Main Page - Part 461

18 07, 2008

Shedding Light on Rare Titanosaur Trackways – Literally

By Mike|2024-04-13T08:13:57+01:00July 18th, 2008|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

Laser Beams help Scientists Interpret Dinosaur Footprints

Trackways left by dinosaurs as they wandered across soft mud millions of years ago can provide palaeontologists with information on long extinct animal’s behaviour. Trackways are trace fossils, these preserve evidence of the activity of animals. Such sets of footprints can help scientists calculate the travelling speed, stride length and other characteristics of the animals that left them. If there are a group of footprints fossilised, they can provide clues to dinosaur herding behaviour. Trackway evidence suggests that sauropods (long-necked dinosaurs), moved about in closely knit and tightly grouped herds, with mature animals on the outside and younger, smaller animals on the inside. Large footprints on the perimeter of the group and smaller footprints towards the middle provide the scientific evidence to show that sauropods moved around like this to give some protection to the younger animals within the herd.

Three new sauropods from Mojo Fun for 2020. There were many different types of sauropod.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The models (above) are figures in the extensive Mojo Fun Prehistoric and Extinct range: Mojo Fun Prehistoric and Extinct Range.

Signs of heavily churned up sediments which contain Mesozoic fossils could have been caused by the trampling of large numbers of dinosaurs, for example, at what was a waterhole, or lake shore. This phenomenon is known as “dinoturbation”.

Dinosaur Footprints

However, problems arise when geological processes lead to the movement of the strata so that they are no longer presented in a horizontal plane. There are a number of examples of this within the known fossil record, some of them are classified by Ichnologists (scientists that study footprints), as “megatracks”. A megatrack site is an area where dinosaurs have left footprints that have become fossilised across huge areas of land. Some palaeontologists believe that these sites represent migration routes, prehistoric trackways that may have been used by groups of dinosaurs following the rains, searching for fresh feeding or heading for breeding grounds. Some of these routes may have been created over hundreds of migrations.

Dinosaur Trackways

One such dinosaur trackway site is at Fumanya in the south-east Pyrenees in Spain. Here the Cretaceous sediments have been raised up to a slant of 60 degrees and the trackways cover a distance of nearly 2,000 metres. The footprints have preserved the passage of a group of enormous titanosaurs as they crossed a muddy plain, (long-necked dinosaurs, the last type of sauropod to evolve).

Unfortunately, the footprint layer is very soft and crumbling and any attempt to climb the rock face to get a close look at the tracks could result in irreversible damage. To examine the tracks at a safe distance would have proved problematical but thanks to the ingenuity of the University of Manchester team given the job of analysing the prints, this difficulty has been overcome. The Manchester team scanned the rock surface and the prints using LiDAR, a laser mapping system that produces detailed 3-D images. The LiDAR system (termed LiDAR – Light Detection and Range), provided an accurate 3-D contour map of the site. This digital process represents a huge leap forward (no pun intended for the Ichnologists), compared to more traditional methods of study involving close physical examination and plaster cast copies.

Using LiDAR

The higher resolution and the accuracy of the images will help palaeontologists to better understand how these huge animals walked, which part of the foot was lifted from the ground first as a step was made and the role of the claws in helping to provide support and grip as these dinosaurs moved. The use of LiDAR in this way is an interesting application of the technology. It is used in geology and archaeological excavations as well as for traffic enforcement, where this system is used by a number of police forces to detect speeding motorists. LiDAR is able to detect and calculate the speed of a single car within a group of moving vehicles and in certain situations, it is the system of choice when compared to the more traditional RADAR gun.

17 07, 2008

Latest Update on Lyme Regis Landslide

By Mike|2024-03-14T09:25:51+00:00July 17th, 2008|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Geology, Main Page|1 Comment

Lyme Regis Landslide

According to Brandon Lennon, a professional fossil collector, the landslip has cut Black Ven in half, from a fossil collector’s perspective the landslide affected the wrong section of cliff, if the Church Cliffs section closer to Lyme Regis had collapsed then many more vertebrate and invertebrate fossils would have been exposed. It is highly likely that more ichthyosaur and plesiosaur remains would have been discovered with maybe one or two pterosaur fossils.

Unfortunately, the landslip laid bare the old town rubbish dump, and a lot of rubbish and debris has ended up on the beach. The cliffs remain unstable and for a few days after the main landslide a number of smaller slips occurred, one of which was filmed by Brandon.

Good idea to go fossil collecting on a falling tide and to keep away from the steep cliffs. Landslides are common and very dangerous.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To read more about the dangerous cliffs on the Dorset coast: Jurassic June Fossil Hunting Code.

Our thanks to Brandon for permission to link to this clip.

Collecting Fossils

Immediately, following the main landslide many local fossil collectors gathered in expectation of finding spectacular new Jurassic fossils, unfortunately, so far the results have been disappointing.

Brandon comments: “The odd vertebra has been found on a very low tide and this is the only safe time you can go out to the Black Ven. There is a lot of broken glass all over the place and even big lumps of metal work, if the fall had occurred a few hundred feet nearer to Lyme Regis we would be finding just great stuff everywhere”!

