A busy day ahead of us, some of the staff members have come in for a couple of extra hours today, to review and respond to all the customer feedback forms that arrived after Christmas.
For every parcel sent out to UK customers we include a FREEPOST feedback form. With so many orders despatched up to the Christmas break, now is the time of year that we get back all the feedback forms that customers of Everything Dinosaur have kindly sent in.
Customer Feedback
We review all our customer correspondence, every letter, fax, email and such like. We then divide them up between us and respond in person to any that require a reply. One of the most important jobs that is undertaken after the Christmas break is to deal with all the feedback forms that come into us in the first few days of January. We have to sort through them, putting them into piles so that all staff can have a look at them and send out a response if needed.
Everything Dinosaur
It is always a pleasure to hear from customers, we really appreciate the feedback, kind words about the Everything Dinosaur customer service, new product suggestions, dinosaur drawings and so on.
To visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning and user-friendly website: Everything Dinosaur.
French and U.S. Scientists Help to Unlock the Mystery of an Ammonite’s Diet
Ammonites are an extinct group of cephalopod molluscs that lived in spiral shaped, chambered, coiled shells. The fossilised remains of these marine creatures are abundant and can be found in Mesozoic sediments throughout the world. The fossils are extremely important and many different genera are used to help confirm the relative ages of rock strata, this process is called biostratigraphy.
Particular zones in a series of layers of sedimentary rock are classified by the distinct fossils that each zone contains and due to the abundance of ammonite fossils and the readiness of this particular group of creatures to evolve into myriad forms, ammonites make ideal fossils for biostratigraphy.
Ammonite Fossils
A Wonderful Early Jurassic Ammonite Fossil
An ammonite partially eroded out of a nodule. We think this is an example of Dactylioceras commune.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A beautiful ammonite (Dactylioceras?) preserved as a pyretic specimen from the English coast.
Although very common as fossils, there is still a great deal that scientists have yet to learn about these ancient relatives of squid and cuttlefish. For example, without any soft parts of the animal fossilised, it is very difficult to determine what these creatures fed on, where in the food chain did they fit?
They did form an important part of the diet of many of the larger animals that shared the ammonite’s marine environment, scientists believe that many types of marine reptiles, such as mosasaurs and ichthyosaurs fed on ammonites. With the extinction of the ammonites 65 million years ago, did this also mean the end of the mosasaurs that relied on them as prey?
Such is the connection between marine reptiles and ammonites that Safari, the American based figure manufacturer, recently introduced a new model of an ichthyosaur that had an ammonite in its mouth.
The Safari Ltd Carnegie Collection Ichthyosaurus
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Ichthyosaurs Feeding on Ammonites
Just how many ichthyosaurs fed on ammonites is a bit of a mute point, as many genera had toothless beaks, perhaps better suited to tackling soft-bodied cephalopods rather than hard-shelled ones.
A new study by a joint team of French and U.S. based scientists, published in the scientific journal “Science” provides fresh evidence on the diet of one particular ammonite. It seems that the larval stage of snails and tiny crustaceans were on this particular cephalopods menu.
Lead author of this new paper, Isabelle Kruta of the Musee National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris) commented on using very powerful X-ray beams to see inside the fossilised remains of a Baculites ammonite. It revealed the last prey consumed was a small larval snail and three tiny crustaceans.
The French and American researchers have been able to reveal the lives and deaths of a number of different ammonite specimens in amazing detail. Using a technique called synchrotron X-ray microtomography, an advanced form of CT scanning, three-dimensional images of several ammonite fossils were created. These images have provided new information about ammonites, including providing some data on the types of prey that certain genera may have consumed.
Ammonite Jaws and the Radula
The researchers determined ammonites possessed jaws and a radula, which is like a tongue covered with teeth. Garden snails have radulas, their affect can be seen if you leave a lettuce leaf out in the garden on a wet summers evening. In this study different types of ammonite teeth were identified, from slender ones to sabre-like or even ones shaped like the teeth on a comb.
