein responsible for the toe claw on the hadrosaur. Dogs can get very excited when the farrier starts to tidy up the hooves, they seem to crave the soft, recently trimmed parts of the hoof.
Many dog treats are made from horse’s hooves. Could your pet dog provide an insight into dinosaur feeding behaviour?
Could a tyrannosaur similarly have craved the taste of the toe claw of a duck-billed dinosaur?
The scientific paper: “Rare evidence for ‘gnawing-like’ behavior in a small-bodied theropod dinosaur” by Caleb M. Brown, Darren H. Tanke and David W. E. Hone published in PeerJ.
Visit the Everything Dinosaur website for models of theropod dinosaurs: Everything Dinosaur.
Today, July 16th 2021, new EU regulations come into force which will have a profound effect on sales of dinosaur and prehistoric animal figures. These new regulations are entitled (EU) 2019/1020 – if you are in the European Union, if you buy dinosaur models from websites be warned, unless the seller or someone else in the distribution chain has taken steps to ensure compliance, that dinosaur model you purchased – you may never see it!
Under the new (EU) 2019/1020 regulations dinosaur models may not be offered for sale to EU consumers without an Economic Operator established in the EU. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Market Surveillance Regulations (EU) 2019/1020
It’s not just sales of dinosaur models that will be affected. These new regulations cover about 70 EU directives including the EU Toy Safety Directive – 2009/48/EC. Most dinosaur models are tested under this directive and therefore come within the scope of these new rules. Also, collectable figures such as Nanmu Studio, Rebor, W-Dragon, ITOY Studio models – they too come under these regulations.
Why (EU) 2009/1020?
Ecommerce has boomed, you can buy virtually anything from anyone from anywhere. This has led to new product safety challenges and issues in this global market. As a result, pressure has increased to strengthen enforcement measures.
The increasing number of illegal and non-compliant products from on-line shops has created a number of problems in the European market, disrupting competition among traditional businesses and potentially putting consumers at risk.
Put simply – these new regulations are about making sure that whatever you purchase, the product conforms to the relevant tests, certificates and safety standards.
Whether on the model or on the packaging the CE mark provides assurances about how this item was manufactured. The international ASTM symbol is next to the EU CE mark. The ASTM symbol indicates that this model has been made to approved technical standards.The EU CE mark imprinted on the underside of a dinosaur model. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
What This Means
This regulation aims to protect customers’ health and safety, the environment and other public interests by improving and modernising market surveillance regulations.
It establishes controls on products imported into the EU. So, if you are buying a dinosaur model and you are based in the EU, then these new rules will apply to your purchases.
Key Points
Products may not be offered for sale to EU consumers without an Economic Operator established in the EU. This element will have a significant impact on on-line marketplaces and e-commerce sites located outside the EU. Unless these non-EU third-party retail companies have economic operators within the EU, they will not be eligible to sell their products in the region.
Until now, economic operators have been divided into four groups: manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers and distributors. The new regulation introduces a new role in the value chain, the Fulfilment Service Provider. The Fulfilment Service Provider is an economic operator, or any natural or legal person performing, in the course of commercial activity, at least two of the following services: warehousing, packaging, addressing and dispatching, without having ownership of the products involved. By outlining this new economic operator role, owners and operators of ecommerce sites will likely bear some of the liability in relation to product compliance and conformity, in the same way as the four existing roles currently do. This means Amazon and eBay sales platforms are covered by these new regulations too!
The Fulfilment Service Provider will be required to take on some of the responsibilities with regards to ensuring that products comply to safety regulations.
How Does this Affect Dinosaur Model Sales?
If you make a purchase from China, USA, the UK or any other country outside the EU for delivery into the EU, than unless someone in the supply chain has taken steps to ensure compliance to (EU) 2019/1020 it is likely that you will not receive your parcel. Getting your money back from the seller is likely to be a challenge too.
Customers of Everything Dinosaur can be assured that the prehistoric animal models and figures supplied by them are compliant with the new regulations. Our parcels will carry the appropriate information to ensure that they are delivered to customers.
Parcels containing products that we have taken responsible for under these new regulations will carry the contact details of our economic operator within the EU.
Everything Dinosaur ensuring compliance with EU 2019/1020. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Everything Dinosaur has registered:
PNSO
Nanmu Studio
ITOY Studio
YvY Figures (Dino Hazard)
GR Toys/Musee
W-Dragon
Beasts of the Mesozoic
Customers can still continue to purchase from Everything Dinosaur – the products Everything Dinosaur sells including those listed above are covered. We are not able to comment on what steps if any, other suppliers have made.
