Everything Dinosaur has received 300 5-star Google reviews. Every Google reviewer to date has awarded the UK-based mail order company top marks. Earlier today, the company’s 300th Google review was posted up. Team members expressed their gratitude and stated that they were humbled by all the kind comments they had received.
The Everything Dinosaur website has thousands of customer reviews on it. In addition, the company has been working with Feefo for many years, gathering customer feedback and comments. It is estimated that Everything Dinosaur has received over 3,500 Feefo reviews.
The company was recently awarded Feefo’s highest accolade – the Platinum Trusted Service Award.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur stated:
“Our thanks to all the wonderful people that have provided feedback. We read every single one and we respond to all those that require a reply. What with the website, Feefo and Google we have received thousands of 5-star reviews from customers.”
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Whether it is prehistoric animal figures, clothing or dinosaur soft toys, Everything Dinosaur has got it covered. The feedback from customers demonstrates the team’s commitment to service.
The new Schleich Stegosaurus (2024) dinosaur model is coming into stock at Everything Dinosaur. Team members took the opportunity to photograph this new Schleich figure at the Spielwarenmesse.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The Schleich Stegosaurus (2024)
Schleich have chosen to give their new ornithischian figure an extremely scaly skin. Schleich prehistoric animal models are known for their tactile qualities. The design team have worked hard on creating the model’s texture. The elaborate, multi-layered plates on the back of the model are intriguing. However, we don’t think these plates are scientifically accurate.
Schleich have produced several versions of Stegosaurus over the years. This armoured dinosaur is extremely popular with children. It regularly appears in the top five of our surveys examining the popularity of prehistoric animals.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“We are looking forward to receiving the new Schleich Stegosaurus. It will be stock at Everything Dinosaur very soon. The Stegosaurus joins the new for 2024 Schleich figures that are already in our warehouse. We expect the new colour version of the Schleich Brachiosaurus, the red Brachiosaurus model will arrive at the same time as the Schleich Stegosaurus.”
The Schleich Stegosaurus (2024) figure measures twenty centimetres in length. Those elaborate hip plates are around ten centimetres off the ground. This figure along with the Schleich red Brachiosaurus model will be in stock soon.
A new, pony-sized Moroccan lambeosaurine dinosaur has been named and described. The new dinosaur has been named Minqaria bata. It closely resembles the only previously known African duckbill, Ajnabia odysseus. However, the shape of the jaws and teeth are unique, demonstrating it was a distinct species. Minqaria probably occupied a different ecological niche.
Minqaria bata – (Arabic for “Beak” and “Duck” Respectively)
The fossils consisting of a right maxilla with teeth, a partial left dentary and the braincase come from marine phosphate deposits located at Sidi Chennane in the Oulad Abdoun Basin. The size of the fossils, the associated matrix and the lack of duplication of elements suggests that these fossils came from a single, mature dinosaur. They represent a dwarf duck-billed dinosaur, a Late Cretaceous lambeosaurine that was smaller than Ajnabia odysseus, the first hadrosaurid known from Africa (Longrich et al, 2020). M. bata is estimated to have been around 3.5 metres in length and weighed approximately 250 kilograms.
The genus name is derived from the Arabic “minqar” which means beak and the species name is from the Arabic “bata” for duck.
The Diversity of North African Lambeosaurines
A humerus and femur also described in the scientific paper appear to represent lambeosaurines too. However, their size indicates that larger lambeosaurines, animals longer than six metres in length were also present in the ecosystem.
The discovery of Ajnabia in 2020 was surprising. During the Late Cretaceous, hundreds of miles of water separated North Africa from Eurasia. The new lambeosaurine fossils not only confirm the existence of lambeosaurines in North Africa, but shows they were diverse, with at least four taxa present.
How Did Duck-billed Dinosaurs Get to North Africa?
This new study published in the journal “Scientific Reports” reveals that not only did duckbills manage to cross the Tethys Sea, but they became highly diverse once they colonised Africa. The duck-billed dinosaurs are thought to have evolved in North America. Africa during the Late Cretaceous was an isolated continent, surrounded on all sides by water. So, how did duckbill dinosaurs, a group that evolved in North America, end up in Morocco?
