The spring 2021 edition of “Prehistoric Times” magazine has arrived at Everything Dinosaur and team members have been busy perusing the pages, which as usual are jam-packed with amazing articles, fascinating features and lots of reader-submitted artwork. The front cover for issue 137 was provided by Glen McIntosh, an artist and animator who has worked on the “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World” film franchises.

The cover art features a Gorgosaurus battling an Einiosaurus and another awesome tyrannosaur, one that was contemporaneous with G. libratus – Daspletosaurus, is discussed by Phil Hore and palaeontologist Jordan C. Mallon who looks at this Late Cretaceous predator from the viewpoint of the Canadian Museum of Nature. There are some amazing Daspletosaurus drawings, the artwork by Aaron Natera, Cody Zaiser and Marcus Burkhardt are our personal favourites.

Prehistoric Times Front Cover Spring 2021
The front cover image of the latest “Prehistoric Times” magazine was created by Glen McIntosh. It features an Einiosaurus battling a Gorgosaurus.

Superb Sauropods

John Lavas continues to tell the story of the influential Czech artist Zdeněk Burian with the second part of his feature on the Sauropoda. The article includes some stunning Brontosaurus, Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus illustrations. A Cetiosaurus even makes an appearance.

Burian's famous Brachiosaurus brancai painting.
Giant Dinosaurs Dwelling in Swamps! The famous Burian Brachiosaurus painting which was completed in 1941.

The “Scowl” of Hypsilophodon

Tracy Lee Ford explains how the position of the palpebral (a small bony extension) in relation to the orbit (eye socket) of the ornithopod Hypsilophodon would have given this dinosaur a permanent scowl. He provides detailed drawings of the triangular-shaped skull and suggests how it should be fleshed out when creating a life reconstruction. There is even a mention of the iconic Neave Parker illustration of a tree-living hypsilophodont.

Hypsilophodon in a Tree
Hypsilophodon was once thought to have been arboreal. Tracy Lee Ford’s article provides information on how to illustrate this small ornithopod.

The UK’s Mike Howgate contributes two articles, the first detailing the work of naturalist Edward Kay Robinson to provide three-dimensional images of exhibits on display at the British Museum (now the Natural History Museum), at the beginning of the 20th century. The second, related article, looks at the commissioning of Cenozoic mammal models and the work of Vernon Edwards. These articles provide a sense of how museums have changed and how the exhibits within them have changed also.

Father and son team, Tony and James Pinto have been working on a television documentary entitled “Why Dinosaurs?”, it examines the public’s fascination for the Dinosauria, a challenging project even without the extra problems caused due to the global pandemic. Magazine editor Mike Fredericks provides book reviews including a new biography of Mary Anning “Dinosaur Lady: The Daring Discoveries of Mary Anning, the First Palaeontologist”, a title that emphasises how our fascination with dinosaurs seems to overshadow research into marine reptiles and the Pterosauria.

The “Paleonews” section covers a broad range of topics from how Parasaurolophus evolved fancy headgear, to titanosaur discoveries and agile Permian predators (Anteosaurus).

With new prehistoric animal model information and the ever-reliable Randy Knol providing insight on how gamers use models and replicas within their genre, there is certainly a lot to praise about this latest issue.

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