Everything Dinosaur Supplies Teaching Resources to Schools
In celebration of all the exciting, educational resources that Everything Dinosaur supplies to schools and museums the company has introduced a new banner for the website. The banner showcases the range of dinosaur and prehistoric animal themed resources that are supplied to schools, whether EYFS (early years foundation stage) or even Key Stage 4 and beyond.
Prehistoric Animal Themed Teaching Resources for Schools and Museums
Fossils, books, puzzles and games for schools.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A spokesperson for the Cheshire based company explained:
“We are supplying more and more items into schools and museums these days. Whether it is small dinosaur models for sorting or counting games, books or museum quality replicas we have seen demand for these items grow. We even have received requests for real dinosaur fossils. Happy to show school children fossils in our collection and we do supply a range of inexpensive fossils, including sharks teeth, but we would draw the line at supplying dinosaur fossils.”
Looking Back at How Our 2014 Predictions Turned Out
After the mince pies, time for a slice of humble pie as we review how our palaeontology and dinosaur predictions made last year turned out. At the start of each year, team members at Everything Dinosaur get together, usually whilst completing the company’s annual stocktake and put forward suggestions about the sort of news stories and articles that this weblog will feature over the following twelve months. It is just a bit fun, but the debate can be quite lively at times. So one year on, let’s take a look at what we predicted and how things turned out.
Here is the list of the ten predictions we made (published on 2nd January 2014):
2014 Predictions
Storms around the UK’s Coasts will Lead to a Number of Vertebrate Fossil Discoveries
Further Insights into the Genetic Make Up of Hominins and The Relationship between Other Hominins and H. sapiens
Trailer for Jurassic Park IV to be Released
Polar Exploration Leads to Fossil Find
Three-Dimensional Printers Come of Age
New Species of Mammal (probably a rodent discovered in South-east Asia)
Arthropod Study Leads to Further Evidence for the Common Ancestor of Spiders and Scorpions
Everything Dinosaur to Develop a New Dinosaur Workshop/Teaching Website
Further Evidence for Feather-like, Filamentous Integuments to be Found in the Ornithischia
Where will Everything Dinosaur Be in Terms of Social Media by the End of 2014? Setting Targets
To see the article we wrote back in January 2014 about our predictions: 2014 Predictions.
1). Storms around the UK’s Coasts will Lead to a Number of Vertebrate Fossil Discoveries
There were a number of important fossil discoveries concerning marine reptiles, particularly those related to the Ichthyosauria or their ancestors. Significant fossil discoveries were made in China and Chile. Indeed, the very wet and stormy weather of the winter may have contributed to vertebrate fossil discoveries made around Britain’s coasts. Back in April we reported on the discovery of a juvenile ichthyosaur at Lyme Regis (Dorset). Recently we wrote an article all about the “Penarth Ichthyosaurus”, a fossil discovered by an amateur collector.
The Excavated Remains of the “Penarth Ichthyosaurus”
Penarth’s very own prehistoric monster.
Picture credit: Jonathan Bow
This specimen from South Wales is almost complete, making it a remarkable find, although we have to admit it was spotted in September, long after the winter storms had supposedly done their work.
2). Further Insights into the Genetic Make Up of Hominins and The Relationship between Other Hominins and H. sapiens
One of our most popular blog articles of last year (it made our top ten most popular web log articles list), discussed the research into the Neanderthal genome that demonstrated that some of diseases of modern humans could be traced back to our Neanderthal ancestry. So much research is currently being undertaken in this area of science, that we confidently predict that more insights into our ancestry and other hominins such as the Denisovans will be published this year (one for our 2015 predictions list we think).
Just like our second prediction, this one was a bit of a no brainer. “Jurassic World” is due to be premiered in June 2015 and it is going to be one of the biggest films of the year (there will be a lot of competition, Star Wars, Avengers, Terminator movie etc.) The trailer was due to released in December 2014 but in the end it was brought forward and Everything Dinosaur put up an article about the trailer on November 25th.
Everything Dinosaur is expecting “Jurassic World” to have a big impact on this blog site as well as other aspects of our business. For example, the main protagonist in the film Diabolus rex, the genetically modified hybrid dinosaur, made it into our top ten list of most popular prehistoric animals of 2014 which we published a few days ago.
Expect a second “Jurassic World” trailer to be released as part of the Superbowl coverage.
