Everything Dinosaur Included in “Talking Science” Programme (Daresbury Events)

A team member from Everything Dinosaur has been invited to talk about dinosaurs as part of a series of prestigious science events being organised by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (Daresbury Events).  Joining the likes of professors discussing space travel, leading academics introducing the latest advances in stem cell research and scientists explaining the Big Bang theory, Mike Walley (Everything Dinosaur) has been asked to present an update on dinosaur discoveries.

Daresbury Events

“Dinosaurs from Top to Bottom” with Everything Dinosaur

Everything Dinosaur presents “Dinosaurs from top to bottom” Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

A Monthly Series of Lectures

The monthly series of lectures take place at the world famous Daresbury Laboratories (Cheshire), a centre for scientific research and engineering. Everything Dinosaur’s presentation, entitled “Dinosaurs from Top to Bottom” has been booked for the key Easter holiday lecture.  The presentation will take place on the 6th April 2016.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council organise a number of outreach events each year with the aim of engaging the public in scientific debate.  Everything Dinosaur’s family orientated science lecture featuring the likes of Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops is bound to be a firm favourite.

Everything Dinosaur

Commenting on Everything Dinosaur’s participation in the Talking Science lecture programme, Mike Walley stated:

“It’s an honour to be invited to take part in such a highly respected programme.  We are already working on the script and our aim will be to inform, educate and amuse a family orientated audience.”

To learn more about Everything Dinosaur’s outreach work: Contact Everything Dinosaur.

With a strong reputation for providing dinosaur themed workshops in school, Everything Dinosaur undertakes a lot of outreach activities and public engagement as part of a wider brief to help young people understand what fossils can tell scientists about life in the past.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

Hypselospinus Dinosaur Fossils on Display at Bexhill Museum

The fossils of a large, plant-eating dinosaur have gone on display at Bexhill Museum (East Sussex).  The dinosaur is a type of iguanodontid dinosaur, part of a clade of very successful bird-hipped dinosaurs that were very geographically widespread during the Mesozoic Era.  The fossils, which represent limb bones and a single tail bone (caudal vertebra), were discovered by local palaeontologists Peter and Joyce Austen, it was Joyce, a specialist in palaeobotany, who found the first evidence of this dinosaur’s remains although the majority of the bones were excavated by local fossil hunter and dinosaur enthusiast David Brockhurst.

Hypselospinus Dinosaur Fossils

The Hypselospinus Fossils on Display at Bexhill Museum

Dinosaur bones on display at the Bexhill Museum.

Picture credit: Bexhill-on-Sea Observer

Iguanodon Dinosaur – Hypselospinus fittoni

The dinosaur (Hypselospinus fittoni), was formerly named and described in the late 19th Century, from other fossil material found in East Sussex.  The Bexhill Museum material has been dated to the Early Cretaceous geological period.  A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur explained that during the Early Cretaceous much of southern England formed a verdant flood plain that teemed with prehistoric life.  The Hypselospinus fossils are estimated to be around 14o million years old.

Bexhill Museum is an independent museum run by volunteers whose patron is the comedian Eddie Izzard.  It contains a wide variety of artefacts including a number of locally sourced fossils including dinosaurs and flying reptiles (pterosaurs).  For the residents of this East Sussex seaside resort, it might be difficult to comprehend but back in the Early Cretaceous dinosaurs roamed the area.

A Model of a Typical Iguanodontid Like Hypselospinus

The new for 2018 Papo Iguanodon model.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Named and Described in 1889

Hypselospinus was formally named and described in 1889.  It was typical of an iguanodontid dinosaur, reaching lengths of around six metres and perhaps weighing as much as two tonnes.  It ambled around on all fours, but if the need arose, it could rise up onto its strong hind legs and adopt bipedal locomotion.  Large neural spines associated with the dorsal vertebrae (back bones) suggest that Hypselospinus had a steeply arching back, this feature distinguishes this dinosaur from other iguanodontids known from southern England.  It was formerly known as Iguanodon fittoni.