Perhaps the safest way to explore the beaches at Lyme Regis is to go out with a professional fossil collector who will be able to guide you across the beaches and show you the best places to find fossils. Local knowledge can be extremely useful and indeed if you want to get the most out of a trip to this part of the Dorset coast, a guided fossil work is a must.

Guided Fossil Walks

For instance, Brandon and his team have modified their guided fossil collecting trips in the light of the recent landslide. At the moment he is leading trips to Monmouth beach to the west of Lyme Regis, taking in a visit to the world famous ammonite graveyard and to see the sunstone a little further beyond the Blue Lias Limestones at Seven Rocks Point towards Pinhay Bay. This area has also suffered from rock falls recently. The rough weather has led to the cliffs in this area becoming saturated and the landslip at Seven Rocks Point has moved forward a bit. Under the guidance of a professional such as Brandon, tour parties are escorted to areas where scouting for fossils can be safely carried out. Visitors also have the opportunity to view items that they themselves would not necessarily spot, for example, just beyond Seven Rocks Point the recent erosion has exposed a big Arietites sp. ammonite. It is sticking out of the cliffs by a waterfall and will fall onto the beach in the near future. Large Arietites are relatively rare although this genus of ammonite is very important to geologists as a number of species act as zonal fossils and assist with the process of biostratigraphy (fossils used to date the relative age of rock strata).

To book a guided fossil walk with Brandon, walks take place daily from Saturday to Tuesday, for most of the year: Lyme Regis Fossil Walks with Brandon Lennon.

16 07, 2008

Dinosaur Sounds! What Sounds did Dinosaurs Make?

By Mike|2022-11-26T06:50:52+00:00July 16th, 2008|Categories: Educational Activities, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|0 Comments

What sort of sounds did Dinosaurs Make?

No dinosaur film or TV documentary is complete without the roaring and bellowing sounds of the animals being portrayed. However, the noises and calls added by the dubbing team to the soundtrack are based on assumptions and scientific guesswork. The sound an animal makes is not preserved within the fossil record, so palaeontologists have to turn detective to try to work out what sort of sounds long extinct creatures would have made.

Dinosaur Sounds

Most reptile species around today are largely silent, however, herpetologists (people who study reptiles) are beginning to understand more about the complex communication between individuals of the same species and how reptiles react to their surroundings using their senses. For example, for many years, scientists thought that as snakes show no signs of an external ear structure they were deaf. However, research has shown that snakes are sensitive to vibrations of the ground and that they do possess a sense of hearing although the mode of its operation is unique to the Squamata order. The quadrate, a bone located towards the back of the skull is able to respond to airborne sounds which are transmitted through the skin. The vibrations that are produced are transmitted to the cochlea, converted to electrical signals which can then be interpreted by the brain. It is believed that snakes can pick up low frequency airborne sounds in this manner, having a hearing range of around middle C to high C. Indeed, some scientists have claimed that snakes are more sensitive to sounds in this frequency range than domestic cats.

Hearing in the Squamata Order

Snakes are related to lizards and lizards have a sense of hearing so it would be logical to assume that this sense has not been lost by the snakes, merely that the external ear has disappeared and modification to the receipt of sounds has evolved.

The noisiest reptiles in the modern world are the Crocodilians – the crocodiles, alligators, caymans and gharials. The noise levels generated varies between the species, from hissing noises that are made as a threat gesture to the low-frequency sounds made by males to attract mates in the breeding season. A lot of work has been done on the sounds made by American Alligators. Studies have shown that the sounds produced by the males (called bulls), varies depending on the size of the animal. Deeper and more penetrating sounds are made by the larger males. The larger the male the louder the sound and the greater distance it will travel.

PNSO Wyatt the Parasaurolophus dinosaur model in lateral view, a stunning replica of a Late Cretaceous duck-billed dinosaur. The hollow crests of these dinosaurs could have helped them to vocalise. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view the PNSO range of models in stock at Everything Dinosaur including replicas of hadrosaurs: PNSO Museum Quality Dinosaur Models.

Alligators have no vocal cords as such but make noise by sucking air into their lungs and then forcing it out again. The low frequency sounds produced are so intense that the water dances on their backs due to the vibration. The sounds travel for long distances underwater (water is a better transmitter of sound than air).

Animals can use sounds for a variety of purposes, to keep in touch with their family group, to call to their parents (such as the beeping noise made by baby crocodiles), to ward off rivals and to attract a mate. This kind of communication amongst dinosaurs would have been common place, however, the fossil record provides little actual evidence of the sounds dinosaurs made or indeed how their sense of hearing would have operated.

It is not clear whether dinosaurs had vocal cords, soft tissues are rarely preserved as fossils, perhaps the recently discovered Hadrosaur mummy, nicknamed “Dakota” will shed some further light on the sounds dinosaurs were capable of producing.

To read more about the discovery of this dinosaur fossil complete with skin and some internal organs preserved: Dinosaur Mummy unlocks Duck-Billed Dinosaur Secrets.

