Team members at Everything Dinosaur tried to bake a birthday cake for a family member but left it on a cooling tray too long. Having removed the baked cake from the oven, it was deposited on a cooling rack. Unfortunately, the hot cake became marked by the bars on the cooling rack. Inadvertently, we had created a dinosaur birthday cake complete with “raptor” claw marks.
The cake looks like it has been attacked by a dinosaur. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Dinosaur Birthday Cake
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“It was just serendipity. We did not intend to create the marks in the cakes that we had baked, it happened by accident. However, we were rather impressed with the result. The cake looks like it has been clawed by the three-clawed hand of a dinosaur.”
Once decorated the cake looked quite presentable. It was soon eaten but at least whilst it lasted, we could be comforted with the thought that we had produced a cake that was “on brand”.
Everything Dinosaur team members have come up with a fun and easy chocolate dinosaur nests with eggs recipe. It is our way of providing a little a treat for children. We are also confident that many dedicated teaching professionals will enjoy these tasty cakes too.
Our recipe for dinosaur chocolate nests will provide a dozen or so little chocolate cakes. For a healthy, balanced diet, we suggest that would-be chefs are reminded by the grown-ups about the benefits of fruit and vegetables when it comes to eating sensibly.
Super dinosaur chocolate nests which are fun and easy to make. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A Simple and Inexpensive Recipe
Here is a list of ingredients to make 8 to 12 chocolate dinosaur nests.
Plain or Milk cooking Chocolate 225 grammes (8oz)
Packet of Breakfast Cereal Cornflakes or Shredded Wheat variety
Packet of Sugar Coated Mini-chocolate Eggs
Pack of Small Cake Cases
With our recipe there is some measuring involved. There is some mixing too, so this is a good exercise to help little ones with number confidence and manual dexterity. Please take care when supervising children when it comes to melting the chocolate.
These chocolate nests also make super cakes for a dinosaur themed party. They are simple to create, require no baking and are very tasty. If you are having a dinosaur party, please, don’t forget the fruit and vegetables. After all, palaeontologists calculate that around seventy percent of all the Dinosauria were herbivores!
You can be quite imaginative, laying out a “Stegosaurus salad”, or perhaps some crunchy “Cretaceous cucumber” or “Camarasaurus carrots”.
Visitors to the Berlin Naturkundemuseum (Germany) will be able to see an amazing Triceratops skull on display as part of an exhibition entitled “Dinosaurs! Age of the Giant Lizards”.
The impressive cranium, complete with horns and an imposing head shield measures two metres long and it was found in Lance Creek Formation deposits (Wyoming, USA) back in 2020. The fossil was discovered by an amateur fossil hunter and after preparation in Canada, the current owner Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen has lent the stunning specimen to the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin.
The magnificent Triceratops skull on display in the “Dinosaurs! Age of the Giant Lizards” gallery at the Berlin Naturkundemuseum. Picture credit: Lukasz Papierak.
Horned Dinosaur Skull
The Triceratops specimen has been nick-named “Amalie” after the daughter of the owner. It is not known whether the skull fossil is from a female or male Triceratops. Both males and females sported neck frills and horns.
Numerous ornithischian dinosaurs are known from the Lance (Creek) Formation. The strata were deposited during the Maastrichtian faunal stage of the Late Cretaceous (69-66 million years ago). The fossils found in these rocks represent a diverse dinosaur dominated terrestrial fauna that thrived prior to the mass extinction event that saw the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs, including ceratopsians like Triceratops.
The new for 2022 PNSO Doyle the Triceratops 1:35 scale model comes complete with a scale model of a Triceratops skull.
The picture above shows a Triceratops model and skull, which is part of the PNSO Age of Dinosaurs series.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented that they were unsure as to the Triceratops species that “Amalie” represented. They explained that both Triceratops horridus and an as yet, not fully described Triceratops species are associated with the Lance Formation.
Johannes Vogel, Director General of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin thanked the owner for lending this wonderful specimen and stated:
“The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin would like to express its sincere thanks to Mr Fjeldsoe-Nielsen for this further generous loan. This will enable research museums like ours to get visitors excited about nature and explore the objects.”
