Cuddlysaurus: where fluffy IS deadly

Cuddly-looking, fluffy and fuzzy: not something you'd expect to describe a very large carnivorous mesozoic predator. BUT, there WAS a downy dinosaur. Yutyrannus huali, the tyrannosaurid with the fluffy coat, is the largest dinosaur discovered with a full covering of feathers.

Y. huali was uncovered in China, and estimated to be 60 million years older that its famous cousin, Tyrannosaurus rex. Although considerably feathered, the immense bulk of the predator would not have been very aerodynamic - instead the down was purely for insulation, perhaps with a little splash of colour for display. It's not entirely odd for a predator to be feathered - snowy owls manage quite well in polar climates and their physiology is simply a downsized version of Yutyrannus.

(Image of Yutyrannus huali by Alain Beneteau aka dustdevil)

Info collected from these news articles here, here and here.
And this journal article in Nature.

Currency of the extinct

Damn it Australia!!!

We already have the superior "plastic money"... but despite this, we are a land girt by sea... and are clearly MISSING OUT ON A HUGE OPPORTUNITY!!

I mean, Australia, we had dinosaurs... so... if Canada can do this then why haven't we done it yet?!?! I am talking about, of course:

GLOW-IN-THE-DARK dinosaur money!!!

The very awesome coins will be ready for purchase next Monday for C$29.90!

Parenting WIN

This is fantastic!

A definite parenting WIN in my books!
(reminds me of my brother and myself)

Little Bix nursery

Protoceratops andrewsi nest from Mongolia - image from National Geographic, by Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar

Nawwww!

There's so many of them and they all so tiny and cute! If you have read Dinotopia by James Gurney, you'd know of Bix. For those who need a refresher course, Bix was a traveling dinosaur Ambassador and she was also a Protoceratops. The link here is that these little hatchlings are also Protoceratops, from Mongolia. A total of 15 youngsters were uncovered in a nest.

Will and Bix from James Gurney's Dinotopia

Protoceratops is a herbivorous, beaked dinosaur that lived over 85-70mya. It's the smaller cousin of Triceratops, but lacking facial horns. Its life-cycle is pretty well know due to the amount of fossil evidence of hatchlings, adolescents, and male and female adults.

image from Melbourne Museum

Protoceratops also lived along-side Velociraptor. This is famously noted in the "Dueling Dinosaurs", where a Protoceratops locked its beak tightly on the forearm of a velociraptor; the moment being frozen in time and sediment.

image of Dueling Dinosaurs by AMNH

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

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

Nonsensical pseudo-science

The Creation Museum... where dinosaurs
become "Missionary Lizard(s)"

Enough said...

Food-a-saurus nommm

Wow... it's been a while since my last blog. I'm in the process of moving house (still moving) and currently under pressure to finish painting the rooms before the flooring goes down. EEEEPP! So I'm rather tired and very lazy after a few daylight hours boxing ornaments, folding clothes, painting undercoats and filling holes (giggle) in the walls to feel mentally stimulated enough to blog ANYTHING.

But I've poured through my random files and found a few pics to share... all dinosaur related, of course. :D All spurred on by the sandwich cutter I got from Kass earlier this year. I feel great every time I use it!


The cake feature here is something most appealing to me... vintage triceratops! And since my birthday is less than 2 weeks from now, I shall be looking forward to blowing out a forest fire atop one of these cakey masterpieces! *hint hint* :P


From now on, I expect Easter to be a very prehistoric affair... in the name of Raptor Jesus and chocolate. I want the T.rex ones (far right, bottom shelf)!


T.rex melon head - great for children's parties... teach the buggars to keep their hands out of the food bowls by adding pointy toothpick teeth.


Cutest stegosaurus dim sim ever. Probably the ONLY dinosaur dim sims ever.

This book is amazing, Planet Cake Cupcakes by Paris Cutler, for the most adorable, clever, cheerful and nom cupcakes. I have the book and have struggled in making reindeer cupcakes for Christmas last year because I suck at making coloured fondant with liquid food colouring. But look at the dinosaurs you can make!!