4). Polar Exploration Leads to Fossil Find
There were a number of important fossil discoveries made in the extreme latitudes over the last twelve months. In March 2014, Everything Dinosaur published a number of articles featuring dinosaur discoveries that had been made in the high Arctic. A description of a new type of pygmy tyrannosaurid certainly generated a lot of debate. This new member of the tyrannosaur family, Nanuqsaurus hoglandi, was very probably feathered. The discovery supports the theory that at least in the far north during the Late Cretaceous a complex ecosystem flourished.
An Illustration of Nanuqsaurus hoglandi
Potentially a very, shaggy coated tyrannosaur!
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The publicity surrounding the description of “Polar Bear Lizard”, allowed us to reminisce over the naming of Cryolophosaurus twenty years ago and to write an article about the most northerly dinosaur fossil discovered to date. That honour goes to a bone from a duck-billed dinosaur found on Axel Heiberg Island, part of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
5). Three-Dimensional Printers Come of Age
Prices of printers came down and more museums and universities started to use this technology. When linked to powerful CT scans remarkable insights into fossils, often ones still trapped in a matrix of rock, can be made. However, prices falling to such a level that many schools and academies could access this technology did not occur in 2014. There was some work into the motor skills and brain function of the Dinosauria as we predicted, but not as much as we thought. Back in October 2014, we wrote a short piece highlighting the research into pachycephalosaur sensory function, three-dimensional images had provided an insight into the sense of smell of these dinosaurs.
6). New Species of Mammal (probably a rodent discovered in South-east Asia)
Well, we did write about a new species of slender nosed crocodile from Africa, but there was no blog article about a new mammal species being announced. Not one of our most accurate predictions.
7). Arthropod Study Leads to Further Evidence for the Common Ancestor of Spiders and Scorpions
We fared a little better with this prediction. Some amazing research conducted by those clever people at Manchester University/London Natural History Museum and the Museum für Naturkunde (Berlin), led to a computer model of a walking 400 million year old Arthropod being generated.
Thanks to the beautifully preserved arthropod specimens that form part of the Chengjiang Biota (China), scientists were able to gain insights into the development of invertebrate nervous systems. There was even a paper published all about the brain of a Cambrian super-predator.
Research into Understanding Anomalocarids (Lyrarapax)
The grasping claw on this specimen can clearly be seen.
8). Everything Dinosaur to Develop a New Dinosaur Workshop/Teaching Website
In late August, this prediction came true when team members launched a special website dedicated to helping teachers, museums and educationalists to teach about dinosaurs, fossils and prehistoric life. The website went live on August 26th. In time for the start of the autumn term and the major roll out of the new curriculum in England.
Dinosaur Workshops and Teaching about Dinosaurs in Schools
Everything Dinosaur aims to help teachers, museums and home educators.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Since the site went live, several thousand school children have benefited from the free downloads and teaching resources that we supply. Our outreach work with school visits continues at a pace and January 2014 is likely to be our busiest month to date in terms of school visits.
9). Further Evidence for Feather-like, Filamentous Integuments to be Found in the Ornithischia
Our ninth prediction concerned feathered dinosaurs. Over the last few years the debate as to whether members of the Dinosauria had feathers has moved on. Most palaeontologists now believe that a number of different dinosaurs were feathered and that filamentous integumental coverings, the fore-runners of true feathers were an evolutionary trait of the dinosaurs. However, the discussion is now more about which types of dinosaur were feathered.
In July, we wrote an article on the implications of the discovery of a one metre long basal ornithischian dinosaur from Siberia. It may have been small, but the paper published on Kulindadromeus zabaikalicus may just have been one of the most significant papers on vertebrate palaeontology published all year.
10). Where would Everything Dinosaur be with Social Media Targets?
Social media is certainly bigger than ever. Sales of smart phones and other clever devices reached unprecedented levels in 2014 and they are set to continue their spectacular growth over the next few years. The number of smart phones and other devices in the world was estimated to have reached 1.9 billion by some analysts. Traditional pc sales and desktop devices continues to decline and there is much more “surfing on the go” as we like to refer to it.
Everything Dinosaur set itself some ambitious targets in terms of Pinterest pins, Tweets and Facebook likes in 2014. We will write a separate article on how we did when it came to reaching these targets. Importantly, we remain committed to replying to every email, question, request for information that we receive and this will remain core to our business this year as well.
All in all, not a bad performance in terms of predictions, some turned out to be more accurate than others. We will publish news about our predictions for 2015 shortly, let’s see how we do this year.