The exhibition “Dinosaurs! Age of the Giant Lizards” is due to run until the end of the year.
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a media release from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin in the compilation of this article.
Team members at Everything Dinosaur took advantage of the settled weather to take a photograph of the splendid Papo Green Styracosaurus model outdoors. This new colour variant of the Papo Styracosaurus model was added to the Papo “Les Dinosaures” range last year. It has proved popular with dinosaur model fans and collectors. Its popularity could be explained by its striking colouration or perhaps the excellence of the painting. It could be popular because of the detailed skin texture. Whatever the reason, the Papo green Styracosaurus has been a welcome addition to the Papo range for fans of horned dinosaurs.
The recently introduced (2022) Papo green Styracosaurus dinosaur model. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The Papo Green Styracosaurus
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented that this ceratopsian figure had been introduced in the autumn of 2022. The original version (red Styracosaurus), was introduced in 2011. The original Styracosaurus figure has been retired and is out of production.
To view the range of Papo prehistoric animal figures in stock at Everything Dinosaur, including the rare, red Styracosaurus (whilst stocks last): Papo Prehistoric Animal Models.
Everything Dinosaur team members were sent a question by a young dinosaur fan who wanted to know how big was the brain of T. rex? We put our own brains trust to work on this intriguing question.
Having a large brain does not necessarily indicate intelligence, how that organ is configured, and its complexity can provide neuroscientists with an insight into the intelligence of organisms.
Ironically, a controversial study published earlier this year, postulated that Tyrannosaurus rex might have been as smart as a primate, it may have possessed a comparable number of brain cells to that of a monkey.
An endocast of the brain of T. rex derived from internal moulds of the brain case. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
How Big was the Brain of T. rex?
CAT scans of theropod skulls have enabled palaeontologists to trace nerve pathways and to build up a picture of what some brains of dinosaurs might have looked like. The Tyrannosaurus rex fossil material known as Stan (BHI3033), has provided researchers with a detailed understanding of T. rex brain function. For example, fifty percent of the brain volume was dedicated to analysing smells. Hence the assertion that the sense of smell was extremely important to this carnivore.
As for brain size, estimates vary, but a recent paper published in the Journal of Comparative Neurology estimated the T. rex brain to have weighed around 350 grammes, and endowed this predator with considerable intelligence, putting the “King of the Tyrant Lizards” on a par with extant monkeys.
To read an article from 2013 that looks at research that indicated that dinosaurs had complex brains and postulated that they were capable of sophisticated behaviours similar to modern birds and mammals: Scientists Create a Detailed Map of a Dinosaur’s Brain.
Capable of Tool Use?
Author of the recently published paper, Dr Suzana Herculano-Houzel from the Department of Psychology at Vanderbilt University (Tennessee), postulates that Tyrannosaurus rex had approximately 3 billion cerebral neurons, a greater number than found in baboons.
The image of the Beasts of the Mesozoic Tyrannosaurus rex model in 1:18 scale that features on the back of the product packaging. A recent research paper has suggested T. rex was as clever as a monkey. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
The picture (above) shows an image of an articulated Tyrannosaurus rex from the Beasts of the Mesozoic range. To view this range of prehistoric animal figures: Beasts of the Mesozoic Models and Figures.
Using data on living birds and reptiles, Dr Herculano-Houzel inferred the number of neurons extinct creatures had based on calculations of brain mass, including many theropods such as Allosaurus, Archaeopteryx and T. rex.
Writing in the “Journal of Comparative Neurology”, a publication edited by Dr Herculano-Houzel, the doctor extrapolated how many brain cells T. rex possessed in its cerebrum (telencephalon), the most highly advanced part of the brain associated with higher cognitive functions.
Dr Herculano-Houzel postulates that Tyrannosaurus rex would have matured rapidly, lived to about forty years of age and was smart enough to use tools and to pass on acquired knowledge to offspring.
Controversial Ideas
Summarising her research, the doctor concludes:
“That theropods such as Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus were endotherms with baboon and monkey-like numbers of telencephalic neurons, respectively, which would make these animals not only giant but also long-lived and endowed with flexible cognition, and thus even more magnificent predators than previously thought.”