Each colour in the computer images produced shown above shows a different type of tooth on the radula-like structure of the Late Cretaceous ammonite Baculites. This image was created by synchrotron radiation microtomographic slices.
Commenting on the images, lead author, Kruta explained:
“Ammonites used their radula to trap the food in the mouth and convey it through the oesophagus.”
The oesophagus describes the part of the alimentary canal from the mouth to the stomach.
This feeding system, along with the fossilised last supper remains, suggests that ammonites were adapted for eating small prey, such as tiny crustaceans and plankton, floating in the water.
This research could have a bearing on theories related to the extinction of marine organisms at the end of the Cretaceous Period. An extra-terrestrial impact could have killed many of the small nektonic or planktonic organisms that ammonites relied on for prey. This in turn, would have led to the collapse of much of the marine environment’s food chain.
Ammonite Diet
In a separate paper also published in journal Science, palaeontologist Kazushige Tanabe of The University of Tokyo postulates that newly hatched ammonites were particularly dependent upon such small prey items.
He stated:
“The abrupt decline of phytoplankton at the end of the Cretaceous led to the collapse of marine food webs and would have greatly affected the survival of newly hatched ammonites.”
When asked why so little is known about ammonites, despite the abundant fossil record, Tanabe said:
“Ammonites are some of the most famous invertebrate animals in Earth’s history. Yet as biological entities they are poorly understood, largely owing to the absence of a direct living counterpart.”
The new high-resolution, three-dimensional images may help to solve some of the ammonite mysteries. They also help to explain why one of the world’s most successful animals, in terms of abundance and species longevity, suddenly bit the dust along with the dinosaurs, marine reptiles and pterosaurs.
Whilst discussing the affect on food chains of the loss of the Ammonites, Kruta stated:
“Known predators of ammonites were, for example, mosasaurs and plesiosaurs.”
It was speculated that the disruption of the food chains would have had a significant effect on apex predators such as the marine reptiles.
Kruta and her team hope additional research can help to further unravel what happened to ammonites and other prehistoric animals.
Those answers may come sooner rather than later, as Tanabe believes the new uninvasive X-ray technique “can be widely applicable to other fossilised delicate organismicstructures preserved in sedimentary rocks, such as specimens preserved in museum collections.”
Commenting on the research papers, Neil Landman, curator in the Division of Palaeontology at the American Museum of Natural History (New York) stated:
“When you take into consideration the large lower jaws of ammonites in combination with this new information about their teeth, you realise that these animals must have been feeding in a different way from modern carrion-eating Nautilus.”
The Nautilus is an extant cephalopod, superficially similar to the extinct ammonites.
He concluded:
“Ammonites have a surprisingly large lower jaw with slender teeth, but the effect is opposite to that of the wolf threatening to eat Little Red Riding Hood. Here, the bigger mouth facilitates feeding on smaller prey.”
The CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Popular Ammonite Model
CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Popular Size Pleuroceras ammonite model.
Long, dark nights, not much chance to go fossil hunting, but still plenty to look forward to as the winter edition of Prehistoric Times is on its way. Prehistoric Times is the magazine for dinosaur model collectors and dinosaur enthusiasts. It is packed full of news stories, articles about new models, dinosaur discoveries, artwork, just about everything and anything to do with the Dinosauria and other extinct creatures.
Winter Edition of Prehistoric Times
Picture Credit: Mike Fredericks/Everything Dinosaur
This is the ninety-sixth edition of the magazine, it has been running for seventeen years and it does not look likely to go extinct. The magazine is popular with dinosaur model collectors and fans of prehistoric animals, it has a worldwide readership.
Team members review each issue and to see prehistoric animal themed games and dinosaur toys, including models of animals often featured in Prehistoric Times: Everything Dinosaur.
Nature is full of examples of different types of organism that develop the same biological or anatomical characteristics as an adaptation to their environments. For example, ichthyosaurs (and now possibly mosasaurs), with their tail-flukes that resemble those of dolphins. The flying squirrel and the flying lizard, both accomplished gliders but not closely related.