Anatomical traits of Minqaria are similar to European hadrosaurs. The researchers postulate that duckbills either swam or floated across several hundred kilometres of open water to colonise Africa.
Dr Nick Longrich (University of Bath), who led the study commented:
“These were probably loud, vocal animals. Modern birds vocalise to find mates, or to declare territories. But they’re especially vocal in flocks – a flock of flamingos or a nesting colony of pelicans is extremely noisy, constantly communicating. So, it’s likely that like birds, these duckbills were social animals.”
Social Dinosaurs
The brain is also large by dinosaur standards, a feature associated with social animals like crows and primates.
Dr Longrich explained:
“There were probably very loud, noisy herds – or flocks if you prefer – of these little duckbills wandering the coasts of Morocco 66 million years ago.”
Commenting on the presence of lambeosaurine dinosaurs on the isolated continent of Africa, Dr Longrich added:
“Not only did duckbills manage to reach Africa at the end of the Cretaceous, but once they did, they quickly evolved to take advantage of open niches and became diverse.”
Analogies can be found in the modern world. Animals can sometimes make unexpected and unusual journeys across large bodies of water. During the Ice Age, elephants, deer and hippos were able to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach the island of Crete. Iguanas swept offshore by a hurricane can be transported hundreds of miles to other Caribbean islands as they cling to dislodged vegetation.
Dr Longrich stated:
“It’s extremely improbable that dinosaurs could cross water to get to Africa, but improbable isn’t the same as impossible. And given enough time, improbable things become probable. Buy a lottery ticket every day, and if you wait long enough, you’ll win. These ocean crossings might be once-in-a-million-year events but the Cretaceous lasted nearly 100 million years. A lot of strange things will happen in that time – including dinosaurs crossing seas.”
Remarkable to Discover Fossils of Hadrosaurs Like Minqaria bata in Africa
Co-author Dr Nour-Eddine Jalil (Natural History Museum of Paris and the Université Cadi Ayyad in Morocco) commented:
“Minqaria and its relatives are players that a few years ago we would never have supposed to be on the African continent at that time.”
The doctor added:
“The phosphates of Morocco offers new images on past biodiversity in a key period of the history of life, the last moments of the dinosaur age followed by the diversification of mammals, announcing a new era. Despite their marine origin, these phosphates of Morocco also contain remains of vertebrates that lived on land. They constitute one of the only windows on the terrestrial ecosystems in Africa. The dinosaur remains suggest a great diversity, all the three major groups of dinosaurs are represented, the abelisaurid carnivores and the sauropod and ornithischian herbivores.”
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a media release from the University of Bath in the compilation of this article.
The scientific paper: “A new small duckbilled dinosaur (Hadrosauridae: Lambeosaurinae) from Morocco and dinosaur diversity in the late Maastrichtian of North Africa” by Nicholas R. Longrich, Xabier Pereda-Suberbiola, Nathalie Bardet and Nour-Eddine Jalil published in Scientific Reports.
A fossil once thought to represent an Early Permian reptile with soft tissue preservation has been proven to be a fake. The fossilised remains of a lizard-like reptile named Tridentinosaurus antiquus were found in the 1930s. It was thought to be an extremely rare fossil with carbonised skin impressions surrounding the articulated fossil bones. However, a detailed analysis of the specimen has revealed that these “soft tissues” were painted on.
Tridentinosaurus antiquus Specimen is a Forgery
Discovered in the Italian Alps near the “Stramaiolo” (Redebus) locality in the Pinè Valley, the fossil was thought to represent one of the oldest, nearly complete and articulated reptiles known to science. Writing in the journal “Palaeontology”, the research team used a variety of techniques to analyse the surface structure of the twenty-centimetre-long fossil.