How do Birds Make Sounds?

Birds, like crocodiles are relatively close relatives of dinosaurs. They can produce an extraordinary arrange of sounds, from beautiful, lilting birdsong to harsh cries and shrieks depending on the species. Birds can also vary the tone and pitch of the noises they produce as well as controlling the volume of their calls. Birds do possess a larynx, a small organ located near the top of the windpipe, but it is believed to have only a rudimentary role in sound creation, merely helping to control the flow of air. The sounds we make are made by the larynx and our vocal cords, birds have a specialised sound producing organ (called the syrinx) at the base of their windpipe (trachea). It is from the syrinx and the elasticated membranes within it that the sounds birds make are largely controlled.

Dinosaur Sounds

It has been assumed by scientists that vocalisation would have been very important to dinosaurs, with different species, and indeed different individuals within a species making distinct sounds. The cheeks and beaks found in many ornithopods such as iguanodonts would have altered and helped modify the sounds these animals produced. Perhaps, quieter, frequent chirps between herd members to keep in contact with each other and then louder, bellows to warn of danger. The larger the animal the lower the frequency of the sound likely to be produced. Compsognathus, a small bipedal dinosaur of the Jurassic, no more than 3 feet long would have probably produced high pitched squeaks and squawks, whilst a giant sauropod such as Apatosaurus would have produced very deep, low frequency sounds beyond the range of human hearing. The sounds these huge animals produced would have caused vibrations (similar to the low frequency vibrations produced by alligators). It is possible that these animals could have detected these vibrations through their feet. Another method through which these large animals could keep in contact with each other.

The greatest amount of research into dinosaur sounds and hearing has involved studies of the duck-billed dinosaurs, known as the hadrosaurs. The reasons for this are two-fold, there are a lot of hadrosaur fossils, particularly skull material to study and many of these animals had strange, hollow crests associated with their skulls (the lambeosaurine hadrosaurs had the most spectacular crests).

Advances in our understanding of dinosaur hearing were made when a very well preserved skull of a Corythosaurus (lambeosaurine), revealed an intact hearing bone – the columella. Although, the Corythosaurus was over 9 metres long, the columella measured just 50 mm in length and was extremely delicate being only 2.5 mm wide at its widest part. Such a delicate bone would have been extremely sensitive to airborne vibrations and this evidence in conjunction with studies of hadrosaur brain-cases which show a large part of the brain dedicated to hearing, indicates that these dinosaurs had a very good sense of hearing.

A Scale Drawing of Corythosaurus

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

A group of scientists at the Sandia National Laboratories in collaboration with palaeontologists at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science took the study of dinosaur vocalisation to a new level when they used computer modelling to recreate the voice of a dinosaur. The work, although now ten years old, represents one of the most sophisticated studies into the airways and nasal passageways of dinosaurs.

Lambeosaurine Skulls

A skull of another type of lambeosaurine duck-bill, a Parasaurolophus (P. walkeri) had been discovered in 1995, the skull was carefully cleaned and prepared before a series of CAT scans were taken to provide evidence of the internal structure of the skull. From the analysis of the internal airways and nasal passages a computer model was constructed that would interpret the flow of air forced through the skull crest by the animal. This enabled the team to generate sounds that the dinosaur would have made. The result was a series of low-pitched growls and rumblings, the first dinosaur calls to have been heard for 65 million years.

It is not clear how accurate the sounds made were, but the notes produced were typical of the sounds made by a large animal with a long windpipe such as Parasaurolophus possessed. Many scientists believe that the crests of Hadrosaurs helped them make distinctive calls as well as being used as visual signalling devices, hence the trend to show brightly coloured crests in the latest models of duck-billed dinosaurs.

The Orange Crest of a Model Parasaurolophus

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view dinosaur models available and in stock at Everything Dinosaur: Dinosaur Models.

15 07, 2008

Government of Tanzania Calls for Return of Fossils

By Mike|2023-02-11T21:28:42+00:00July 15th, 2008|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|1 Comment

Tanzania’s Government Calls on Germans to Return Fossils

Ministers in the Government of Tanzania have called on their counterparts in Germany to repatriate dinosaur fossils so that the people of Tanzania can benefit from them and tourism revenues can be boosted. The fossils collected by expeditions to what was then German East Africa (Tendaguru), include the brachiosaur specimen on show at the Humboldt Museum in Berlin. This exhibit first went on display in 1937 and has been the centre piece of the museum’s dinosaur collection ever since. The skeleton at 22 metres long and standing 13 metres tall, is one of the largest mounted dinosaur fossils on permanent exhibit anywhere in the world.

This particular Brachiosaurus is actually a composite of at least 5 individuals found at the Tendaguru site. In total, the German expeditions between 1909 and 1912 brought back the remains of 34 brachiosaurs, as well as fossils of other spectacular Late Jurassic dinosaurs.