Just occasionally, a fossil is found that throws up something so unusual and uncharacteristic that scientists are perplexed as to what their discovery could mean. They have no benchmarks to work with.
One such instance of this has been reported in the scientific journal “The Proceedings of the Royal Society – Biology”. A paper has just been published on the fossilised remains of a type of Ibis from the Caribbean island of Jamaica.
Xenicibis xympithecus
This extinct, flightless bird known only from Jamaica, apparently evolved banana-shaped clubs from its wings. What these “clubs” were actually for remains open to speculation, but researchers have concluded that they may have been used in intraspecific conflicts, perhaps fights over nesting sites or mates.
This strange bird, was roughly the size of a chicken, it has been scientifically described as Xenicibis xympithecus. The genus Xenicibis had been first described in 1977 and a number of bones ascribed to it from several Caribbean islands. However, this new study has been based on much more complete remains found in caves sited at the southern end of Jamaica. Evidence suggests that this bird was alive as recently as 10,000 years ago, and may have been driven to existence by man, the fate of so many flightless birds, the Dodo for example.
Commenting on this strange creature, researcher Nicholas Longrich, a vertebrate palaeontologist at Yale University stated:
“There is just nothing else out there like this in any other vertebrate. Usually evolution tends to hit on the same designs over and over, and this is just something completely different, so as a biologist it’s sort of cool to find something and be ableto say: Wow! I haven’t seen that one before.
Distorted Hands and Block-like Fingers
The strangely distorted hands had short, block-like fingers, long palm bones, thicker than the bird’s femur and wrist joints that allowed the wings to swing rapidly back and forth like flails or clubs.
Longrich added:
“I sometimes compare these things to nunchucks, which I guess would make this a ninja bird, although perhaps a better analogy would be a pair of baseball bats – they were actively swung rather than moving passively like a flail.”
Evidence of broken wings in the fossil record, suggest these clubs were potent weapons in intraspecific combats.
At first, scientists thought that this was a deformity but as more fossils were found showing the same anatomical configuration it became clear that the club-like wings were an adaptation. Their use as weapons to fight off predators has not been ruled out, as it seems that both males and females possessed these strange wings.
With the new year well under way, time to change one of the banners on the Everything Dinosaur website. Not the easiest of tasks as none of us at the company would describe ourselves as particularly gifted when it comes to photoshop skills. However, we are determined to have a go and after the first few days of January, the “Happy New Year” banner had to go.
Microraptor
The subject for our next banner was to be a forest scene, depicting a feathered dinosaur. We tried to imagine what it would have been like to visit the Liaoning Province of what was to become northern China during the Early Cretaceous.
It took a bit of effort but we were able to secure the image of some forest undergrowth, to this we added the images of two feathered dinosaurs – Microraptor (Microraptor gui). We have tried to depict these two small, bird-like dinosaurs as if they were displaying to each other.
Microraptors Displaying in the Early Cretaceous Forest
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The picture shows a Microraptor dinosaur model, specifically the Carnegie Collection Microraptor dinosaur, an excellent example of a feathered dinosaur model.
This feathered dinosaur was at least in part arboreal (living in the trees). It was capable of gliding according to some interpretations of the fossil evidence. Microraptor had long feathers on its arms and legs. When spread apart, these would have provided an effective gliding surface, perhaps permitting this little crow-sized animal to glide from tree to tree. The tail was also feathered and it had a plume, presumably to help this little dinosaur steer whilst in flight.
In the dark understorey of the Cretaceous forests, it is possible that many dinosaurs were brightly coloured to help them display to each other. Although very little is known about dinosaur colouration, certainly any fossil material associated with the Microraptor genus does not reveal information about possible colour, Microraptors are generally depicted as colourful creatures and we think they stand out quite well against the dark vegetation.