The results demonstrated that the purported fossilised soft tissues of Tridentinosaurus antiquus are not original. The fossil is a forgery. The paint applied within the prepared area around the poorly preserved bones and osteoderms, produced the shape of a slender lizard-like animal making the specimen look authentic.
Carbonised plant remains are known from the same locality. The forged body outline and soft tissues misled scientists who thought that the soft tissue had been carbonised just like plant fossils from this region. Under ultraviolet light the plant fossils did not fluoresce, however, the reptile fossil outline became fluorescent. Normally, carbonised fossil material does not fluoresce when exposed to UV light. However, artificial pigments, vanishes and glues are likely to become fluorescent.
The Validity of the Taxon is Doubted
Tridentinosaurus antiquus represents one of the oldest fossil reptiles known to science. The taphonomy and the appearance of this fossil had puzzled palaeontologists for decades. It was thought to represent a primitive diapsid reptile, a basal member of the Archosauromorpha that gave rise to the dinosaurs, crocodiles and birds.
The researchers were able to confirm that many of the features of this specimen had been forged. This discovery raises questions about the validity of this enigmatic taxon.
Despite the manipulation of the specimen, it may still have scientific value. The poorly preserved long bones of the hindlimbs seem to be genuine and resemble the quality of preservation of exposed bones of Late Triassic pterosauromorphs such as Scleromochlus. Perhaps, this fossil is an example of the lineage of basal archosaurs that gave rise to the flying reptiles (Pterosauria).
Why Fake a Fossil?
Fossils are sometimes manipulated to make them more valuable to collectors. If the fossil can be seen to be more complete or rare it can greatly enhance their monetary value.
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a media release from the Museum of Nature South Tyrol (Naturmuseum Südtirol) in the compilation of this article.
The scientific paper: “Forged soft tissues revealed in the oldest fossil reptile from the early Permian of the Alps” by Valentina Rossi, Massimo Bernardi, Mariagabriella Fornasiero, Fabrizio Nestola, Richard Unitt, Stefano Castelli, Evelyn Kustatscher published in Palaeontology.
Visit the Everything Dinosaur website (there are no fakes here): Everything Dinosaur.
We have frogspawn in the office pond. Today, a clump of frogspawn was observed in a shallow area of the office pond. Frogs had been spotted in the pond a few days ago, it seems that the spawning season has started. This is the earliest date in the year that we have recorded frogspawn. Last year (2023), the first frogspawn was recorded on the 28th of February. This was the first time that the frogs have spawned in February. This year, the frogs have begun spawning even earlier.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Common Frogs (Rana temporaria)
The spawn was produced by Common frogs (Rana temporaria). Observations by team members suggest that there were four frogs in the pond. The pond has been created to attract wildlife and frogs have laid their eggs in the pond each spring since 2008. For many years the frogs spawned around the third week of March. However, there is a distinct trend for recording spawning much earlier in the year.
Could this be a consequence of global warming and climate change?
It has certainly been very mild over the last week or two. Temperatures of 13-14 degrees Celsius have been recorded in the northwest of England. The average temperature for February in the Manchester area of England would normally be expected to be around 4-7 degrees Celsius.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Frogspawn Laid in a Shallow Part of the Pond
The frogs have laid their eggs in a shallow part of the pond. Eggs are not normally laid in this part of the office pond. Folklore suggests that if frogs lay in the shallows, then the next few weeks will be mild but wet. We will continue to observe the pond to see if more frogs arrive and more spawn is produced.
Everything Dinosaur has received some new images of Mojo Fun prehistoric animal models. One of our favourites highlights the recently introduced Mojo Fun Woolly Rhinoceros. This replica of Coelodonta antiquitatis was introduced in 2023. The model has proved to be extremely popular with prehistoric animal model collectors.
This Woolly Rhino model measures approximately 18 cm in length. Everything Dinosaur team members estimate its head height is around 7 cm. It is a stunning figure of a prehistoric mammal.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur praised Mojo Fun for their excellent Woolly Rhino image and added:
“The Woolly Rhino is synonymous with the Ice Age. However, these magnificent animals were geographically widespread during the Pleistocene Epoch and thrived in grassland habitats.”