By Mike|2023-03-21T07:14:43+00:00January 1st, 2015|Categories: General Teaching|Comments Off on Happy New Year from Everything Dinosaur
Looking Forward to the Spring Term
After a short break it is time to prepare for the Spring Term, the second term with a new curriculum for most schools in England. Many teachers have been working throughout the Christmas break. Everything Dinosaur knows this, as we have been corresponding with a number of teaching teams advising on extension activities, dinosaur themed experiments and providing free, educational downloads.
Happy New Year from Everything Dinosaur
Wishing everyone a “Happy New Year”! Team members wish everyone a happy new year.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
However, just time to wish everyone involved in the education sector and everyone else for that matter a Happy New Year! Hope you like the prehistoric animal themed banner we created.
Not so long ago we were wishing everyone a “Happy New Year 2014”! It does not seem like a year has passed but it has and we are now in 2015, still part of the Holocene Epoch, but doesn’t time fly when you are having fun. Just a quick note to wish everybody a peaceful and prosperous New Year. January is going to be a busy month for our team members. We have lots of new dinosaur and prehistoric animal toys to prepare for, video reviews to make and more teaching assignments in the next thirty days or so than in any previous thirty day period. So it’s onwards and upwards for Everything Dinosaur.
Happy New Year from Everything Dinosaur
Wishing everyone a “Happy New Year”!
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Next August it is our company’s tenth birthday, ten years of supplying dinosaur models and prehistoric animal toys. Certainly, the time has flown, but before we get on with our duties for the day. Just time to wish all our customers, followers, supporters, fellow dinosaur fans and fossil collectors a peaceful and prosperous New Year.
The Top Five Most Popular Prehistoric Animals of 2014
Today, we continue our rundown of the most popular prehistoric animals as compiled by all the data sources available to Everything Dinosaur team members. We have already published information on numbers ten to six, now it is time to look at the top five.
A faller from last year, when it hit an all time high at number two, is Spinosaurus. We received a lot of enquiries about this dinosaur when the new interpretation of this piscivore was published back in September . This secured this huge reptile’s position in our top five. The scientific paper which re-examined the Spinosaurus fossil material was published in the journal “Science”. It was one of the most eagerly awaited papers of the year. The review interpreted Spinosaurus as an obligate quadruped, in essence, here was an enormous dinosaur that walked on all fours.
A perennial favourite, especially amongst the girls, is the plated dinosaur Stegosaurus. Everything Dinosaur received a constant stream of Stegosaurus themed questions and enquiries over the last twelve months or so. The interest in this Late Jurassic herbivore peaked when the new Stegosaurus exhibit at the Natural History Museum (London) was unveiled. We even invited a young dinosaur fan (thanks Milan), to blog about this Stegosaurus (S. stenops) specimen, which is affectionately known as “Sophie”.
Stegosaurus Popular with the Girls
A posterior view of the spectacular “Sophie” the Stegosaurus (S. stenops” exhibit at the London Natural History Museum.
Picture credit: Courtesy of the Natural History Museum and chosen by Milan
Everything Dinosaur confidently predicts that the research project currently being undertaken at the Natural History Museum will yield some very interesting information about stegosaurs.
Triceratops
3). Triceratops
A non-mover at number three and the only representative of the horned dinosaurs in our top ten countdown is Triceratops. It is ironic that “three horned face” remains at number three in our countdown of the ten most popular prehistoric animals of 2014. This dinosaur is popular with both boys and girls and with the introduction of the Papo baby Triceratops replica in August, sales of Triceratops models were given a boost.
Helping to Keep Triceratops Popular
The baby Triceratops figure next to the adult Papo Triceratops.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The baby Triceratops certainly works well with the excellent adult Triceratops model introduced by Papo.
A number of scientific papers detailing research into the Ceratopsidae were published this year. Almost without fail, Triceratops got a mention somewhere. Despite the increase in centrosaurine and chasmosaurine dinosaurs, Triceratops remains very much the best known of all the horned dinosaurs. There was some research published in 2014 dedicated to the Triceratops genus itself.
New Triceratops Species
In July, Everything Dinosaur reported upon some fascinating research that looked at how Triceratops species evolved over the course of the latter stages of the Late Cretaceous.
Up two places from last year and into the runners up spot comes Velociraptor, a rapid rise for the “speedy bird of prey”. A short clip from the “Jurassic World” trailer showing Chris Pratt on a motorbike leading his posse of trained Velociraptors got tongues wagging and we were contacted about this by a lot of other bloggers as well as media correspondents. Could Velociraptors be trained? Would there be a “raptor show” in the “Jurassic World” theme park? These are the sort of questions we were asked.