Return of Fossils

It was the German palaeontologist Werner Janensch who led the expeditions, an attempt to demonstrate German imperial ambitions in Africa and compete with the dinosaur discoveries of North America. Now the Tanzanian Government wants its dinosaurs back. The Governors of the Humboldt Museum are likely to put up a fight as the brachiosaur and other exhibits have just been the subject of extensive restoration and re-modelling, part of a large investment programme being undertaken by the museum. The brachiosaur has been re-built using the latest scientific interpretations and data, this has resulted in the animal being put into a new anatomical posture, increasing the height of the mounted exhibit to 13 metres.

To read more about the re-building of this exhibit: Humboldt Brachiosaurus gets a Face Lift.

Scientists have been debating whether or not the Tanzanian specimens are representatives of the Brachiosaurus genus. Several palaeontologists have published papers highlighting significant anatomical differences between the African brachiosaurs and those relatively few brachiosaurs found in America. It is possible that the more gracile brachiosaur from Tanzania may be reclassified as anther genus – the name Giraffatitan “Giraffe Titan” has already been proposed.

To view a model of Brachiosaurus and other sauropod figures: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Figures.

The Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism within the Tanzanian Government, Mrs Shamsa Mwangunga, told her Parliament that she was holding talks and hoping to use the likes of UNESCO to put pressure on the Germans to release the fossils and other artefacts. It is her intention to bring the brachiosaurs back to Tanzania or at the very least to conclude an agreement whereby the Tanzanian Government benefited financially from all the tourists attracted to the German museum.

A Minister Commented

The Minister also commented that there were moves to start the process of bringing back early hominid skeletons that were found in Olduvai Gorge and Laetolia that are preserved in Kenya. Most of the early hominid remains were discovered by Mary and Louis Leakey, a husband and wife team whose fossil finds proved that human evolution was centred on Africa.

A number of precedents have already been set as to the return of ancient items, relics, human remains and fossils to the lands where they were found. It is likely that the debate will continue for some time, although regarded as national treasures and valuable sources of income, it is important to consider the preservation and safe keeping of these exceptionally rare items. It would be a great loss to science if these precious fossils were damaged in transit back to Tanzania or indeed access to them for study was restricted as a result of an ongoing dispute.

14 07, 2008

Review of Journey to the Centre of the Earth

By Mike|2023-02-25T17:30:23+00:00July 14th, 2008|Categories: Main Page, Movie Reviews and Movie News|0 Comments

Movie Review – Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Out this week is the new Brendan Fraser vehicle – “Journey to the Centre of the Earth”, a film that attempts to update the classic Jules Verne novel by placing the story in the 21st century and using the latest 3-D digital effects. For Brendan Fraser fans this movie whets the appetite before the latest “Mummy” movie is released later on this Summer. Fraser seems to be in danger of becoming typecast as the macho, “laugh in the face of danger”, action hero as he basically reprises his “Mummy” role in this Eric Brevig directed adventure.

“Journey to the Centre of the Earth”

Playing a Professor who along with his nephew (played by Josh Hutcherson), the inevitable child sidekick, and the film love interest Anita Briem, our hero travels to Iceland to find out what has happened to his brother (the father of Sean, the character played by Josh Hutcherson).

Falling through a convenient volcanic fissure, the brave band find themselves in a lost, underground world and that the novel penned by Verne is not a work of fiction at all but a factual account. Naturally, they have to battle all sorts of creatures and survive various scrapes in order to get themselves back to the surface.

The film is short on plot (no real explanation is given as to how the Verne novel has been transferred to modern times), and long on special, digital effects. It is almost if the film itself is swamped by the need to show off the 3-D technology, for example does the audience need to be treated to Brendan Fraser rinsing and spitting water on them.

“Voyage au Centre de la Terre”

The original novel (published in 1864, in French as “Voyage au Centre de la Terre), was based on a published scientific text, and at the time little was known about the properties of the Earth’s crust, mantle and core. These days the emphasis is on adventure and the special effects. Having watched the film it is possible to imagine a theme park ride being created to entertain tourists at one of the many resorts in the USA. Indeed, one is left with the feeling that the movie may have been written especially to accommodate the technical requirements of a theme park attraction.

Dinosaurs make an appearance, along with ferocious flying piranha fish, birds that glow and strange floating rocks. The tyrannosaur chase scene is a little reminiscent of many of the T. rex scenes in films such as Jurassic Park 1 and 2, we have sort of seen this all before but at least the 3-D adds a new dimension (no pun intended).

Professor Anderson (Fraser’s character) is asked in mid chase “haven’t you ever seen a dinosaur before”, in the typical understated tones of our action hero he replies “yes, but never one with its skin on”! The trouble is we have all seen CGI dinosaurs before and much of the spectacle is lost as the characters are hurled from one predicament to the next. It is all good, wholesome family fun, although it does contain one or two scary moments that might upset very young children (hence the PG rating).

Fine film to view on a Summer afternoon, a reasonable way to entertain the children for a few hours over the long summer break, but if they want real excitement and adventure, try the original Verne novels – much more enthralling.

Visit the website of Everything Dinosaur: Everything Dinosaur.

