Dr. Scott... I heart you.

Joyful tidings!

I've scratched up another dinosaur! And it's a little relation to Velociraptor too. Talos sampsoni. Now why is this little raptor so amazing and exciting to me?!?!

Well, the palaeontologist who pushed for the Kaiparowits Basin Project, is not only the curator of the Utah Museum of Natural History... but he's also DR. SCOTT the Palaeontologist from DINOSAUR TRAIN!!! Yes, Scott Sampson!

I haven't been more excited about a children's TV series since.... I can't even remember! This show got me hooked the very first time I saw it because of one thing that stood out amongst all other children's shows: the correct scientific names for dinosaur species was used to introduce "new" dinosaurs to the imaginations of children. The meaning behind the species names are also woven into the show.

Dr. Scott teaching kids about Deinonychus
(related to Velociraptor and Talos)

Zanno LE, Varricchio DJ, O'Connor PM, Titus AL, Knell MJ, 2011 A New Troodontid Theropod, Talos sampsoni gen. et sp. nov., from the Upper Cretaceous Western Interior Basin of North America. PLoS ONE 6(9): e24487. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024487

Evolution; a fact

It was pointed out to me by a rather ingenious mind that:

"Evolution is a fact".

She followed this statement with:

"It sounds even better translated to Polish:
Ewolucja jest faktem."

The Polish are wise people.

Maryland's miniature version of "Url"

Propanoplosaurus marylandicus: A young juvenile nodosaur (ankylosaur: aka "Url" from Dinosaur) uncovered in a Maryland university in 1997. Only making its debut in the latest installment by the Journal of Paleontology.

Makes me wonder...

What's lying underneath my university??

I'm gonna dig me up a dinosaur!

Stanford R., Weishampel D.B., and Deleon V.B., 2011. The First Hatchling Dinosaur Reported from the Eastern United States: Propanoplosaurus marylandicus (Dinosauria: Ankylosauria) from the Early Cretaceous of Maryland, U.S.A. Journal of Paleontology, 85: pp 916-924

Fine whiskered gentlemen

I've been going through a few webcomics and I've managed to hook myself onto Lackadaisy (again)! If you love the 1920's theme, cats and bootlegging then you will love this webcomic.

READ!!

Eagles like pork chops too

April 2011: A Wedgetail eagle in Kalbarri gorge, WA. Rounded a bend towards the Murchison River near Little Red Hill and Big Red Hill (damn Australia, we're bloody imaginative). Saw the eagle on the ground and we were pretty excited to see that it had caught something barely minutes before we arrived. This caused a HUGE debate in the car as to what it had caught - the majority said "rabbit"... I claimed "pig".

The car spooked the wedgie, so she tried to drag her prize away into the bushes. We were curious but were also interested in checking the state of the river for future fishing expeditions a few metres away. We hopped out the car and the wedgie decided that we were after her and dropped her kill in the bushes nearby. I wondered over carefully, and used a stick to examine the carcass (didn't want to leave gross human smells on eagle food :P) since the wedgie was still hanging around to grab her meal back the moment we left.

Guess who was right?!?!

Pork chops of Razor-back piglet!!
(headless)