As with all the questions we get asked, we did our best to answer them using our knowledge of the Dromaeosauridae. After all, if parrots can be trained to ride bicycles then why not train a Velociraptor to follow a motorbike?
Before we reveal our number one, a few honourable mentions for those prehistoric animals not quite in our top ten. Pachyrhinosaurus (horned dinosaur), Dolichorhynchops and Ichthyosaurus (marine reptiles), Smilodon (Sabre-toothed cat), Yutyrannus (Early Cretaceous tyrannosaurid) and the pterosaur Pteranodon.
The Most Iconic Prehistoric Animal
1). Tyrannosaurus rex
Remaining at number one and it seems more popular than ever is Tyrannosaurus rex. Interestingly, the “King of the Tyrant Lizards”, got a boost in popularity due to the increasing number of new types of tyrannosaurid that have been described over the last two years or so. As more research is published on dinosaurs such as Yutyrannus and Lythronax argestes, so just like Triceratops placed at number 3, T. rex tends to get a mention in the text and this leads to more questions being asked at Everything Dinosaur.
There is a “knock on” effect that benefits Triceratops to some extent but T. rex benefits more.
Tyrannosaurus rex is such an iconic animal that it manages to get a look in even when the initial subject matter has nothing to do with it. For example, the book, “Dinosaurs of the British Isles” features information on T. rex even though no Tyrannosaurus rex as far as we know, ever lived anywhere else except North America. A T. rex is very likely to be seen in “Jurassic World” so we confidently predict this apex predator is going to be number one next year as well.
The introduction of a new Tyrannosaurus rex model by Schleich helped T. rex dinosaur sales as did the spectacular Rebor KING T-REX 1:35 scale replica which came out in early December.
The Rebor 1:35 scale Tyrannosaurus rex Dinosaur Model
Everything Dinosaur Counts Down the Top Ten Prehistoric Animals of 2014 (Part 1)
As 2014 draws to a close, it is time for Everything Dinosaur team members to put together a list of the top ten most popular prehistoric animals over the last twelve months. We have looked at product purchases, requests for fact sheets, questions asked, email subjects, social media comments as well as information put together as a result of our many school visits.
Everything Dinosaur
All this data has been compiled to produce a top ten of the most popular dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, this is the first part of our countdown, dealing with those animals in positions ten down to six.
10). Dreadnoughtus schrani
The super-heavy weight titanosaur Dreadnoughtus (D. schrani) made a Boeing-737 sized impression when the scientific paper detailing the discovery of this huge dinosaur was published back in September. We were bombarded with emails requesting further information about this enormous South American titanosaur. The blog article we wrote providing more information was widely circulated and even the scientists behind the research into Dreadnoughtus, one of the largest land animals ever described wrote to congratulate us on our work.
Making a Big Impression in 2014 – Dreadnoughtus schrani
Huge dinosaur from southern Patagonia.
Picture credit: Jennifer Hall
The Influence of “Jurassic World”
9). Diabolus rex (Jurassic World) – Indominus rex
This is the first time in the history of our annual survey that a dinosaur only seen in a movie has made the top ten. In November, Everything Dinosaur’s weblog was one of the first blogs to feature the official trailer to the film “Jurassic World”. The big villain in this new film, due to premier in June 2015 is a genetically modified theropod dinosaur known as Diabolus. So far only tantalising glimpses of this new dinosaur have been provided by the film makers, but on the strength of this, we received an amazing number of enquiries.
Even pointing out that in essence, all the dinosaurs featured in the “Jurassic Park” franchise were genetically modified (dino DNA mixed with frog DNA in the book if our collective memories recall correctly), did not dampen people’s enthusiasm for this “new” type of dinosaur. Described as a cross between Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptor, a snake and a cuttlefish we can’t wait to see more of this new dinosaur on the block.
A Sneak Peek of Diabolus rex (Jurassic World Trailer)
A model of a genetically designed dinosaur. Inspired by InGen?
As Christ Pratt ‘s character (Owen, after Sir Richard Owen perhaps) says:
“You just went and made a new dinosaur? Probably not a good idea.”
We suspect that this dinosaur is going to climb even further up our chart in 2015.