T. rex brain endocast. Was T. rex really smart? Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
As Clever as a Primate!
The paper has attracted scepticism from palaeontologists and other researchers. Gaining an understanding of the neuronal composition of the brains of dinosaurs would provide fundamental insights into their behavioural and cognitive capabilities.
However, brain tissue is rarely fossilised and to achieve her calculations Dr Herculano-Houzel assumed that the entire volume of the braincase was filled by brain tissue. This may not have been so. Perhaps, less than fifty percent of the braincase of T. rex was filled with brain tissue. Dinosaur brains could have been considerably smaller than the size postulated in the scientific paper.
In addition, how the brain is configured, its composition, if you like how it is “wired”, will have a significant impact on an organism’s intelligence.
Claiming that theropods such as Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus were “the primates of their times”, is exceptionally difficult to substantiate in the absence of a living animal to study.
To read an article from October 2016 about the remarkable discovery of a preserved partial iguanodontid brain: Dinosaur Brain from Southern England.
Bird Brains
Assessing intelligence is challenging, even in living creatures. Pigeons for example, would perhaps not be regarded by many people as being particularly smart, but these avian dinosaurs are capable of remarkable feats of navigation. Many birds demonstrate advanced cognitive abilities such as corvids (crows and their relatives) using tools. Crows have much smaller brains than most monkeys, they have far fewer cerebral neurons but they can outperform some primates when it comes to cognitive assessment tasks.
Dr Herculano-Houzel argues that estimating neuron counts from brain mass is a method that has been applied to hundreds of mammal, bird, and non-avian dinosaur species, the methodology is robust.
However, claiming that T. rex was a smart as a monkey is quite a leap.
The Dinosaur Renaissance
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“The research paper is free to access, so readers can make up their own minds. Whilst it is extremely challenging to try to work out how intelligent an extinct animal was, the days of regarding dinosaurs as creatures so stupid that they were an evolutionary dead end are long gone.”
The spokesperson added:
“Since the 1960s and the work of palaeontologist John Ostrom, the view of the Dinosauria has fundamentally changed. These animals were perfectly adapted to their environments and they were capable of complex behaviours just like mammals and their close relatives the birds. Just how smart T. rex was is difficult to quantify and validate with scientific evidence. Along with other theropods such as the dromaeosaurids and the oviraptorids these predators might have demonstrated very complex behaviours derived from their cognitive abilities.”
Unfortunately, as we are unlikely to ever observe a living non-avian dinosaur, assessments regarding dinosaur intelligence remain speculative.
How Big was the Brain of T. rex? Something to Ponder
However, the idea of a smart, 7 tonne carnivore measuring in excess of 12 metres long, it makes you think…
The scientific paper: “Theropod dinosaurs had primate-like numbers of telencephalic neurons” by Suzana Herculano-Houzel published in the Journal of Comparative Neurology.
Our thanks to dinosaur fan and model collector Caldey who sent into Everything Dinosaur some pictures of her latest Beasts of the Mesozoic model acquisitions. The young artist and dinosaur fan had taken some ceratopsians into the garden and taking advantage of the sunny weather took some photographs of the articulated figures.
The adult Diabloceratops articulated figure with a trio of juvenile Diabloceratops. Picture credit: Caldey.
Picture credit: Caldey
Beasts of the Mesozoic
The Beasts of the Mesozoic range originally consisted of articulated “raptor” figures. It has been expanded to included horned dinosaurs such as the splendid Diabloceratops figure. A trio of juvenile Diabloceratops is a very recent addition to this popular series. These youngsters scale up well when compared to the adult Diabloceratops figure.
The Beasts of the Mesozoic Styracosaurus “Old Buck” takes a wander around the garden. Picture credit: Caldey.
Picture credit: Caldey
“Old Buck” Styracosaurus
The Beasts of the Mesozoic “Old Buck” Styracosaurus looks very much at home in the garden. It seems to be enjoying the sunny weather. The photographer has taken care to find suitable places on the rockery to photograph the figures. The sunlight certainly highlights the vivid stripes on the horns and back of the Styracosaurus.