Yesterday, Everything Dinosaur team members posted up an article that provided information on the evolutionary history of burrowing vertebrates. The first vertebrates to dig burrows were probably lungfish. These animals were similar to extant lungfish, animals such as Neoceratodus forsteri, the Australian lungfish. This taxon is also referred to as the Queensland lungfish.
Ironically, it is thought that this species of lungfish does not enter a dormant state (aestivation), by producing a mucous cocoon and burying itself in mud. Neoceratodus forsteri inhabits slow-moving rivers and reservoirs, primarily in south-eastern Queensland. In contrast, the African genus Protopterus does dig burrows. Protopterus is distantly related to the Australian lungfish. During the dry season when lakes tend to dry up, this fish excavates a burrow and buries itself in the mud. It enters a state of dormancy (aestivation), enabling it to survive whilst it waits for the water to return. During aestivation Protopterus is able to reduce its metabolism to 1/60th of its active state.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A team of researchers, including scientists from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin examined the origins and early evolution of vertebrate burrowing behaviour. Their paper was published in Earth-Science Reviews.
The scientific paper comprises a short overview of convergent morphological and behavioural adaptations seen in modern fossorial taxa. The researchers also document the diversity of extant vertebrate burrows. In addition, the team reviews the fossil record of inferred vertebrate burrows and fossorial vertebrates from the Devonian to the Triassic. Results highlight a probable Devonian earliest occurrence of fossoriality in continental vertebrates (Dipnoi – lungfishes).
The earliest lungfish taxa were mostly marine animals. However, after the Carboniferous, lung fish fossils are confined to deposits laid down in freshwater environments.
The Australian lungfish specimen at the London Natural History Museum is displayed next to a model of a Protopterus burrow. This can confuse visitors, it was stated earlier in this article that not all lungfish exhibit this burrowing behaviour.
A newly published scientific paper documents the evolutionary history of burrowing vertebrates. Many animals alive today are able to live underground. Burrows are used for a variety of purposes. They are used for shelter, protection and for breeding. Understanding the origin and early evolution of fossorial vertebrates and the architecture and function of the burrows they excavate is an important component of the history of life on Earth. However, little research has been done into this area of vertebrate behaviour. A newly published scientific paper reviews the fossil record of vertebrate burrows and fossorial vertebrates.
Picture credit: Zhao Chuang
The Evolution of Burrowing Vertebrates
Scientists including Dr Lorenzo Marchetti and colleagues from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin analysed both body and trace fossils. The fossil material covered a large interval of geological time, from the Devonian to the Triassic. The research revealed an older appearance of several features related to burrowing behaviour and their relationship with global warming and mass extinctions.
During the Devonian-Carboniferous, burrows were probably used primarily for aestivation or temporary shelter and evidence of fossoriality is restricted so far to European and North American localities. During the Permian, fossoriality became geographically widespread and developed in new, distantly related vertebrate lineages. This is evidence of convergent evolution. Adaptations for burrowing and living underground being identified in both synapsids and diapsids.
The research highlights that lungfish (Dipnoi) were probably the first vertebrates to use burrows. Lungfish excavate burrows so that they have a protected environment in which they can spend long periods in a state of dormancy (aestivation). This behaviour probably first evolved in the Devonian.
Burrows Became Bigger and More Complex
The paper, published in “Earth-Science Reviews” outlines a trend for bigger and more complex burrows during the Palaeozoic and into the Mesozoic. Burrows became permanent shelters and breeding locations. The researchers link these developments to climate crises such as the Cisuralian aridification (Early Permian) and the end-Permian extinction event.
After the end-Permian mass extinction, vertebrate fossoriality became more common and widespread. This behaviour became a feature of continental environments and in more distal floodplain areas, probably as a consequence of changing fluvial regimes. In the Triassic, fossoriality is recorded in even more groups, such as the Temnospondyli and the Procolophonidae. In addition, evidence of burrow sharing by unrelated vertebrates appears. This indicates that burrowers were playing an increasing role as ecosystem engineers.