Museum in a Jar

I draw your undivided attention onto this SPECTACULAR piece of art by Japanese, Akinobu. He makes the most amazing scenery and objects and literally bottles them... in TINY JARS! I found him [Tiny World in a Bottle] on Etsy by accident (as all great discoveries are made) and have fallen in the deepest of affections for his miniature masterpieces.

Bony fish

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Fossilised Pteranodon

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Fossil Stegosaurus

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Fossil Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus and Apatosaurus

Please, check his work out.

There's a number of them for sale; ranging from $23 to $70 USD. All beautifully crafted by an artist with wonderful talent.

Dino plushies vol. 1

CAVES!!Run little vegesaurus's! Run away from the meatasaurus!

Little rock cave with dinosaur plushies!! It's just so cute! This set is beautifully made by FAO Schwarz with 7 different dinosaurs "peacefully co-exist" in a plush rock cave. I know its for ages 3+... but I still think it's cool. A little pricey though, $80+ (including delivery) [maybe try Ebay ;)].

Or there is the cheap knock-off version, Dinosaur House. Just as cute, but less grrrr. Around $20-$30. The difference between this version and the one above is the "missing" zip cave door; instead the dinos are squished into the tiny crevices.

And lastly, there is My Dinosaur Friends! Yay!! But this time you get a Cave person (I can't tell if it's a guy or girl :P), and a half hatched dino chick! For me, this is the more extreme of timeline mashing - that is, of course, if you are adamant that early humans walked around in fear of being eaten by vicious roaming dinosaurs, then this will seem the most accurate plush set! Raaarrrr!! This little set will cost you about $15-$25.

Taburin is a God among palaeo-sculptors

Taburin is a Japanese sculptor with a keen interest in dinosaurs. His motto behind each beautiful sculpture (which has definitely caught my eye in the detail) is: "To make as accurately as possible". His dinosaur skeletons are made primarily of pine and Japanese chestnut wood. I am in AWE of this man!

Tyrannosaurus (right) with Spinosaurus (left).

I couldn't make this post without adding T.rex :P
The skeletal "remains" of a Nigersaurus.

Protoceratops and Velociraptor "Fighting Dinosaurs" - in their final moments!

Carnoturus skull with hand for scale

A Gorgosaurus in the process of construction and then the final product

The making of Diabloceratops.

Little Tarbs

In recent news (dinosaur based):

In 2006 the youngest and most complete skeleton (including skull) of a tyrannosaur, Tarbosaurus bataar, has revealed interesting patterns of behaviour dissimilar to fully grown adults. The juvenile is definitely a Tarbosaurus bataar due to the discovery of adults of this species in Mongolia's Gobi Desert in the same site from previous expeditions. It is believed to be approximately 2 - 3 years old when the youngster died. Like a gangly teenager, this dino toddler was more agile and lithe than its parents - with the ability to out-run and out-maneuver small prey, little Tarbs could hunt for itself but without the bite force behind the infamous tyrannosaur jaws.

Tarbosaur trio by Nima Sissani

Little Tarbs is an important discovery on many levels: (1) the feeding behaviour of young tyrannosaurs is a first for palaeo-science, suggesting tyrannosaurs changed dietary preferences as they matured; (2) this supports the notion that tyrannosaurs were not simply scavengers, but that they had the ability to hunt for themselves; (3) lastly, this juvenile will help clarify whether juvenile and adult specimens of tyrannosaurs previously classified are of the same or different species, ie. "Jane" is she a juvenile Tyrannosaurus OR an adult Nanotyrannus? We may just be able to find out.



Tsuihiji, T., Watabe, M., Tsogtbaatar, K., Tsubamoto, T., Barsbold, R., Suzuki, S., Lee, A. H., Ridgely, R. C., Kawahara, Y., and Witmer, L. M. 2011. Cranial osteology of a juvenile specimen of Tarbosaurus bataar (Theropoda, Tyrannosauridae) from the Nemegt Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of Bugin Tsav, Mongolia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, vol. 31, no. 3, pp 497 - 517

"Chicken" nuggets would have been bigger. . .