13 07, 2008

Summer Holiday Activities – Exciting Baking with Dinosaurs

By Mike|2024-04-13T08:15:10+01:00July 13th, 2008|Categories: Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page, Teaching|1 Comment

Summer Holiday Activities – Baking with Dinosaurs

A little summer holiday fun – baking with dinosaurs.

I am sure many young Dinosaur fans would have watched the ground breaking BBC Television series “Walking with Dinosaurs” first aired on BBC1 in 1999. This ground-breaking television series used CGI imagery and animatronics coupled with the latest scientific research to bring back to life dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures.

In total, six episodes were made, starting with “New Blood” which depicted the Late Triassic and showed the rise of the dinosaurs to “Death of a Dynasty” which covered the extra-terrestrial impact that marked the end of the Cretaceous. This work was a collaboration between a number of universities, museums and designers to recreate as accurately as possible the world as it was during the Mesozoic.

The subsequent TV rights, merchandise, video and DVD sales have helped to swell the coffers of the BBC to a considerable extent. The “Walking with” programmes have provided the BBC with very welcome revenue, these programmes have been some of the best-selling of all the BBC’s output.

Unfortunately, even the most avid home movie fan is unlikely to be able to recreate the BBC TV series, at least we at Everything Dinosaur can offer an alternative that might keep your little ones occupied for a part of the long summer holiday – Baking with Dinosaurs.

Baking with Dinosaurs

Our team has carried out a great deal of research and testing of home baking products in the late winter and early spring and they recommended several types of dinosaur shaped cookie cutters – ideal for making simple dinosaur shaped snacks or biscuits.

As well as testing the cookie cutters and such like, the team have published a number of recipes for making dinosaur themed biscuits. This blog has published lots of recipe ideas including making dinosaur gingerbread and birthday cakes. All the recipes have been tried out by our team members and our weblog provides pictures of the finished biscuits along with ingredients and instructions.

The recipes are simple to follow and are ideal to help pass a little bit of the summer holiday time, with a grown up supervising the cooking activities. The biscuits are a great addition to any dinosaur party food and they are fun and easy to make.

We have also used dinosaur shaped cutters for modelling work using clay and other materials, the cutters work equally well whether making food or simply having fun with plasticine or other materials.

The dinosaur puzzle cookie cutter is a particularly clever product. Made from robust, sturdy plastic, it consists of several pieces that fit together to make a large motif for a long-necked dinosaur (Sauropod). You can make your own edible dinosaur puzzle. The set even comes with a smaller long-necked dinosaur biscuit cutter that allows you to make smaller, dinosaur shaped biscuits and snacks.

The Dinosaur Puzzle Cookie Cutter

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

When some of our team members organised tests with this particular product, shortbread biscuits were made. The young children we were working with found the cutters easy to use and had great fun decorating the biscuits once we had allowed them to cool.

As I recall, we simply made up some small amounts of icing sugar in several pots, a few drops of food colouring enabled our young chefs to colour the icing sugar and we had red, green, yellow and even pink dinosaurs. These biscuits were then decorated in a variety of ways. It was certainly a fun way to spend an afternoon, and once washed the biscuit cutters were ready to use again. There were plenty of recipes for us to try in the little recipe book that was provided in the box.

Some of the Results of our Labours

Baking with dinosaurs, a fun activity for the summer holidays.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Everything Dinosaur is a UK-based supplier of dinosaur and prehistoric animal themed models, toys and merchandise, check-out our website: Everything Dinosaur.

12 07, 2008

Confirmation of Tadpole Sighting in Pond

By Mike|2022-11-25T22:20:45+00:00July 12th, 2008|Categories: Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page|0 Comments

Tadpole Sighting Confirmed

After the unconfirmed sighting of a tadpole in the pond at the back of our offices on Monday (July 7th), when we had thought that all the tadpoles in our pond had perished, we set a competition to see if anyone could prove some tadpoles were still alive.

The last tadpoles had been seen way back at the end of April, for the whole of May and June not a single tadpole had been observed by any of the Everything Dinosaur staff so we had assumed that none of them had survived. However, last Monday afternoon, one of our team members claimed to have seen a single tadpole in the shallows.

The prize for proving that at least one tadpole remained was to choose the biscuits we purchase for our tea breaks. Team members have been taking turns to observe the pond life and no evidence had emerged by Friday so we thought that this little contest would run for a few more days. However, a tadpole was watched for a few seconds by two members of staff before it disappeared again into the pond weed.

A sighting that had been verified by a second person is good enough so the biscuits for the week are going to be Viennese Whirls. We debated for a while whether Viennese Whirls are biscuits or not, after all they described my many as “shortcake fancies” but we are not going to argue over a technicality.

Now all we need is photographic evidence, perhaps as the remaining tadpoles develop limbs and develop into the “froglet” stage, we may be able to see them more frequently in the pond shallows. Perhaps, this will give us the best chance of taking a photograph.

11 07, 2008

“Locavores” – Eating only Locally Sourced Food a Good Idea!