Prehistoric Animals
8). Giganotosaurus
Not an imagined animal, but definitely for real, well as far as we can tell from the fossil record. In at number eight Giganotosaurus (Giant Southern Lizard). This Cretaceous dinosaur, which is believed to be one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs that ever lived has remained popular all year. There was a “spike” in requests for fact sheets featuring this theropod when news about Dreadnoughtus broke but this dinosaur from Argentina remains amongst the most popular of all the carnivorous dinosaurs, particularly with young dinosaur fans (the boys anyway). Giganotosaurus retains the number eight slot in our countdown (it was number eight in 2013 and did not feature in our top ten in 2012).
The Schleich Giganotosaurus Dinosaur Model
Biggest land carnivore known to science with a “Big Bite”.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
We expect this dinosaur to remain a firm favourite especially with Schleich bringing out a new replica and Papo including a Giganotosaurus in their new for 2015 tub of mini dinosaurs.
Woolly Mammoth
7). Woolly Mammoth
The only mammal to feature in our top ten (unless of course the genome of Diabolus rex contains mammalian DNA), is the Woolly Mammoth. We were sent a large number of Woolly Mammoth drawings this year and there was quite a lot of media interest in this extinct elephant when the documentary entitled “Woolly Mammoth – the Autopsy”, aired in late November. The controversy over the potential cloning of a Woolly Mammoth helped give this prehistoric animal’s popularity a bit of boost.
In at Number Seven – Mammuthus primigenius
Will the Woolly Mammoth return?
Picture credit: Schleich/Everything Dinosaur
Brachiosaurus
6). Brachiosaurus
Just out of the top five and falling one place from last year’s survey is Brachiosaurus. Sales of Brachiosaurus models have been particularly strong this year, leading the way, in part, was the Papo Brachiosaurus replica. The Papo Brachiosaurus is one of the largest sculpts that Papo have attempted, it certainly is a beautiful model and it has proved popular with professional collectors and young dinosaur fans alike.
The Papo Brachiosaurus Dinosaur Model
Large size model of a Brachiosaurus (Papo Brachiosaurus).
Picture credit: Papo/Everything Dinosaur
Measuring around forty centimetres in length, this 1:55 (approx.) scale model has received rave reviews since it was launched.
A typical review received recently stated:
“I don’t consider this to be a toy, it’s an awesome model that can be enjoyed by adults just as much as by children who like dinosaurs. Of course you won’t play with it as an adult, but it’s just as much fun to just look at it, put in on a place in your living room. This model is just perfect, I wouldn’t change a thing about it. The details are what makes it so special, you can see muscles, wrinkles in the skin, even the eyes look almost real.”
Praise indeed for Brachiosaurus.
In our next blog article we will conclude our countdown of the top ten most popular prehistoric animals of 2014.
The Cambrian lasted for over fifty million years and in the latter part of this period in Earth’s geological history there was a huge increase in marine animal diversity. The evolution of so many new forms of life is often referred to as the “Cambrian explosion” and thanks to localities such as British Columbia’s Burgess Shale and the amazing fossils from Chenjiang in China, palaeontologists have been able to build up a remarkably detailed picture of the fauna that flourished in the oceans of the world, during a time when our planet looked very different from today.
Cambrian Models
Thanks to the beautifully preserved fossils, scientists have been able to piece together marine ecosystems and to study the organisms the evolved in what is often regarded as the first truly significant evolutionary event in the history of life on Earth. Those clever people at Safari Ltd produced a set of replicas of ancient creatures that represent typical examples of the Cambrian biota.
“Cambrian Life”
Entitled “Cambrian Life” the set includes eight models representing ancestral sponges, marine worms and, perhaps most significantly of all the Arthropoda, that huge phylum that includes the crustaceans, trilobites, spiders and insects.
The Cambrian Life Toob
Examples of the Cambrian biota.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Eight Beautiful Models
The eight models are very colourful and are great teaching aids. Trouble is, there are no data sheets on these bizarre organisms included in this model set.
The other day Everything Dinosaur received an email from a customer, it read:
“Thank you for sending my order. I wrapped the presents up and gave them to my friend’s son for Xmas. He was delighted with them but in the Cambrian tube there was not a description leaflet as there was in the Prehistoric Crocodile tube. Would it please be possible to send out the Cambrian Leaflet. Many thanks.”
Cambrian Life Fact Cards
One of our team members wrote back and explained that there was no description leaflet made for the Cambrian Life Toob, however, we decided to do something about this ourselves. We are much happier when it comes to researching vertebrates but over a morning we were able to produce four data cards. Each card features two of the prehistoric critters in the set, we have tried to provide a little more information, such as size, fossil finds and which type of animals the creature represented by the replica might be ancestral to.