On thanks to Caldey for sending in these photos of the latest editions to her model collection.
The popular Bullyland ammonite model is to be retired according to sources at the German model and figure manufacturing company. Everything Dinosaur team members made enquiries with Bullyland in Germany earlier in the week and it has been confirmed that the ammonite model is going out of production.
The Bullyland ammonite model is often used in museum displays to depict the living animal next to fossil material. This Bullyland model is being retired and there are no plans in place to make any more replicas. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Bullyland Ammonite Model
The Bullyland ammonite model was included in the company’s latest product catalogue, but according to Everything Dinosaur’s sources the ammonite figure is to be withdrawn. Over the last few years, the number of models made by Bullyland has been reduced. The company has been focusing on producing figures under licence for organisations such as Disney and Pixar.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“Over the last 2-3 years the Bullyland range of prehistoric animals has been significantly reduced. A new Ichthyosaurus model was due to go into production in 2020, but this replica seems to have been postponed, possibly permanently.”
The spokesperson went onto state:
“As for the Bullyland ammonite model, its partner product, a belemnite, was retired about a decade ago. Whilst we will be sorry to see this figure go, there are now a number of ammonite and other prehistoric invertebrate models on the market, most notably within the CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Popular range.”
New CollectA arthropods and cephalopods.
The picture (above) shows some of the cephalopod and arthropod figures within the CollectA range. In 2022, the range was extended with the addition of the nautiloid Cooperoceras and this year, a model of Anomalocaris is being added.
Plans are in place for an expedition to explore the seabed of the Adriatic for signs of early human settlement. Dr Simon Fitch, a geo-archaeologist at the University of Bradford is to embark on a mission to map submerged ice age landscapes and sunken settlements in what has been described as “a first of its kind”, scientific enquiry.
At the end of the month (March 2023), Dr Fitch will travel to Split in Croatia to begin a five-day survey of the Adriatic seabed using state-of-the-art underwater 3-D seismic sensors.
Dr Simon Fitch from the University of Bradford. Picture credit: University of Bradford/Simon Fitch.
Mapping Parts of the Adriatic and the North Sea
This expedition is the first of several that are being planned. Over the next five years, the researchers hope to map parts of the Adriatic and the North Sea. The North Sea being an area of particular interest to University of Bradford archaeologists as they have previously worked extensively on Doggerland, the huge tract of land that once linked Britain to continental Europe.
To read a recent article about research from the University of Bradford examining the impact of ancient Tsunamis on Doggerland settlements: Ancient Tsunamis Once Devastated Doggerland.
Between 24,000 and 10,000 years ago, global sea levels were around a hundred metres lower than they are today. This latest expedition is part of a long-term project to explore the archaeology of submerged human settlements.
The Life on the Edge Project
The Life on the Edge project is part of a UKRI future leaders fellowship for Dr Fitch, which last year attracted just over £1m in funding from UKRI, as well as £400,000 in-kind ship time from VLIZ (Flanders Marine Institute), and a PhD studentship from the University.
The University of Bradford’s Faculty of Life Sciences now has the largest submerged landscapes research group in the world and is one of the few places specialising in this exciting area of academic research.
3-D image of the coastline of Croatia with the 14000-year-old coastline outlined in red. Picture credit: University of Bradford/Simon Fitch.
Commenting on the significance of the study, Dr Fitch stated:
“This is the first time anyone is going more than 500 metres from the coastline in the Adriatic to map the seabed. We know humans once lived on the land down there because trawlers regularly dredge up artefacts. This is about finding out who we are as a species and where we come from”.
An Incomplete Picture of Our History
Dr Fitch went onto explain that we have an incomplete picture of our own history. During the Late Palaeolithic (24,000 to 10,000 years ago), our planet was in the grip of an Ice Age and during this time we experienced the last “glacial maximum”, when sea levels were much lower than today, due to the amount of water stored in the ice caps and glaciers. More land around coasts would have been exposed and it is very likely that Stone Age people lived in these areas.
Dr Fitch added:
“We know most human populations like to live on the coastline, so it’s likely there were settlements on what is now the seabed. Our aim is to find evidence of those settlements and then recover the archaeology.”