By Mike|2024-04-13T08:15:49+01:00July 11th, 2008|Categories: Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page|0 Comments

“Locavores” – Eating only Locally Sourced Food

During one of our tea breaks yesterday, in between packing orders, reviewing new products, talking with suppliers and all the other things we do to run the business, the topic of new words in the English language came up. Language like organisms, adapts and evolves, new words are coming into being whilst other words lapse out of common usage and towards the lexicographers equivalent of extinction. The fundamentals of Darwinism can be applied to the language we speak.

Locavores

One new word we have come across is “locavore” , a word none of us would have recognised six months ago, but now it is appearing in newspaper articles, magazines and has even been used in conversations down our town’s single street. A locavore is someone who sources all they eat within their local area, preferring to fore-go items such as bananas for seasonal fruit and vegetables purchased from nearby growers.

Like many new words and phrases entering the English language, this word has its origins in another country, we think this term is an Americanism. An article in the Times on the subject mentioned that the American novelist Barbara Kingsolver spent a year living as a locavore, sourcing all her food from her own small holding. For those of us without their own farm, being able to obtain everything in your diet from local growers and suppliers sounds like a daunting task, especially when this is compared to the convenience of a trip to the local supermarket.

Changing Habits

Many small retailers are being forced out of business as the big supermarket chains dominate our shopping. Within our own small town, we have two supermarkets at the moment, plus a Tesco high street store. Tescos intend to open another supermarket in town, they are currently holding a consultation programme over this proposed new venture.

I hope the two butchers we have in the high street, the only local purveyors of food left are able to withstand this onslaught. Tescos for example have a 30% share in UK grocery spending and made a profit of £2.5 billion – that’s almost as much as the oil companies are making. Not a bad little business if you are earning £79 per second!

As a reformed shopper myself, it would be a shame if local businesses were forced to close due to competition from the supermarket giants. I used to do all my shopping at supermarkets, it was convenient and everything I needed was under one roof. The threat of global warming and the issue of a” carbon footprint” were not so prominent in the public’s conscience.

Supermarkets

Supermarkets are often thought to be cheaper as well as more convenient. As I wander round the aisles, armed with my carefully thought out shopping list I inevitably succumb to the numerous offers that are available, the “buy one get one free” or the “special offer syndrome” as I call it. This results in my shopping trolley becoming filled with items that when I set out to do my shopping I had no intention of buying. The supermarkets are very clever with their marketing and sales promotions, I do seem to be seduced by all these special offers and often end up spending more that I intended.

However, over the last few months there has been a conscious effort on my part to try to cut down on my supermarket spending. The only thing we purchase from Tescos on a regular basis is milk. One of the team members pops out twice a week to the Tescos in the high street to purchase the milk, essential for our tea breaks. Meat is brought from one of the high street butchers and once a week I travel to a nearby town to purchase my vegetables and fruit (a visit to a greengrocer, one of the very few still around).

Next door to the greengrocer is a fish shop, whilst I accept that the fish has hardly been sourced locally I have begun to enjoy perusing the display, I have learned what certain species of fish look like, in the past, fish was purchased in the supermarket, pre-filleted and presented in a vacuum packed plastic container. I can now distinguish a mackerel from a sardine, a feat beyond me a few months ago, but a new skill hardly likely to impress my colleagues at work. However, I get a lot of satisfaction from being able to eyeball the fish that I am about to choose for my Sunday supper.

As a Cornish, line caught mackerel lies on the fish counter awaiting the attentions of the fishmonger who will fillet it for me, I get a sense of appreciation as to where my food comes from and what it means.

Value for Money?

Interestingly, the concept of supermarkets being generally cheaper and better value for money compared to a local shop was debunked not long after I started to take more care over my shopping. It was the chicken breasts that did it for me, in the past I would purchase two chicken breasts from a supermarket (usually Sainsburys), popping a cellophane wrapped packet into my shopping trolley as I passed the meat counter without giving it a second thought.

Now I have discovered that chicken breasts come in slightly different sizes and not only that, but a single, plump, succulent chicken portion sourced from my local high street butcher, is ample for my needs. One butcher’s portion is the equivalent of two supermarket chicken breasts, so it is not really that expensive and it has the added benefit of tasting better.

I am not going to eulogise over the concept of becoming a locavore, I can’t see myself agreeing to the premise of never eating a banana again, but I have begun to see their point. However, this type of behaviour is not new to our species, H. sapiens has been a locavore for the vast majority of its existence. Our ancestors, sourced all their dietary requirements from local sources. Granted if you lived to 30 years of age in the Mesolithic you were considered ancient and the average cave woman had a 35 inch waist, they had no choice but to do this.

Scientific Papers on Early Human Settlements

When reviewing scientific papers on human settlements, the carefully excavated and documented rubbish dumps of our ancestors reveal that they were true devotees to the locavore concept. In essence, they had little option, but we seem to have survived and flourished as species long before the notion of the out-of-town hypermarket came into being.

Having had the opportunity to go to Africa, it is interesting to compare shopping at the local market with the visit to the giant, gleaming supermarket. One thing that struck me was the constant chatter between the shoppers and the shoppers and the stall holders. People talked about food, shopping was a social event, there was the hustle and bustle of selecting produce against a background of constant chattering and noise. Although more time consuming, this was fun!