A Cambrian Life Toob Data Card Made by Everything Dinosaur
Everything Dinosaur provides information on models in the Cambrian Life Toob. Providing information on Cambrian critters.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
We would not claim to be experts on Cambrian fauna, however, the models are so well made and great for school projects so we thought we would do our bit to help.
Everything Dinosaur’s Top Ten Blog Articles of 2014
One of the things we like to do at this time of year at Everything Dinosaur is to review this blog site and pick out those blog articles and news stories that we have featured that have proved to be the most popular. Of the three hundred and sixty articles written in 2014 (we try to write one article per day), picking out just ten has proved to be quite a challenge.
Everything Dinosaur
However, we have looked at page views, comments, Facebook likes, retweets and a whole range of other factors to help us compile a top ten. The subjects covered this year have been as diverse as in previous years, with features ranging from three dimensional printers, the origins of life on Earth, crocodile attacks, World Heritage sites, shrinking sauropods as well as fossil discoveries, new dinosaur models, and Everything Dinosaur updates. Our top ten list reflects the breadth of the topics that we try to cover on this web log and although we would not want to claim any statistical validity for this particular piece of research, here is our top ten countdown.
Popular Blog Posts
10). A Special Year for Ichthyosaur Research
There have been a number of new marine reptiles named and described this year, including some Early Triassic animals whose fossils have been found in China. However, 2014 marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of the first academic paper that described an ichthyosaur and in at number ten is a short article we wrote back in June commemorating this anniversary.
Christmas is a time of year when families get together. In 2014, research into the “human family” has continued at a pace. Team members predicted that there would be more news stories this year about developments in hominin genetic research and it turns out that some diseases associated with our population are linked to our Neanderthal ancestry. One of the first articles we published on the blog looked at a study that had concluded that some diseases associated with H. sapiens can be related to our inherited H.neanderthalensis genes.
8). Pushing the Origins of the Pterosauria Back in Time
A fragmentary fossil of an ancient flying reptile that had been discovered in 2001 got fans of the Pterodactyloidea in a bit of a flap this year when a scientific paper was published describing a new type of pterosaur. The fossil came from north-western China and it pushed back the evolution of the Pterodactyloidea by at least another five million years. Kryptodrakon progenitor, (the name means ancestor of the hidden dragons), is the most primitive, basal member of the Pterodactyloidea pterosaur family known to science and Everything Dinosaur wrote about this exciting fossil find back in April.
New pterosaur named after “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” Film.
Picture credit: Brian Andres
7). Welcome to the “Metal Age” of Palaeontology
Readers of this blog site may well be familiar with the term genome. A number of ancient creatures have had at least part of their genome mapped, Neanderthals, Woolly Mammoths and such like, but in at number seven is an article all about the work of Manchester University and their research into mapping elements such as Zinc, Copper and Nickel that can be preserved within the fossil record.
University of Manchester researchers used a synchrotron particle accelerator to bombard a fifty-million-year-old fossil leaf to help them calculate the chemical composition of an ancient plant. They then compared this data with the metallome of a modern species from a related plant. This was heralded as the start of the “metal age of palaeontology”.
This is the first article in our top ten that concerns the Dinosauria. Sadly, Everything Dinosaur has written about a number dinosaur fossil thefts in 2014. Thieves stealing fossils, especially those of dinosaurs, is a trend we see continuing over the next few years and our story at number six concerns the theft of a dinosaur footprint from Bureau of Land Management managed land in Utah. We first reported on the theft on February 22nd, a local man, the owner of a construction company, was accused of the theft, which he at first denied but in a court hearing (July) he pleaded guilty to stealing the fossil.
Moab resident Jared Ehlers (35), was sentenced on October 20th to six months house arrest and one year of probation. In addition, he was ordered to pay over $15,000 dollars in restitution to help cover the expenses incurred by the Utah Department of Public Safety as they searched the Colorado River for the fossil. Fearing prosecution, Mr Ehlers, who claimed that he had stolen the three-toed footprint as he wanted to make a coffee table out of it, threw the fossil into the river, unfortunately the fossil has never been recovered.
Moab Resident Pleaded Guilty to Trace Fossil Theft
Six months house arrest plus probation and substantial fine for fossil theft.