The model chosen for this scene was the Microraptor replica from the Safari collection, to view the range of models made by this company:
At the beginning of each year, team members at Everything Dinosaur put their heads together and just for a little bit of fun, they have a go at predicting some of the news stories and events that they might report on in the year ahead. So with 2010 over and as we are looking forward to this year, it is time for a quick look back to see what predictions we made twelve months ago.
How did we do with our 2010 predictions? Were we within a fossilised gnats nose or out by the length of a diplodocid’s tail?
The List of Predictions Made by Everything Dinosaur at the Start of 2010
1). More Dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals to go under the hammer
2). Increased pressure for change in UK museum funding
3). “Dakota” to hit the headlines once again
4). Criminal charges for a palaeontologist in the United States
5). Everything Dinosaur trilobite hunt at last
6). Increased emphasis for science teaching in UK primary schools
7). March to mark a millennium for Everything Dinosaur’s web log
8). A new genus of pterosaur to be announced
9). Beware of smugglers
10). Last but not least a thought for South Africa
Quite an eclectic mix of predictions, but how did we do?
Our prediction regarding more auctions of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals proved to be quite accurate with a number of high profile sales in Europe and the United States. For example, in May we wrote about an auction of a range of prehistoric items, including T. rex teeth, the skull of a Cave Bear and the remains of a Woolly Mammoth.
The prediction about pressure on museums to charge entrance fees, proved to be only partially correct. With the change of UK government we were aware that charging for museum entrance was discussed, but fortunately this policy was not put forward and no charging plans have been implemented – yet.
Our predictions for “Dakota” the magnificently well preserved, Edmontosaurus “mummified” dinosaur fossil were partially accurate. There were a number of news stories published about how the research work was progressing and what plans were in place to display the fossil once the preparation was completed, but there were no “outstanding” new breakthroughs. Limits on funding and the problems caused by trying to analyse such a huge and unwieldy fossil put a check on progress. However, the dedicated team of researchers are still working on this very significant find and more information about this Hadrosaur will be, no doubt come to light shortly.
As for our prediction regarding the prosecution of an American over a fossil related matter, we are aware of a number of incidents, but fortunately, the new laws and restrictions imposed by the United States seem to be having the desired effect. Which is more than can be said about Everything Dinosaur’s trilobite hunt, we have yet to visit the location we had wanted to, but with a little better planning and time management we are hopeful to do some fieldwork at this particular site in the near future.
Greater teaching emphasis for science – we were at a meeting in the Autumn at which individuals close to the UK Government briefed us on the situation regarding the need emphasis the teaching of science topics in school. School funding has been affected by the recession and the Government spending cuts, but we at Everything Dinosaur continue to lobby and to offer subsidised teaching of Earth Sciences. Fortunately, following a review, the plans to slash the science teaching budget have been put on hold, at least for the time being. Some good news then.
The prediction about Everything Dinosaur’s web log reaching its 1,000 article landmark in March 2010 proved partly correct, albeit that the 1,000th article was published a little later than we predicted. We aim to publish an article, review, or photograph every single day (seven days a week). Our 1,000th article was published on April 17th, at present we are well on the way to publishing our 1,300th web log article.
Blog Landmark Reached
As for our prediction about a new species of pterosaur (flying reptile) being announced, sure enough there were a number of new papers published, most notably perhaps the paper from a team of Irish scientists about a new genus of flying reptile we reported on in May, plus new research into how pterosaurs launched themselves into the air. Giant flying reptile models even invaded London for a short time to help promote the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Society.
The black market in fossil sales continued to grow, despite increased activity by both internal and international security services. The smuggling of fossils and other ancient artefacts is big business and it is rare these days to hear of a fossil dig site in parts of the world such as India that is not raided at least once by trophy hunters, curious locals or professional fossil smugglers.