Everything Dinosaur supplies a range of museum quality, hand-painted dinosaur models including replicas of iguanodontids and the Papo Iguanodon dinosaur model.  These are ideal for use in schools and teaching programmes.

To view the model: Papo Dinosaur Models.

American Student Finds Rare Marsupial Jawbone

An American student working with the North Dakota Geological Survey has found a very rare and exceptionally well preserved fossil jawbone of a Late Cretaceous mammal.  The Cretaceous of North American may have sported mega fauna such as Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops but there was also a rich and diverse mammalian fauna.  The fossil has been identified as a jawbone (complete with six tiny teeth), of a marsupial mammal named Glasbius twitchelli.  The fossil is approximately sixty-six million years old and it represents the most complete lower jawbone found for this species.

To read a more complete article about this important fossil discovery: Student Makes Important Fossil Discovery.

Fossil Jawbone

For student Sean Ternes, it was a remarkable discovery.  He had just been explaining to members of the public on a outreach programme how to find fossils when, during a break he tried a little fossil prospecting of his own and found the jawbone.  From its well preserved state, team members from Everything Dinosaur concluded that the fossil had not long since been eroded out of the surrounding rock.  This is the first time that the ancient marsupial Glasbius twitchelli has been recorded in North Dakota.

Everything Dinosaur stocks a wide range of museum-quality scale models of prehistoric mammals. To view the selection of prehistoric mammal replicas available at Everything Dinosaur: Models of Prehistoric Mammals.

A Rare Mammal Fossil

A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur congratulated the student for their highly significant fossil discovery and stated:

“This is the most complete jawbone found to date for this important species.  A tiny fossil such as this helps to provide palaeontologists with a better understanding of the mammalian fauna that lived during the very last days of the dinosaurs.”

Elasmosaurus Fossil Discovered in Alaska

The fossilised remains of a giant marine reptile have been uncovered by scientists in Alaska.  The fossils representing an Elasmosaurus, an animal that belongs to the plesiosaur family, were found by an amateur fossil hunter who was hiking in the Talkeetna Mountain range when he came across several fragments of fossilised bone that had fallen down from a hillside.  Realising their importance of the Elasmosaurus fossil, he recorded the location and contacted palaeontologists based at the University of Alaska Museum of the North who subsequently excavated the articulated remains.

Alaska’s Loch Ness Monster

Elasmosaurus had an extremely long neck.  It superficially resembles the mythical Loch Ness Monster (believed by some to be a plesiosaur).  No fossils of an Elasmosaurus have been found this far north before.

At Home in the Seas of the Late Cretaceous – A Model of an Elasmosaurid

Alaska’s Loch Ness Monster – an elasmosaurid.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Elasmosaurus Fossils

At an estimated eight metres in length, the fossils, which include impressive cervical vertebrae (neck bones), represent a substantial marine creature, one that would be about the size of an extant female Orca (Orcinus orca), although about 50% of the animal’s body length would have been made up of that very long neck.  Humans have just seven neck bones (cervical vertebrae), whilst elasmosaurs had more than seventy.

Plesiosaur Fossils

Brandon with his plesiosaur fossils.  The Plesiosauria were geographically widespread during the Mesozoic.

Picture credit: Brandon Lennon

The picture (above), shows Brandon Lennon holding some plesiosaur vertebrae found on the famous “Jurassic Coast”.

A Significant Fossil Find

A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur stated:

“This is a significant fossil find.  Ammonites and other invertebrate fossils are relatively common in the Talkeetna range, but to find the preserved remains of an elasmosaur is really special.  It is not known at this stage whether this specimen represents a new species of marine reptile.  In addition, it is hoped that a study of the bones and the matrix surrounding them will help scientists to obtain data that helps them to determine whether this creature was a resident or a transient, seasonal visitor to the seas this far north.”

Despite the very short excavation window, the scientists have managed to remove a substantial number of fossils.  It is hoped that a field team will be sent out next summer to further explore the area in a bid to find skull material which would aid the scientists immensely in their research.

Everything Dinosaur stocks a huge range of marine reptile models, including plesiosaurs such as elasmosaurids: Sea Monsters and Marine Reptiles.