Into the top five and at number five is an article that featured the launch of Everything Dinosaur’s new website aimed at helping teachers and other educationalists when it comes to teaching about fossils and prehistoric animals. The specially commissioned website: Everything Dinosaur lots of helpful articles, dinosaur toys and models, free downloads and educationtional items aimed at helping teaching professionals and museum staff.
Helping to Teach About Dinosaurs and Fossils in School etc.
Teaching tips, articles, resources and free downloads.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The new site was launched at the end of August to coincide with the start of the autumn term and lots of schools have already benefited from the articles featured as well as the example lesson plans and downloadable teaching resources.
4). Jurassic World (Official Trailer)
Dinosaur fans young and old have been eagerly looking forward to the release of the fourth film in the “Jurassic Park” franchise, “Jurassic World”. The film is due to be premiered in June of 2015, but back in November, a trailer for the movie was finally released and sure enough, Everything Dinosaur’s blog site was one of the first to feature it. The film is bound to be a huge success when it finally comes out and the trailer certainly whetted the appetite and teased viewers about the new, mysterious, genetically engineered dinosaur that is the big villain of this latest instalment of “Jurassic Park”. We can’t wait to learn more about “Diabolus rex”.
The “Jurassic World” Official Trailer
Video credit: Universal Studios
The original blog article featuring the trailer was published on November 25th. Had the trailer come out slightly earlier in the year, it could well have made it to the number one spot on our list.
New Prehistoric Animal Models
3). New Prehistoric Animal Models from CollectA (2015)
2015 sees the introduction of a lot of new dinosaur and prehistoric animal models. Collectors can expect new models from Schleich, Papo and Safari Ltd. All our posts about new replicas did well in our survey of the top blog articles of this year, but our only top ten entry concerns the new 2015 releases from CollectA. We first revealed the list of models back in late October, over the following weeks we wrote several articles providing more information about these new additions to the highly successful CollectA “Prehistoric Life” model range.
A Chalicothere is to be Included in CollectA’s New Models for 2015
Runner up is an article we published on the 27th September. Everything Dinosaur team members had blogged about the fact that dinosaurs in the Ankylosauridae don’t seem to attract that much attention when compared to other ornithischians. How wrong we were as the naming and describing of a new type of heavily armoured dinosaur sparked a great deal of interest amongst readers.
Fragmentary fossils including beautifully preserved cranial material found in 2011 in strata related to the Kirtland Formation were described this year and a new type of armoured dinosaur named. Ziapelta sanjuanensis at over six metres in length, would have made a very formidable adversary for even the largest, hungriest theropod dinosaur.
An Illustration of Ziapelta sanjuanensis (Ankylosaur)
New Armoured Dinosaur from New Mexico.
Picture credit: Sydney Mohr
A New Armoured Dinosaur
This ankylosaurid that roamed New Mexico between 74 and 72 million years ago (Campanian faunal stage), is extremely important as the fossils indicate affinities with better known ankylosaurids whose fossils have been found in Canada (Alberta). This spiky herbivore, described as a “living tank” certainly caused a stir when the scientific paper was published.
Before we reveal our top blog article posting of the year, time for a few honourable mentions. The research into the giant titanosaur known as Dreadnoughtus schrani proved very popular, as did a number of articles published earlier in the year about Patagonian fossil finds. The introduction of the new, high quality dinosaur replica range from Rebor got collectors very excited along with our video review of the new for 2014 prehistoric animal models, including a short video we made showing how to ease the articulated jaw on the Papo Dilophosaurus.
Carnegie Collectibles Tyrannosaurus rex Model
1). Carnegie T. rex (2014) Reviewed
Top of the tree, our number one article was published on the 18th of March. It concerned a review of the new Tyrannosaurus rex model made by Safari Ltd. This model, the only new Carnegie Collectible replica introduced by the company this year was reviewed by Everything Dinosaur team members and despite being introduced with a number of Wild Safari models, it was this T. rex figure that drew most of the attention. We also made a short video review of this very well made model, it also proved popular.
Everything Dinosaur’s Written Review of the Carnegie Collectibles Tyrannosaurus rex at Number One
This model featured in one of our Outlook signatures created for our emails, it must have been seen thousands of times and we also made several reviews of this particular scale replica. The red colouring around the head and its fearsome pose were commented upon by a number of blog readers and we received lots of correspondence about this model from professional collectors and from young dinosaur fans.
A very big thank you to everyone who commented, retweeted and “liked” our articles. We look forward to writing more in 2015, a year that should, if everything goes to plan, feature our 3,000th published article on this site.