Finally, with the world’s attention focused on South Africa for the 2010 World Cup we thought that we would have one prediction for this particular African country. True enough, there were a number of important discoveries reported upon. More ancient hominid remains and the evidence of Early Jurassic dinosaurs being just two stories about the rich fossil record of South Africa published last year. We also ought to report on one extinction event that occurred in that country in the Summer – the extinction of England’s national football team after there insipid performance in the tournament. Sadly, England failed and once again, after all the hyperbole and expectations, our national football team did not deliver on the world stage.
Trying to predict what will happen with the study of Dinosauria and other fossils over the next year is a difficult business, at least we won’t try to predict when England will win the World Cup, that would be just too difficult to contemplate.
Designed to accompany the two-part television series, “David Attenborough’s First Life” covers the billions of years of time, leading up to the development of advanced forms of life on our planet. It is a chronological journal, split into eleven chapters that tells the story of the “slow burning fuse” that led to the explosion of life in the Cambrian, the development of the Phyla of organisms that are still with us today.
“First Life”
The text is informative, not too technical and designed for the lay person to follow. There are many splendid photographs and lots of information on the fossil locations, although it would have been interesting to read more about some of the UK fossil locations such as Crail in Scotland and perhaps there are too few scary creatures for children to enjoy. Although, it is amazing to see the strange and wonderful creatures known as the Ediacaran fauna (soft-bodied, bizarre organisms).
By the Late Precambrian, around six hundred million years ago, simple food chains had become established with over thirty different genera recognised, this simply ecosystem is known as the Ediacaran fauna after the Ediacara Hills, north of Adelaide in South Australia, where a variety of Late Precambrian fossils were discovered in the late 1940s.
The introduction, written by Sir David Attenborough, really brings out his passion for fossils and fossil collecting. The highlight of the book, was reading about Sir David’s own connection with Charnwood forest, the site in Leicestershire, the county of Sir David’s childhood, where the important Precambrian fossil Charnia (Charnia masoni) was discovered.
Academic Content and Computer Generated Wonders
At over 285 pages in length, this book provides an appropriate balance between academic content and computer generated wonders. One of the features of this book, are the extreme close up photographs of important fossils. The vast majority of fossils from the Precambrian and the Cambrian geological period are extremely small, but the highly magnified and full colour photographs really help to bring the fossil evidence “to life”” as it were. The reader is treated to some wonderful images, illustrations of the primitive sea landscapes and some excellent computer generated impressions and graphics as to what the fauna and flora of the Burgess Shale site might have looked like (British Columbia, Canada).
Trilobites Feature in the Television Series “First Life”
So in summary, a good book, an interesting read, perhaps not ideally suited for children but a fitting tribute to the work of scientists and to Sir David himself.
January 1st and just time to write to thank all our readers for staying with us over the last twelve months or so and to wish them all a peaceful and prosperous new year. We put up a new banner on the front page of the Everything Dinosaur website Everything Dinosaur last night marking the start of 2011.
Happy New Year from Everything Dinosaur
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Not to sure why we put a Quetzalcoatlus on the banner, pterosaurs are not traditionally associated with new year (not so far as we know), but I suspect this flying reptile was quite quick to photoshop which is why it was chosen.
Everything Dinosaur
Perhaps as it is soon to be the Chinese new year and it is going to be the year of the rabbit we subconsciously posted up a picture of an animal that if it were around today, may well feed on rabbits, hares and all things Lagomorpha. Personally, I think the former is more likely to be the case.
With the year coming to a close, this is a time for looking back and reflecting on the news stories and events of the last twelve months. It is also an opportune moment to consider what news stories and articles we may be writing about in the year ahead.
Palaeontology Predictions
There is certainly a great deal going on in the field of Earth sciences at the moment. Parts of the world, not previously well explored, are being mapped with many new fossil sites discovered. In addition, lots of new research techniques are being applied to existing fossils and a substantial amount of new data is being collected.
Just for a bit of fun, we thought it would be a good idea if we had a go at predicting some of the news stories that may break in 2011.
