A Drawing of Regaliceratops

As Everything Dinosaur prepares for the arrival of the first of the new for 2017 prehistoric animal models from CollectA, which are due to arrive in the first quarter next year, team members have been busy preparing fact sheets to accompany the new models.  When fact sheets are prepared, illustrations of the prehistoric animal featured are required, below is the drawing that will be used to illustrate the fact sheet all about the horned dinosaur Regaliceratops peterhewsi.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

A Drawing of the Horned Dinosaur Regaliceratops

A drawing of the horned dinosaur Regaliceratops.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Regaliceratops peterhewsi

Geologist Peter Hews discovered a large fossilised skull in strata estimated to be around 68 million years old back in 2005.  The fossil material consisted of a substantial amount of the skull, some elements were missing such as the dentary (lower jaw) and the rostral bone, although the majority of the skull bones were present.

The fossil came from the St Mary River Formation exposures of south-western Alberta (Canada).  The genus name honours the Royal Tyrrell Museum (Drumheller, Alberta) as well as giving a nod to that flamboyant crown-like bony frill.  The specific epithet honours the discoverer of the holotype fossil material as well as giving recognition the geologist’s contribution to the study of the St Mary River Formation.

To read Everything Dinosaur’s 2015 article about the naming of this Late Cretaceous dinosaur: Regaliceratops – A Right Royal Rumble.

For an article on the new for 2017 CollectA Regaliceratops dinosaur model: New CollectA Models for 2017 (Part 2).

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

Batrachotomus kupferzellensis

An email from a young fan of prehistoric animals listed their favourite non-dinosaurs.  Top of the list was the formidable Triassic carnivore Batrachotomus, fossils of which have been found in Germany.  Batrachotomus was not a dinosaur, (a point made in the email by the aspiring junior scientist who contacted Everything Dinosaur), but it was a member of the same clade of diapsid reptiles, the archosaurs (Archosauria).  Roughly the size of a modern saltwater crocodile, this terrestrial predator was one of the largest carnivores known from the Middle and Late Triassic of Europe.

Batrachotomus

In the email, a fact sheet about Batrachotomus was requested, we duly obliged and we also emailed over some drawing materials of Triassic reptiles, including a scale drawing of Batrachotomus for this young person to colour in.

Team members try to encourage budding young palaeontologists.  Staff were happy to send out a fact sheet and drawing materials.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

Despatching Drawing Materials

Everything Dinosaur’s Illustration of Batrachotomus

A scale drawing of the Triassic reptile Batrachotomus.  Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Batrachotomus Fossils

Fossils ascribed to this genus have been found at several locations in southern Germany.  The first fossils were discovered in 1977, although it was not named and scientifically described until 1999.

For models and replicas of ancient archosaurs and other prehistoric creatures: Deluxe CollectA Prehistoric Animal Figures.

Deinonychus Pack Attacks Tenontosaurus

Our thanks to Thomas, a very knowledgeable and keen dinosaur fan who sent into Everything Dinosaur a couple of illustrations of prehistoric animals earlier this week.  One of the drawings featured a trio of Deinonychus dinosaurs battling with a hapless ornithopod (Tenontosaurus).

Deinonychus

Deinonychus (D. antirrhopus) was formally described by the highly influential John Ostrom in 1969.

Depicted as an agile, highly active predator, Ostrom championed the idea that dinosaurs were very different from the cold-blooded reptiles of today.  Ostrom’s interpretation of Deinonychus was of an aggressive, lightly built biped with wonderful balance and a great turn of speed.  Unfortunate herbivores had to face fearsome jaws lined with sharp teeth and that highly curved, killing toe-claw that in larger animals was around thirteen centimetres long.

Tenonotosaurus

A number of Deinonychus fossils have been found in association with the herbivorous dinosaur Tenontosaurus (T. tillettorum).  The close proximity of predator and potential prey in the fossil record has been interpreted as evidence that Deinonychus packs hunted and killed Tenontosaurus.

The “Raptor” Attack Drawing by Thomas

A trio of “raptors” attacking a Tenontosaurus dinosaur.

Picture credit: Thomas

A Super Dinosaur Drawing

It’s a great picture Thomas and we appreciate you drawing the Deinonychus dinosaurs as feathered dinosaurs!  Several famous artists and illustrators have been inspired by the close affinity between the fossils of Tenontosaurus and Deinonychus and they have produced amazing illustrations of an encounter between these two types of prehistoric animal.  Perhaps, one of the most famous of these illustrations was created by the renowned British palaeoartist John Sibbick.

Deinonychus and Tenontosaurus Encounter

A pack of Deinonychus attacking the herbivore Tenontosaurus.

Picture credit: John Sibbick

Depicting Tenontosaurus and the Dromaeosauridae

The John Sibbick artwork was originally commissioned by the London Natural History, at a time when the idea of feathered members of the Dromaeosauridae was still controversial.  Over the years, we at Everything Dinosaur have seen lots of Deinonychus attacking Tenontosaurus illustrations, our congratulations to Thomas for his wonderful pencil drawing.