What saved the Dinosaurs?

Well... if you put some thought into it... one could argue that the need for a tangible, genuine monster/behemoth from Biblical literature for those who need proof, the determined progress of palaeontologists, the excitement in the enormity of something so unbelievably awesome and the adulation of children from all walks of life... oh yes, and the support of film makers (thank you Spielberg - no, seriously... thank you).

But evidently, they didn't survive in the living diversity as they once did before obliteration - just smaller, more advanced variations... and invariably more delicious (having only present-day poultry to go by this could only be speculation... for now).

This tastes like 65 million years of staleness

Never thought I'd see the words "Fresh and Delicious" tied in with "Fossil Fuels".

Other than that, I will be looking forward to finding out if this is a marketable franchise and if it is, why is it not down the road from my house? If not... then I am most disappointed - think of the children (and me!).

Dinosaurs need love too

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day 2011, whether you have a special someone or not!!

[Stegosaurlub by DA's Earthknight]

When you need a hero...

THEY'LL BE THERE!

Artwork and concept by d.r3sto on flickr

Feathery upset

I had this journal article in Nature brought to my attention; and low and behold! It has my favourite palaeoartist, Raul Martin's interpretation of this amazing predator, Concavenator corcovatus...

Interesting features of this 130 million year old predatory dinosaur:
(1) a strange hump on its back; and
(2) unusual calcareous lumps on its forearms (believed to bear quills - a possible evidence of feathers).

The eleventh and twelfth vertebrae are more prominent, being double the height of the rest of the vertebrae. This pyramidal crest may have been used in territorial disputes and/or attracting a mate, or even similarly used in a manner resembling Stegosaurus' plates. (To me, it looks like an ideal, gentle slope where a male Concavenator could rest his chest while romancing the lady... but that's my outlandish observation).
At this point, all we can gather is Concavenator is a rather strange specimen.

Now the bumps on the forearms is even more controversial than the odd triangular hump. So the problem here is this... C. corcovatus provides evidence that feathers began to appear earlier than previously thought. Which now puts a little twist in the Therapod family tree, as Concavenator is more closely related to "Big Al" (MOR 693) which, up until now, have never had a feathery relative. The sister lineage which has the feather-featuring dinosaurs (T. rex) and finally leading to modern-day birds has now been thrown into shambles over the rights to bear plumage.

Vintageosaurus mistakeii

Reconstruction of Laelaps (now known as Dryptosaurus) - by Edward Drinker Cope - possessing a typical (at the time) vertical posture, slouching head and useless arms. Image from Love in the time of Chasmosaurus

We occasionally make mistakes. Everyone can think of at least one major mistake they've made during their career (undoubtedly we make a couple in our personal lives which we may or may not wish to recall). But I want to look into some memorable vintage palaeo mistakes. . . the ones generally made when there is nothing in the known world (19th century known world) that can be comparable to the discovery of massive "lizard bones":

Iguanodon
Most people will recognise this dinosaur more than the first palaeo reconstruction mistake, Megalosaurus. The first reconstruction of iguanodon was the huge iguana-like statue which still stands at Crystal Palace, south London, by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. The "thumb spike" was placed on the tip of the snout, creating a more lizard-like appearance. In some aspects, Hawkins' iguanodon resembles a horned, very toothy chameleon.

The initial reconstruction of Iguanodon by Hawkins, and the current corrected version by Raul Martin.

Apatosaurus (formerly Brontosaurus)
The Apatosaurus went through many changes, but one of the more notable was the correction of its skull. For many years until 1975, the poor sauropod borrowed the skull of a distantly related cousin, Camarasaurus - more closely related to Brachiosaurus. The contrast in the two skull types are quite astounding.