So in no particular order, here are seven of our best guesses:
1). New Ceratopsian Genus to be Described
A number of new horned dinosaur genera have been described in the last year and we at Everything Dinosaur, expect this trend to continue. This year we have had Sinoceratops (China), the giant Coahuilaceratops from Mexico, plus a number of new ceratopsian genera from the western United States and Canada, Medusaceratops for example. We expect the trend for horned dinosaur discoveries to continue in 2011.
A Sinoceratops Scale Drawing
Sinoceratops scale drawing prepared for the Everything Dinosaur fact sheet. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
2). Fresh Insight into Neanderthals
With the current work on the human genome and the extensive scientific study of hominid fossils we would expect to hear more about our closest hominid relatives on the human family tree. Further insights into Neanderthal culture and behaviour, evidence perhaps of cross-breeding plus more data on Homo heidelbergensis. We base this assumption on the fact that improved stability in countries like Iraq will permit the further exploration of a number of important hominid fossil sites.
3). Further Marine Reptile Discoveries from the Jurassic Coast
We would expect to report on further marine reptile finds from Dorset’s Jurassic coast over the next twelve months. We suspect that this World Heritage status stretch of coastline (UNESCO) will yield further fossils of marine reptiles – ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs almost certainly, and perhaps one or two significant pliosaur fossils.
4). A New Trilobite Hunt for Everything Dinosaur
We predict that 2011 will give team members at Everything Dinosaur the chance to add to their collection of British trilobite fossils. We intend to organise a number of trilobite fossil hunting trips, this time in Wales as well as in the midlands of England.
5). Everything Dinosaur Web Log to Reach 150,000 page views in a Month
The Everything Dinosaur web log or blog, first published online in May 2007, is going to be four years old next year. Something like 1500 articles on prehistoric animal discoveries, palaeontologists and all things dinosaur would have been written by the time the fourth anniversary comes around. Readership has grown steadily since the blog’s inception. We try to inform, write in an appropriate style and to educate. As a result of our continuing efforts we could break the 150,000 page views per month threshold sometime in the next few months. Quite an achievement for these “dino buffs”. We continue to commit a lot of our time to researching and writing articles, our intention is to try to add to the web log every day.
6). Fossil Thefts to Continue
The theft of fossils from dig sites, we predict, will continue and indeed the black market for fossils and other rare artefacts will continue to grow. Many newly discovered fossil locations and dig sites will be raided by trophy hunters and amateur fossil collectors. A lot of the items will find their way into the hands of private collectors, either through under the counter sales or via auction sites. These items will not be available for study by scientists and so their value to the scientific community is likely to be lost forever. The removal of such objects from fossil sites, also denies palaeontologists the opportunity to study specimens “in situ”, thus valuable data about context, the environment and the fossilisation process may be lost.
7). New Dinosaur Genus from the Korean Peninsula to be Announced
As relatively unexplored parts of the world are opened up, we can expect a lot of new dinosaur and prehistoric animal discoveries in 2011. Expect a number of new finds from China, Spain, Portugal, Canada and the United States. New dinosaurs from South America will also be announced next year, but we will predict that some of the more out of the way places will provide some exciting, new dinosaur discoveries over the next twelve months. We predict that at least one new type of dinosaur from the Korean peninsula will be announced.
So just for a bit of fun, a quick list of some of the things we expect to be writing about in 2011. One of the first things we must do in January is to review our list of predictions that we made in 2010, to see how well (or not so well) we did.
The time travelling television series Primeval is back on terrestrial television this Saturday (New Years Day) with the start of the fourth series. Although there have been a number of cast changes, the format is still the same with our team of dedicated scientists trying to solve the riddle of time portals that open up to permit creatures from different periods in Earth’s history to visit the Holocene.
Primeval
Prior to Primeval being broadcast on ITV1, the second ITV channel is showing a behind the scenes documentary with interviews with cast members, production crew and the special effects designers. We can be fairly certain the dinosaurs will feature heavily in series four, expect a Spinosaurus and a baby “Spino” to be just two of the prehistoric animals the ARC team encounter.
Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning and user-friendly website: Everything Dinosaur.