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a media release from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin in the compilation of this article.
The scientific paper: “Origin and early evolution of vertebrate burrowing behaviour” by Lorenzo Marchetti, Mark J. MacDougall, Michael Buchwitz, Aurore Canoville, Max Herde, Christian F. Kammerer and Jörg Fröbisch published in Earth-Science Reviews.
The Wild Safari Prehistoric World Utahraptor dinosaur model is now in stock. This extremely colourful and detailed dromaeosaur model is available from Everything Dinosaur. Team members got the opportunity to photograph the figure whilst visiting a trade show in Europe.
This hand-painted Utahraptor replica measures twenty-three centimetres in length. It stands around eleven and a half centimetres tall. It is an extremely colourful dinosaur model. The vivid blue colouration reminds us of a budgerigar. Dromaeosaurids like Utahraptor are, after all, distantly related to modern birds. The Wild Safari Prehistoric World Utahraptor dinosaur model is supplied with an Everything Dinosaur Utahraptor fact sheet.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur welcomed the arrival of the Utahraptor dinosaur model. Other new figures from Safari Ltd will be available later in the year.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
To view the extensive range of prehistoric animal figures and dinosaur toys available from Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Visit Everything Dinosaur.
Eurypterids (Eurypterida) are often referred to as sea scorpions. Like scorpions these extinct invertebrates are members of the Arthropoda Phylum. They are distantly related to extant scorpions and spiders. It is thought that the first eurypterids evolved during the Ordovician. They thrived in the Silurian and Devonian. Giant forms evolved, animals like Jaekeklopterus, Acutiramus and Pterygotus. However, the number of taxa was severely depleted during the end-Devonian extinction event and although they survived for at least another 100 million years or so, during the Carboniferous and Permian they only made up a very small percentage of the taxa described from fossil deposits.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The picture (above) shows two Pterygotus anglicus fossil specimens on display at the London Natural History Museum. These Early Devonian fossils come from Arbroath (Scotland).
The Shape of the Telson
Note the broad, flattened, blade-like final segment of the animal. This is the telson and in the Pterygotioidea lineage (as well as in some other Superfamilies), the telson evolved into an organ to help with propulsion and steering. In other eurypterids, the telson is shaped very differently. For example, in the sea scorpion fossil (below), the telson is long and pointed.
The Giant Claws (Chelicerae) Seen in Some Sea Scorpion Fossils
The segmented body of eurypterids consisted of the frontal prosoma (head) and the posterior opisthosoma (abdomen). The prosoma contained the mouth and six pairs of appendages which are usually referred to as appendage pairs I to VI using Roman numerals. The segments that make up the opisthosoma are usually numbered using Arabic numerals 1, 2, 3 etc. The opisthosoma comprised twelve segments in total plus the telson.
The first pair of appendages, the only pair located in front of the mouth opening, is called the chelicerae (pronounced kel-iss-ser-ray). This pair of appendages evolved into a myriad of forms in the Chelicerata (pronounced kel-iss-ser-rat-ah), the Subphylum containing the eurypterids, spiders, mites, scorpions and horseshoe crabs. This pair of appendages form the fangs seen in spiders and form the feeding limbs of horseshoe crabs.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Powerful Pincers Adapted for Grasping Prey
Some of these appendages, such as the chelicerae of giant pterygotids evolved into powerful pincers armed with strong claws analogous to those seen in crabs and lobsters. These chelicerae seem to be adapted for grasping and subduing prey. This suggests that many eurypterids were predatory.
Note
A single appendage is referred to as a chelicera (pronounced kel-iss-ser-rah). Whereas a pair or more are referred to as chelicerae (kel-iss-ser-ray).
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented that these arthropods were remarkable animals.
“Some 250 different taxa have been described and some of these sea scorpions show adaptations that indicate they may have been partially terrestrial. Venturing out onto land is supported by trace fossils potentially preserving tracks of eurypterids walking across mud close to bodies of water.”