Left is the Camarasaurus skull, which for years was placed upon the body of "Brontosaurus", the skull on the right is that of a Diplodocus, a close relative of Apatosaurus (NE: Brotosaurus) and displays what the skull of Apatosaurus should have been like. Image from Taylor, M.P., Wedel, M.J., Naish, D. 2009. Head and neck posture in sauropod dinosaurs inferred from extant animals. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 54(2): 213-220

Posture, poise and grace
For most dinosaurs, the position of the legs and the weight-bearing stance was often incorrect. Tyrannosaurus, Iguanodon, Triceratops, Stegosaurus and even large sauropods have all fallen at the unbalanced positioning of their limbs and tails. Tyrannosaurus, for example, for many years had been depicted as near vertically erect like an alert meerkat and balanced precariously on its tail (which dragged along the floor similarly to sauropods depicted around the early 20th century). In the case of the sauropods, (such as Diplodocus) they were occasionally illustrated with bow-legs; dragging their enormous bulk through the dirt, long tail limp behind them. Due to this hefty burden, most sauropods were placed in an aquatic setting to allow them more buoyancy. Providing evidence in the fact that poor teaching and a long-standing reliance in religion and Creationism doesn't achieve results in reality.

The reason for bringing up some of the errors in palaeontology (and particularly reconstructions) is in showing that when first uncovered, after the initial analysis and subsequent recording of characteristics and features, not everything about a specimen will be correct. More often than not, since science is forever updating its knowledge and techniques, things which may not have been considered important may, in fact, turn out to be the exact source of information which could completely alter the definition of that specimen... as an example, I turn your attention to BMRP 2002.4.1 "Jane"... (in my heart, always a Nanotyrannus), or maybe the example of the absorption of Stygimoloch and Dracorex as individual species into different growth stages of Pachycephalosaurus would be for better understanding.

Top 5 Fossil Discoveries (IMO)

-1- Materpiscis "Mother fish"
Ancient fish from Australia's Kimberley region, c.380 million years ago. Oldest known fossil displaying viviparous characteristics (live birthing) in the fossil record.

-2- Gogonasus
Ancient fish from the primitive tropical Australian reef 380 million years ago. Its breathing structure on its head, and forearm lobe-fin joints were precursors to the middle ear and limbs (radius and ulna). Gogonasus now replaces Quebec's Eusthenopteron (the original "missing link" in terms of early tetrapod development) in the tetrapod relationship. Since it's so ancient, this pushes the first appearance of these features further back in the fossil record.

-3- Darwinius masillae "Ida"

The most complete skeleton of the earliest stage of human - the key "missing link". Small, lemur-like fossil believed to be the earliest stage of human evolution. Not related to lemurs due to the lack of dew claw on the forelimbs and there is not a fused tooth comb (both characteristics are primary features of lemur).

-4- Homo floresiensis "Flores Man" aka: Hobbit
Potential to rewrite human history. Believed to be a separate species of homonid from humans, but appeared to exist around the same time as early H. sapiens (hobbits were founds on the Idon Flores while humans inhabited the rest of the world). Possible disease and/or rare genetic disorder caused their shorter stature.

-5- Megalosaurus bucklandii "Giant lizard"
The first dinosaur (besides birds) to be scientifically described and subsequently named. It came upon the unfortunate name "Scrotum humanum" by Richard Brookes in 1763 due to its identification by Reverend Plot as the femur of a giant human (as described in the Bible). Its appearance was believed to be a long limbed, quadrupedal dog-like crocodile before coming to its more correct form.

Fossil evidence suggests. . .

So... Perth Museum had a dinosaur exhibit recently - a few animatronics here and there. But it was at their permanent display of a rather large carnotosaur-like therapod that I saw this sign. Now, any self-respecting dinosaur lover would clearly see the problem here with the image, however, I'll point it out.

The dinosaur is an Allosaurid, not a plant eating hadrosaur Muttaburrasaurus. And considering the artist, Peter Trusler, intended it to be a carnivore, I expect that no-one in the museum really put a whole lot of effort into their signage...

That's my gripe with Perth Museum over. . .