Ironically, Everything Dinosaur and Rebor are going to have a trio of Deinonychus figures available soon to compliment the Rebor 1:35 scale Acrocanthosaurus (Hercules) and the Tenontosaurus tillettorum (Ceryneian Hind) diorama.

One of the Trio of Deinonychus Figures for the Rebor Dinosaur Diorama

An early image of one of the Deinonychus replicas from Rebor. (Cerberus Clan).

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view the range of Rebor prehistoric animal figures available from Everything Dinosaur: Rebor Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Replicas.

The set of three Deinonychus models the “Cerberus Clan”, was originally scheduled to go on sale from Everything Dinosaur in November.  However, it is likely that these models will not arrive until the middle of December.  We will post up more details about these 1:35 scale dinosaurs in due course.

Our thanks once again to Thomas for his fabulous drawings.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

Dinosaur Fan Sends in Dinosaur Drawing

Our thanks to Eashwar from India who sent into Everything Dinosaur’s offices another dinosaur drawing.  Eashwar emailed us a picture of Hypoendocrine rex, a mutant tyrannosaurid from the virtual reality prehistoric animal themed game “The Isle”.

A Dinosaur Drawing

Eashwar’s Mutant Tyrannosaur Drawing

Hypoendocrine T. rex drawing.

Picture credit: M.V. Eashwar

Tyrannosaurs are often featured in video and computer games.  There are many different types of tyrannosaur models and figures available too. Some tyrannosaur figures have feathers.

To view a range of tyrannosaur figures and other prehistoric animals: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric Life Scale Models.

The Isle Game

The Isle is a substantial, multi-player platform created by a group of veteran gaming developers (which we think are based in the United States).  Team members at Everything Dinosaur are not that familiar with this particular platform but the island is inhabited by a large number of mutant dinosaurs including a Hypoendocrine T. rex.

Our thanks to M. V. Eashwar for sending in his mutant tyrannosaurid drawing.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

Max and his Anomalocaris Drawing

Our thanks to Max and his mum for sending us a wonderful thank you letter after we furnished him with twenty-two prehistoric animal fact sheets to add to his dinosaur database.  Max very kindly provided us with a drawing of a scene from the Cambrian, a geological period that lasted some fifty-four million years or so (542 to 488 million years ago).  The Cambrian marks the appearance of sophisticated marine ecosystems and a rapid radiation and diversification of marine life-forms.  It is the first geological period of the Phanerozoic Eon, an Eon that continues today (visible life).  We really appreciate Max’s illustration, it’s a super drawing of a Cambrian scene.

The Cambrian Scene Sent to Everything Dinosaur by Young Max

A drawing of Cambrian marine life by young Max.

Picture credit: Max

At Everything Dinosaur we get sent lots of pictures of dinosaurs, some amazing drawings as well as snapshots of fossil finds.  We don’t get too many drawings illustrating life in the shallow seas of the world some 510 million years ago.  A special thank you to Max and his mum for sending this into us.

Featuring Anomalocaris

The animal featured in the centre of Max’s drawing looks like an Anomalocaris.  Although, it was probably not the fastest swimmer, Anomalocaris was probably the apex predator in the shallow sea fauna represented by the fossils from the Burgess Shale of British Columbia.  At more than a seventy centimetres in length, Anomalocaris was probably the largest member of the Burgess Shale biota.

The Drawing by Max Compared to a Scientific Illustration of Anomalocaris

A comparison between a child’s drawing and a scientific illustration of Anomalocaris.

Picture credit: Max and the BBC

We can certainly see a resemblance between the two drawings.  It had been thought that the anomalocarids had become extinct at the end of the Cambrian, but a study of Ordovician fossils from Morocco provided a surprise for palaeontologists.

CollectA have added a replica of Anomalocaris to their model range.

To view this range of figures: CollectA Prehistoric Life Models.

It seems these types of marine creatures, which might be the ancestors of today’s velvet worms, lived for at least thirty million years longer, and what is more, some kinds actually grew even bigger than their Cambrian counterparts.

To read more about this: Anomalocarids into the Ordovician.

Everything Dinosaur enjoys receiving drawings such as the one Max sent into us, especially ones that illustrate scenes from very dramatic times in the evolution of life on our planet, such as the Cambrian.  Our thanks to Max once again for sending in his picture.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

Everything Dinosaur Adds Another Diplodocus

There are a number of species assigned to the Diplodocus genus, at least three, but potentially there may be several more (nomen dubium, Seismosaurus and Amphicoelias notwithstanding).  Everything Dinosaur has commissioned almost as many Diplodocus illustrations as there were potential species.   Our latest Diplodocus drawing is going to be used in several projects including within an updated Diplodocus fact sheet (Diplodocus longus).

