“Fallen Kingdom” – Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals

In response to the numerous requests from young dinosaur fans who have seen the latest instalment in the “Jurassic Park/Jurassic World” film franchise – “Fallen Kingdom”, here is a list of the prehistoric animals that we spotted in the movie.  In total, Everything Dinosaur team members spotted seventeen different prehistoric animals, how many did you see?

Hitting our Cinema Screens at Present – “Fallen Kingdom”

Everything Dinosaur’s List of the Prehistoric Animals in “Fallen Kingdom”

• Allosaurus – a big, carnivorous dinosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic.
• Ankylosaurus – an armoured dinosaur, a herbivore from the Late Cretaceous of North America.
• Apatosaurus/Brontosaurus – a giant, long-necked plant-eating dinosaur from the Late Jurassic.
• Baryonyx – a carnivorous dinosaur that may have specialised in catching fish, the first fossils of which were found in southern England.  Baryonyx lived during the Early Cretaceous of Europe.
• Brachiosaurus – an enormous, plant-eating, long-necked dinosaur from the Late Jurassic.
• Carnotaurus – a predatory dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of South America.
• Compsognathus – at around a metre in length, the smallest non-avian dinosaur inhabitant of Isla Nublar.  This little dinosaur lived in Europe during the Late Jurassic.
• Gallimimus – a fast-running, “ostrich mimic” dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous.
• Mosasaurus – not a dinosaur, but a marine reptile that belongs to the same group of reptiles as lizards and snakes.  These predators lived during the Cretaceous.
• Pteranodon – also not a dinosaur, but a flying reptile from the Late Cretaceous, a pterosaur.  Pteranodon fossils have been found in North America, England and Asia.
• Sinoceratops – a member of the horned dinosaur group, it roamed China towards the end of the “Age of Dinosaurs”.
• Stegosaurus – “roof lizard”, a herbivore from the Late Jurassic of America.
• Stygimoloch – a “bone-headed” dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of North America which was good at knocking down walls if the movie is to be believed!
• Triceratops – one of the most famous of all the plant-eating dinosaurs.  Triceratops lived at the very end of the Cretaceous.  Its fossils have been found in North America.
• Tyrannosaurus rex – no dinosaur film would be complete without an appearance of T. rex.  The “king of the tyrant lizards”, lived in North America and its fossils are associated with Upper Cretaceous sedimentary deposits.
• Velociraptor – The “raptor” called Blue which was reared and brought up by animal trainer Owen Grady (played by Chris Pratt).  Velociraptor lived during the Late Cretaceous of Asia.

A Model of a Blue Velociraptor

The model (above) is a Papo Velociraptor model.

To view the range of Papo prehistoric animal models: Papo Prehistoric Animal Models and Figures.

Last But Not Least – Indoraptor

Last but not least, comes Indoraptor, a dinosaur created from the DNA from Indominus rex – the monstrous carnivore from the previous film in the franchise – “Jurassic World” and Velociraptor.

Look out for the sequel which is scheduled for release in June 2021.  What dinosaurs do you think should be in this film?

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

Dinosaur Food Webs

Team members at Everything Dinosaur help school pupils to understand prehistoric animal food webs.

The national curriculum of England science programme outlines the fundamental topics to be taught to various age groups to provide a broad foundation for future scientific study.  Key elements include providing a basis for making sense of our planet (understanding our world) and developing the rational required to examine problems, look for evidence and to test via experimentation (scientific working).

In Key Stage 1, children are expected to be able to distinguish between carnivores, herbivores and omnivores.  In addition, they will be expected to identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other.

Prehistoric Animal Food Webs

A term topic on dinosaurs helps to reinforce and support this learning.  At Everything Dinosaur, we have been asked to provide simple food webs to help get some of these fundamental points about ecosystems across.  After all, for most children, learning about what Tyrannosaurus rex ate can enthuse even the most reluctant biologist.

A Simplified Dinosaur Themed Food Web

Picture credit: Cretaceous Research

Basic Food Chain Principles

Children in Year 2 for example, will be required to explain how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food web.  They will be expected to identify and name different sources of food.

Food chains show the feeding relationships between animals, plants and other organisms.  Whether it is examining the biota of the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of Montana, the Savannah of Africa or the school pond, the principles regarding food webs still apply.  Food chains tend to be roughly triangular in shape with the greater amount of biomass to be found at the lower levels.  The amount of material and energy decreases from one level to the next.  Food production is much more efficient if the food chain is short.