African Experiences

Contrast my African experiences with a shopping trip to a supermarket, I wander round the gondolas and aisles oblivious to the other shoppers. There can be hundreds of people shopping at the same time as you, but there is almost a deathly hush surrounding the whole experience, nobody talks.

The origins of our own species remain unclear, we are believed to have first evolved around 190,000 years ago (although some scientists argue that we have been around for longer than this). Our ancestors ability to adapt coupled with their tool making skills and mobility made them into highly efficient hunter/gatherers. A sedentary lifestyle has only recently been adopted by our kind and even then for the vast majority of our existence in settlements we have grown our own food and supplemented it from other local sources.

If we take Western Europe as a model for the behaviour of our entire species, we have only begun to source food from beyond our local environment over the last 500 years or so. The supermarket is a very new idea when compared to the history of our species, with the first supermarket type stores opening in the UK in the early 20th century. We have calculated that the human race as lived as “locavores” for 99.76% of our history and for just 0.05% of our existence living with the concept of the supermarket.

So if you are at a dinner party and someone begins to comment on how they have adopted this new idea of being a locavore, you can point out that in essence we are merely returning to our roots. Roots like the carrots purchased from my local greengrocer, covered in soil and in all sorts of shapes and sizes just like carrots are supposed to be.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Visit Everything Dinosaur.

10 07, 2008

Dinosaur Dig Sites in Need of Protection

By Mike|2023-02-25T17:42:08+00:00July 10th, 2008|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Geology, Main Page|0 Comments

Calls for State Legislation to Protect Fossils in British Columbia

British Columbia is proving to be a bit of a “hot spot” for dinosaur fossils at the moment. This is partly due to the continuing efforts of commercial companies to discover new sources of fossil fuels and minerals as well as the efforts of local amateur palaeontologists.

Although this particular part of Canada is often overshadowed by their neighbours in Alberta with all the wonders of the Dinosaur Park Formation, the vastness of British Columbia probably hides a huge amount of new palaeontological data, just waiting to be found.

To read an article about a recent dinosaur discovery in B.C. Potential New Dinosaur Species from British Columbia.

The state has currently got one major dinosaur dig taking place in the north-east of the province. The exact location is being kept a closely guarded secret, but hopes are high for finding plenty of museum quality dinosaur fossils, already some teeth and bones have been excavated and a number of different dinosaur species are represented at the site.

However, the palaeontology team are concerned about protecting the site from the attentions of amateurs and those intent on vandalising the rare and precious artefacts.

Local palaeontologist Lisa Buckley summed up the situation explaining:

“B.C is the only province in Canada that doesn’t have some sort of protective legislation, managing the protection and curation, and conservation and preservation of it’s natural history resources.”

In Alberta, for example it is illegal to remove fossils or other items from dig sites without the appropriate authority, in the USA, the Bureau of Land Management helps protect excavations. In British Columbia there is no such legal protection, hence the need to keep the current dig site under wraps. The palaeontologists involved with the dig, have commented that although amateurs find most of the fossils that lead to site excavations, at a palaeontology dig, even the best intentioned amateur could potentially destroy the rare resources.

Richard McCrae, the lead palaeontologist at the excavation shares his fear for the site’s stability: “We might find after we finish with this site, after we shut it down, we might find a few weeks later when we come check on it that someone has been here and has been digging it up. And that would be too bad.”

The scientists are urging the state to create laws that will protect such sites of special scientific interest. Ideally, the legislation would involve the granting of permits to excavate and credential checks on applicants. They say it’s the only way to ensure that fossils found are properly preserved.

Work is being done in the province to develop a framework that will seek protection for fossils and other natural resources. An announcement is expected in the next few weeks. But McCrae doesn’t believe it will be enough.

“Until there is actual legislation in place, I don’t see anything else being an improvement to the current situation.”

Whilst the work of amateurs in helping to locate new sites is very important and their contribution to the advancement of science is recognised, legislation may be required to protect such excavations. With the high prices rare fossils are fetching on the open market, it may be time to invest in some long-term planning and legal support to help protect British Columbia’s natural fossil resources.

For replicas of prehistoric animals from Canada and elsewhere in the world: Prehistoric Animal Models and Dinosaurs.

9 07, 2008

Colour Coded Dinosaurs – Some New Research

By Mike|2024-04-13T08:44:38+01:00July 9th, 2008|Categories: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Educational Activities, Main Page|0 Comments

Clue to the Colour of Dinosaurs

We have got used to seeing dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals depicted in glorious technicolour on our television screens, in cinemas and books, but scientists actually know very little about the colouration and markings of dinosaurs and other ancient animals. Illustrations of dinosaurs for example, are created using a basis of conjecture, supposition and comparisons with living organisms. Most sauropods (the long-necked dinosaurs), are often depicted in dull battleship grey, or browns similar to the colour of elephants, but we have no real evidence to support this. The assumption has almost always been when you are a 30 metre, 15 Tonne Diplodocus there would be little point in having camouflaged colouration, you would simply be too big to hide.