Diplodocus Drawing

Everything Dinosaur’s Illustration of Diplodocus (D. longus)

A drawing of Diplodocus.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

For models and replicas of Diplodocus and other sauropods: Eofauna Scientific Research Models.

Named as a Result of its Tail

There are a few dinosaurs that have been named as result of their tails.  Diplodocus is one such dinosaur*.  Under a number of caudal vertebrae (tail bones), there was a length of bone that played a role in strengthening the extraordinarily long tail (estimated to have exceeded fifteen metres in length in some specimens) and protecting blood vessels.  This is the “double beam” that gave Diplodocus its name.  The first Diplodocus fossils were found in Colorado and this Sauropod dinosaur was named and described by the great American palaeontologist Othniel Charles Marsh (1877).

This quadrupedal herbivore may have been known to science for nearly 140 years but we thought it time to add a new Diplodocus drawing to our database.  Just as “Dippy” is relocated from the main, central gallery at the Natural History Museum (London), so we have added a new representation of this Sauropod to our collection of illustrations.

* Cauditeryx (Tail Feather) is another, can you name a dinosaur named from its tail?

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

Dinosaur Drawings from Dinosaur Fans

At Everything Dinosaur we get lots of letters, emails, pictures and drawings of prehistoric animals sent to our offices.  We read all our correspondence diligently and we also take the time to look at all the amazing illustrations, dinosaur drawing and photographs we get sent.  All those correspondents that require a reply do get one from our enthusiastic team.  Below is a lovely picture of a early meat-eating dinosaur, whose fossils are known from north-western Argentina.  This is Herrerasaurus and the drawing comes from Eashwar from India.

Herrerasaurus Illustrated

An Illustration of Herrerasaurus

Herrerasaurus dinosaur drawing.

Picture credit: Eashwar

A predator of riverbanks and floodplains of the Late Triassic, Herrerasaurus is one of the largest members of the Dinosauria known from this part of the super-continent of Pangaea.  It measured up to five metres in length.

We also received a super drawing of the Cretaceous Microraptor, a dinosaur from northern China that could probably fly.

A Drawing of Microraptor by Eashwar

A drawing of Microraptor.

Picture credit: Eashwar

Dinosaur Drawings

Microraptor (three species are known, all from Liaoning Province, China) was one of the smallest non-avian dinosaurs.  Various estimates for the length of this little dinosaur have been made, most of which suggest a length of between ninety centimetres and 1.2 metres, the majority of the length is made up of that impressive tail.

Thanks once again Eashwar for your drawings, we will post them up onto our social media pages, such as our Facebook page, Pinterest and Twitter feed.

Everything Dinosaur stocks a wide range of creative and imaginative toys, crafts and gifts, all themed around dinosaurs, ancient life and prehistoric animals.

To view the range of toys and gifts available from Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Dinosaur Toys and Gifts.

Spinosaurus Illustration (2014)

With the imminent arrival of the new CollectA Spinosaurus replicas (1:40 Deluxe, Walking and Swimming dinosaur models), team members at Everything Dinosaur have been preparing a new illustration of this fearsome theropod dinosaur, a new Spinosaurus drawing.

An Extensive Review

Following a review of the fossil data carried out by Ibrahim et al in 2014, Spinosaurus (S. aegyptiacus) is now depicted as a quadruped (walking on all four legs).  Although this view is not accepted by all palaeontologists, the writers of the academic paper (published September 2014), portrayed the dinosaur widely regarded as the largest meat-eating dinosaur known to science, as an aquatic animal very much at home in the water.

Spinosaurus Illustration by Everything Dinosaur

The 2014 interpretation of Spinosaurus.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Much controversy surrounds this new interpretation, it certainly is a very intriguing concept, a theropod dinosaur that evolved into a quadruped and took up an niche in the swampy, equatorial environment of Cretaceous northern Africa, that of a super-sized crocodilian.

To view the CollectA Deluxe Spinosaurus at Everything Dinosaur: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric Life.

To view the not-to-scale Spinosaurus models from CollectA: CollectA Dinosaurs.

Spinosaurus Re-boot!

The “Spinosaurus Re-boot” as it has been called, is going to be the focus of debate amongst vertebrate palaeontologists for some years to come, in the meantime, we can marvel at the new CollectA dinosaur models.

The full title of the autumn 2014 paper is “Semi-aquatic Adaptations in a Giant Predatory Dinosaur”, it was published in the academic journal “Science”.

List of authors: Nizar Ibrahim, Paul C. Sereno, Cristiano Dal Sasso, Simone Maganuco, Matteo Fabbri, David M. Martill, Samir Zouhri, Dawid A. Iurino and Nathan Myhrvold

Spinosaurus Drawing

Whatever the appearance and habits of Spinosaurus, it remains an extremely popular dinosaur amongst model collectors and dinosaur fans, peaking at number 2 in the annual Everything Dinosaur survey of the most popular prehistoric animals (2013 data).  It has featured in the top ten most popular prehistoric animals list as compiled by Everything Dinosaur for many years.