Helping Renewable Energy Companies
Archaeologists from Bradford University along with collaborators from the University of Split and Flanders Marine institute (VLIZ), are working with commercial companies, who are already mapping the seafloor as they prepare to construct wind farms.
World map showing sea levels as they were during last glacial maximum, circa 22,000 years ago with yellow dots to show proposed wind farm activity. Picture credit: University of Bradford/Simon Fitch.
Powerful supercomputers installed at the University of Bradford are being used to process the huge volumes of data the expeditions will produce and The Life on the Edge Project has already attracted attention from other archaeologists based overseas. Dr Jessica Cook Hale (University of Georgia, USA), is to join the project.
The Search for Sunken Settlements
The academic is an experienced archaeologist with over two decades of research and field work behind her, including having dived underwater prehistoric sites in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic coast.
Dr Jessica Cook Hale, (University of Georgia), who has joined the Life on the Edge project, diving a 5,000-year-old “midden heap” in the Econfina Channel site off the coast of Florida in August of 2015. Picture credit: Jessica Cook Hale.
Dr Cook Hale commented that she was excited to be joining this project and stated:
“Bradford is one of the few places doing this. I looked at this project from afar and wanted to be a part of it, so I’m thrilled to be joining the team. Carrying out geo-archaeology on submerged landscapes is really the only way to approach the problem of finding out about our prehistoric ancestors. As archaeologists, we’re naturally curious, we always want to ask, what came before?”
Training the Next Generation of Geo-archaeologists
One of the aims of the project team is to help recruit and train the next generation of geo-archaeologists.
The Life on the Edge project is an appropriate moniker, the team will be using cutting-edge mapping and computer technology and they will be exploring places that no archaeologists have explored before.
We wish the team every success with this intriguing venture.
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a media release from the University of Bradford in the compilation of this article.
This year, marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of the ground-breaking dinosaur movie “Jurassic Park”. The film was based on the 1990 novel by Michael Crichton. The film was extremely successful. It was a huge commercial success. It spawned a movie franchise with a further five films following, the original “Jurassic Park”.
The beautiful illustration of a pair of “raptors”. The drawing was inspired by the recent (June 2022) movie “Jurassic World Dominion. The adult Velociraptor Blue and her offspring Beta. Picture credit: Caldey.
Recently, Everything Dinosaur team members were interviewed about the impact of the film and the “Jurassic Park” legacy. The interview will form part of a seven-part, celebratory series being created for a YouTube channel.
The Impact on the Earth Sciences and Palaeontology
Many people working in the Earth sciences today, whether as palaeontologists or in some other related discipline were influenced by the movies. The Jurassic Park franchise is often cited as being a source of inspiration for them. The films and the book helped make up their mind as to their future career. They have watched the films, read the book and decided to become a palaeontologist.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“I do think it is fair to state that the book and these films have inspired and enthused new generations of scientists and academics. The Jurassic Park franchise has cemented the Dinosauria into popular culture and as a result, prehistoric animals are perhaps more popular than ever.”
The Everything Dinosaur spokesperson added:
“Jurassic Park may never exist, but maybe if the book or the films had never happened then perhaps what we term today as the golden age of palaeontology might not have come about.”
We look forwarded to viewing the YouTube videos when they are released later this year.
Whilst tidying up some papers, team members at Everything Dinosaur came across a visual of the CollectA nautilus model which was used in a YouTube video when this invertebrate figure was introduced back in 2020. The nautilus figure was one of seventeen new replicas introduced by CollectA in 2020.
The CollectA Nautilus model, a splendid replica of a living cephalopod. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
CollectA Nautilus Model
The largest extant species is Nautilus pompilius, which is sometimes also referred to as the Emperor nautilus. All living species are confined to tropical waters and these molluscs usually live at depths of more than a hundred metres.
In 2017, all the species of nautilus were afforded protection under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The shells are highly prized and attempts have been made to regulate the trade in shells. However, much of the trade in Asia remains uncontrolled and although not directly threatened with extinction conservationists have expressed concern about their long-term survival unless trade in the shells is better regulated.
A scale drawing of an extant nautilus (Nautilus pompilius). Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
