A pair of Beasts of the Mesozoic articulated dinosaur models on display in a carefully selected garden setting. The Albertaceratops and Psittacosaurus models look very photogenic. Our thanks to Caldey who sent into Everything Dinosaur some photographs of the latest additions to her prehistoric animal model collection.

Taking advantage of a sunny day, Caldey took some of her new acquisitions out into the garden to take some photographs. She carefully selected appropriate backdrops, wanting to shoot images of vegetation that gave an impression of scale and size. The choice of plants included in the pictures was important to Caldey, she wanted to include plants and other foliage that might be in keeping with the ancient environments that these dinosaurs lived in.

For the Albertaceratops, which roamed North America during the Late Cretaceous approximately 78-76 million years ago (Campanian faunal stage of the Cretaceous), this task was not too onerous. Albertaceratops would have been familiar with many of the plants and trees commonly found in gardens today. However, for the Psittacosaurus, selecting a suitable background could be a little more challenging.

Psittacosaurus is known from the Early Cretaceous. This dinosaur having a much wider geographical distribution when compared to the distantly related Albertaceratops. It also had a much larger temporal range. Caldey has selected a background with fewer angiosperms (flowering plants), which is in keeping with the palaeoenvironment associated with the Psittacosaurus genus.

Our thanks to Caldey for sending into Everything Dinosaur her carefully conceived dinosaur photographs.