Energy is transferred along food chains from one level to the next.  Not all of the energy available to organisms at one level can be absorbed by organisms at the next level up.  Arrows tend to show the direction of energy flows in a food chain.  At the base of most food chains is the sun, as it is sunlight that plays a role in photosynthesis, allowing plants to grow.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

A Mini Dinosaur World Created in a Box

One enterprising Year 2 pupil showed us their mini “Jurassic Park” that they had created for a school project all about dinosaurs, fossils and prehistoric animals.  The child had made their own mini dinosaur world using a cardboard box, some paints, tissue paper, small sticks and gravel.

A Mini Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Theme Park

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

A Dinosaur World

The dinosaurs look very much at home in this scene, there is a river with a waterfall, the effect of the foaming water being created by scrunching up some tissue paper.  The designer has provided the dinosaurs with a stone bridge so that they can cross safely to the other side of the river and reach the dinosaur nest composed of small sticks.  The nest contains some yellow dinosaur eggs, which are being guarded by a meat-eating dinosaur.

For dinosaur themed models, toys and games: Dinosaur Toys and Gifts.

A large, herbivorous dinosaur, a long-necked sauropod browses nearby and our dinosaur and fossil experts really liked the model tree complete with purple fruits that had been added to the diorama.  In the background a volcano is erupting.  The green tissue paper gives the impression of prehistoric vegetation. The plant-eating dinosaurs have lots of food to eat.

Our congratulations to the young model maker for building such a clever and colourful dinosaur diorama.

Visit the user-friendly Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

Dinosaur Facts

A visit to a school in the chilly south of the country to work with four groups of Year 4 children who have just started their topic for the second half of the Spring Term.  The spacious and well-appointed classrooms already had some dinosaur themed work on display.  Our fossil expert spotted a display board with some A4-sized print outs that had been posted up.  One of the Learning Support Assistants (LSA’s), explained that the facts had been pinned up in a diagonal shape, this would permit the children to look at the published facts, research whether they were accurate or not and post up their own findings either above or below.

Testing Dinosaur Facts (Published Facts About Dinosaurs)

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur/LHPA

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.

Encouraging Independent Enquiry

The children were being challenged to conduct their own independent research to test the validity of the statements on the print outs.  Could they uncover evidence to either support or refute the statements (facts)?  The eager, young palaeontologists could then post up their responses either above or below the statements, the position on the wall indicating how much they agreed with the statement or how much they disagreed with the statement following their independent enquiries.  This would provide a visual display as well as giving a valuable lesson in working scientifically.

The Year 4 classes were being challenged to look for evidence, assess the validity of the evidence and either to support or refute the statements that had been posted up.

Facts About Dinosaurs

We wish the young scientists well with their endeavours, our fossil expert chatted to many of the children over the course of the day.  They were all enjoying their dinosaur and prehistoric animal term topic and many of the children already possessed a lot of knowledge about dinosaurs.  One confident learner explained in remarkable detail how the dinosaurs (non-avian dinosaurs), became extinct.

An eager dinosaur fan even asked could we come back when she was in Year 5?

For further information about Everything Dinosaur’s science outreach work: Email Everything Dinosaur.

Working with Year 1 Helping Year 6

Another school workshop successfully conducted, this time working with a class of Year 1 children over the course of a morning as they began their term topic all about dinosaurs.  The workshop acted as a provocation to launch the new scheme of work after half-term, it enthused the children and our dinosaur expert was able to provide teaching resources and extension activities to support the teaching team.  The Year 6 students at the school had been tasked with managing the school’s Twitter feed.  We were happy to give our permission (with the school’s blessing), for some pictures of the morning’s activities to be posted up on-line.

During the course of the morning, the Everything Dinosaur team member took a photograph of a piece of artwork on display.  This image was then “tweeted” to the Year 6 children and they were challenged to turn detective to see if they could work out where the photograph had been taken.

Helping to Support Year 6 on Twitter

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Twitter is Useful for Parents, Guardians and Grandparents

Twitter can be very useful for schools.  It allows parents, guardians and grandparents almost instant access to information about what the children at the school have been doing.  Examples of work can be demonstrated, a well-written story can be featured, preparations for a school event such as a Summer Fayre can be highlighted.  Social media such as Twitter can provide parents, grandparents and guardians with a sense of engagement.  Good luck to Year 1 with their dinosaur studies and best wishes to Year 6 as they maintain and grow the school’s presence on Twitter.

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.