Now that Christmas is over and in the lull before the New Year, team members are going to be busy in the warehouse completing our annual stocktake. This job gets bigger every year as we increase the range of dinosaur and prehistoric animal themed products that we have in our inventory. However, mince pies and plenty of hot tea will keep our spirits up.
Everything Dinosaur Warehouse
In addition to this work, we have a number of other projects to complete related to this blog site. For example, we need to compile a top ten list of the most popular blog articles over the last 12 months and publish the results of our annual survey that looks at the movers and shakers amongst prehistoric animals. Whilst working on the annual stocktake we shall also be seeking views as to what we think is going to happen in palaeontology in 2015. We shall have a go at making some predictions about what news stories we shall be covering on the Everything Dinosaur web log.
Team members shall also have the ignominious experience of looking at how our predictions made 12 months ago turned out. It may be a case of having to eat some humble pie along with those mince pies.
Many New Products Added by Everything Dinosaur in 2014
The first of the dinosaur themed T-shirts from Everything Dinosaur.
With new T-shirts, dinosaur toys, models and games having been added, this stocktake is going to be the biggest we have had to carry out so far. Not to worry, many hands make light work and just think, when it is done we don’t have to worry about doing another major inventory check until this time next year.
Naturally, we shall continue to manage all the orders for our customers.
Evidence of Recovery after End Permian Extinction Event
A very strange member of a little known group of ancient marine reptiles has been formally described by a joint team of American and Chinese scientists. The new genus described as “platypus-like” is a hupehsuchian, part of a group of Early Triassic diapsid reptiles, that may have been ancestral to the much better known ichthyosaurs.
Eohupehsuchus brevicollis
The fossil has been named Eohupehsuchus brevicollis, the name means “early short-necked crocodile of Hubei Province” and it was excavated from strata laid down around 248 million years ago (Olenikian faunal stage), as the world recovered from the “Great Permian Dying”, a mass extinction event that is believed to have wiped out around 95% of all the species on the planet.
Fossils associated with Hupehsuchia have been found in two counties within Hubei Province (eastern, central China). The Order Hupehsuchia was named after the alternative name for Hubei Province (hupeh), E. brevicollis is unlike any other known member of the Hupehsuchia as it possessed a short neck, with only six cervical vertebrae.
Hupehsuchian Marine Reptile
Other hupehsuchians had much longer necks, with at least ten neck bones. The forty centimetre long specimen is believed to represent an adult animal, it is somewhat smaller than the better known Nanchangosaurus (fossils dated from the Middle Triassic) and it lacked teeth. Analysis of the skull and jaws indicate that this little reptile probably had a beak like a duck (hence the platypus analogy), it paddled its way through the shallow sea using its strong limbs. The bones are thickened and heavy, indicating some adaptation to a marine environment.
Heavy bones would have helped these animals dive, although it did possess extensive dermal armour, perhaps a remnant of its terrestrial ancestry. Scientists are unsure as to whether the extensive armoured scales evolved in the Hupehsuchia after they adapted to a marine existence or whether these tough scales evolved in this group’s reptile ancestors, which lived on land.
The Fossilised Remains of E. brevicollis
The holotype material for E. brevicollis.
Picture credit: PLOS One
Looked Similar to a Platypus
One of the lead authors of the scientific paper, published this week in the on line journal PLOS One, Professor Ryosuke Motani (University of California Davis), commented:
“Although it’s a very different animal, it had a skull and beak like a duck without teeth, a very heavily built body with thick bones and paddles to swim through the water. The details are different, but the general body design looks similar to a platypus.”
With at least four genera identified as Hupehsuchia, researchers are beginning to piece together how marine ecosystems recovered after the Permian mass extinction. Intriguingly, this specimen indicates that there were most probably large vertebrate predators in the habitat 248 million years ago. The left forelimb is incomplete, with several bones missing and those present are broken. This has been interpreted as a bite from a larger predator that could only have occurred pre-burial.
This little reptile may have been attacked by a predator and escaped only to perish and to be buried a short while after.
This fossil find adds to the growing body of evidence that suggests a rapid radiation and diversification of vertebrates after the mass extinction event.
The University of California researchers have been prominent in the research into Lower Triassic marine reptiles from China. Back in November, Everything Dinosaur published an article on a fossil of a basal ichthyosaur that had been studied by this team. Unlike, Eohupehsuchus which comes from Hubei Province, the basal ichthyosaur fossil was found in the neighbouring province of Anhui (to the east of Hubei Province).