However, a paper published in the scientific journal “Biology Letters”, by a group of American researchers, sheds light on the colouration of long extinct creatures that one day may help palaeontologists understand the colours of dinosaurs.

A team of palaeobiologists and other researchers at Yale University have been studying the colour hues of 100 million year old fossilised bird feathers and their findings may permit scientists to interpret other fossil structures and to build up a colour image of long, dead animals. If the team’s interpretations are correct; then those dinosaurs that have been preserved with a covering of down or feathers could be studied and their markings and colouration deduced.

The colour of dinosaurs has long been debated, we at Everything Dinosaur run exercises in schools where we get the students to interpret fossil evidence about the size and shape of dinosaurs and the environment in which they lived. From this work we get them to draw the dinosaur and colour it in. A sort of dinosaur detective story, where the guesswork of 8 year-olds can be regarded as almost as scientifically valid as the pronouncements of the most meritorious professor.

The was some excitement when an analysis of fossilised skin from the tail area of Dakota, the superbly preserved Edmontosaurus mummy (the subject of a recent TV documentary), indicated that the animal might have had coloured bands running down its tail. Such well preserved dinosaur fossils are extremely rare and any actual colouration can only be speculated at this stage as colours will have been altered and affected by the fossilisation process.

To read more about the amazing Dinosaur Mummy Dakota: Dinosaur Mummy unlocks Duck-Billed Dinosaur Secrets.

To read the latest update on Dakota: Update on “Dakota” the recently discovered Hadrosaurine Mummy.

The Yale University team analysed fossil feathers from Brazil and Denmark and carried out comparisons with the feathers of modern birds (Neornithines). Their findings indicate that some fossilised bird feathers preserve microscopic components that when analysed and interpreted can reveal feather colouration.

The fossil feathers had stripes, these could easily be seen but it had been thought that these markings were the result of bacterial processes or geological effects during the period of preservation and fossilisation.

Could the colour of feathered dinosaurs be deduced from this work?

Commenting on the markings, Jakob Vinther one of the research team members said:

“We are quite confident that they (the markings) aren’t bacteria”

The research team targeted electron beams onto a fossil bird feather to reveal strange, sausage shaped structures that are believed to be responsible for the colour of plumage. The species of bird from which the fossil feather came from is not known, but similar microscopic structures have been found in modern feathers and their shape, composition and orientation create colours and patterns. By analysing these little packets, scientists hope to be able to build up a picture of the colouration of extinct creatures.

These structures are termed melanosomes and their analysis could help palaeobiologists understand the colours of the feathers on fossil dinosaurs, plus the colour of mammalian fur.

“We might able to get a palette of colours that we could assign to the fossils,” Jakob Vinther added.

By testing fossilised dinosaur feathers (such as those associated with the Liaoning Province of north-eastern China dating back to around 125 million years ago), for the presence of melanosomes scientists may be able to deduce the colour of these feathered dinosaurs. The likes of Caudipteryx, Sinornithosaurus and Microraptor may be revealed in glorious technicolour.

As both birds and crocodiles have colour vision, scientists have long thought that dinosaurs as close relatives of these two extant groups would also have colour vision. Being able to interpret the colouration of certain fossils will enable palaeontologists to build up a more accurate picture of what some of these animals looked like. It will also provide evidence of sexual dimorphism in species, even help to identify males and females within a species.

Having an understanding of the colours and markings of an animal will also provide clues to the animal’s behaviour. Gaudy colours may indicate the importance of displaying, perhaps for breeding, courtship or other social purposes, whereas, tones such as greens and browns would help these animals hide from predators.

How the melanosomes have survived the fossilisation process is not quite understood, most organic material, including DNA, decomposes quickly and does not survive the preservation process. However, as our understanding of genetics improves and new techniques to analyse fossils are introduced we may be able to produce accurate illustrations of long extinct animals.

Future model makers depicting feathered dinosaurs, such as those produced in conjunction with the American Museum of Natural History may be able to get close to the real colours and markings of the animals they are depicting.

Some of the Dinosaurs Featured in the Dinosaur Tube Set

Feathered dinosaurs.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Feathered dinosaurs such as Dilong, Microraptor and Caudipteryx are included along with non-feathered dinosaurs (at least as far as we know), such as Protoceratops and a sauropod.

The latest model from the Bullyland range of Germany, continues the trend to interpret many theropod dinosaurs as feathered. Although no fossils of Velociraptor mongoliensis have been found with evidence of feathers, a number of dromaeosaurs are known to have been covered in simple down or proto-feathers so Velociraptor is often depicted in this way too.

The large orbits in the skull of Velociraptor indicate that its sense of vision was exceptionally important to it, with an ability to discern colour, perhaps these animals were quite brightly coloured. Helpful for an animal living in a social group where hierarchy and status would have been important.

The Velociraptor from Bullyland

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view the Bullyland model range: Bullyland Prehistoric Animal Figures.