Whilst the UK has not adopted (EU) 2019/1020 this market is governed by the Regulation on Accreditation and Market Surveillance (765/2008) or GB RAMS for short. This regulation comes under the jurisdiction of the UK Govt Office for Product Safety & Standards and it sets out to ensure that any product placed on the market is compliant with safety provisions.
Greater emphasis is being placed on the monitoring of ecommerce sites and more regulations are in place to help protect consumers. When purchasing prehistoric animal models from other companies – be warned. Unless steps have been taken to ensure compliance you may well end up not receiving your model and losing your money.
New research examining the number of different types of non-avian dinosaur roaming the planet 66 million years ago, suggests that these dinosaurs were in decline long before the extra-terrestrial impact that led to their ultimate extinction.
Researchers including Professor Michael Benton (Bristol University), Fabien Condamine and Guillaume Guinot (Université de Montpellier) along with Phil Currie (University of Alberta), compiled an extensive list of dinosaur fossils associated with the last few million years of the Mesozoic. They then subjected the data to sophisticated statistical analysis and concluded that across the six main types of dinosaur studied (three herbivorous groups and three carnivorous groups), the non-avian dinosaurs were in general decline.
An artist’s impression of the bolide about to impact with the Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago. New research suggests that the non-avian dinosaurs were in decline long before the extra-terrestrial impact. Picture credit: Chase Stone.
Speciation-extinction Dynamics
The six different types of non-avian dinosaur studied were:
Tyrannosauridae (big meat-eaters such as Tyrannosaurus rex, Gorgosaurus and Daspletosaurus.
Dromaeosauridae – swift predators such as Velociraptor, Zhenyuanlong and Dromaeosaurus.
Troodontidae closely related to the dromaeosaurs – dinosaurs such as Stenonychosaurus and Latenivenatrix.
Ceratopsidae horned dinosaurs such as Triceratops and Pachyrhinosaurus.
Ankylosauridae the club-tailed, armoured dinosaurs such as Euoplocephalus, Scolosaurus and Ankylosaurus.
Hadrosauridae the duck-billed dinosaurs such as Edmontosaurus, Hadrosaurus and Corythosaurus.
The statistical analysis comparing speciation rates to extinction rates revealed that the number of dinosaur species was in steep decline from around 10 million years before the extra-terrestrial impact event.
Speciation plotted against extinction rates for six dinosaur families. Dinosaurs were in decline prior to the impact event. Picture credit: Condamine et al.
Global Climate Cooling and the Success of the Hadrosaurs
The sophisticated Bayesian analysis indicates that both herbivorous and carnivorous dinosaurs declined and that this was a world-wide phenomenon. Some types of dinosaur declined sharply towards the end of the Cretaceous, for example the Ankylosauridae and the horned dinosaurs (Ceratopsidae). Of the six families studied, only one family, the Troodontidae shows a very small decline. This decline took place in the last five million years of the Cretaceous.
The team also found a link between the decline of herbivores and the decline of the carnivores. Plant-eaters declined first and this led shortly afterwards to a decline in the genera of meat-eating dinosaurs. It is presumed that the reduction in prey led to the demise of carnivorous dinosaurs.
The reduction in the number of armoured and horned dinosaurs might be linked to the number of hadrosaur species identified. Duck-billed dinosaurs could have outcompeted other herbivores leading to a decline in the total number of herbivore types present in an ecosystem.
Recent studies indicate that the hadrosaurs evolved in Asia. This group of herbivorous dinosaurs became very speciose and geographically widespread during the Late Cretaceous. It has been suggested that the duck-billed dinosaurs dominated terrestrial ecosystems and outcompeted other types of herbivorous dinosaur. Picture credit: Masato Hattori.
The research team continued conducting a statistical analysis to test theories as to why this decline occurred. They concluded that global cooling could have been a major factor in the extinction of many different types of dinosaur and the reduction in the number of new species evolving to re-populate ecosystems. The Earth cooled by around 7-8 degrees Celsius at the end of the Cretaceous. In contrast, periods of sustained global warming in the Early Cretaceous led to a rise in the diversity of the Dinosauria.
The research showed that all six dinosaur families declined in the number of species in the last few million years before the end of the Mesozoic. Only the Troodontidae showed a marginal decline, but this became more pronounced in the last 5 million years of the Cretaceous. Picture credit: Condamine et al.
The scientific paper: “Dinosaur biodiversity declined well before the asteroid impact, influenced by ecological and environmental pressures” by Fabien L. Condamine, Guillaume Guinot, Michael J. Benton and Philip J. Currie published in Nature Communications.
