All about dinosaurs, fossils and prehistoric animals by Everything Dinosaur team members.
21 03, 2008

Dinosaur Home – A Unique Blog for Dino-people

By |2024-04-12T08:29:35+01:00March 21st, 2008|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Dinosaur Fans, Main Page|0 Comments

Dinosaur Home – a Blog for Dinosaur Enthusiasts

One of the great benefits of having such a large on-line presence these days is that Everything Dinosaur team members get contacted by dinosaur enthusiasts from all over the world.  A couple of weeks ago, we were contacted by Lucille, a dinosaur fan who heralds from Los Angeles, California.

Everything Dinosaur

Lucille commented on one of our recently published articles about dinosaur excavations taking place in Australia (certainly a hot bed of palaeontological activity at the moment); she then drew our attention to her own blog site – “Dinosaur Home”.  This particular site provides updates on dinosaur excavations and research, photos, discussion groups and forums.

To visit Dinosaur Home: Dinosaur Home – Home Page

Lots of information and pictures related to palaeontology posted on this site.  It reflects how universally popular the science of palaeontology and fossil hunting is.

Palaeontology is truly a global science, but you don’t necessarily have to be a highly qualified scientist to contribute.  By going for a walk on a fossiliferous beach or taking a look at a cutting at the side of the road or just simply turning over some stones you might find something that could change the way the world views itself.  The science of palaeontology has been enriched on numerous occasions thanks to some amazing finds and discoveries such as the finding of huge sauropod vertebrae by two hikers touring New Mexico in 1979.

Seismosaurus

Over the next two decades or so the mesa, in which theses fossils were entombed was slowly excavated by a team from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History.  Early papers ascribed this dinosaur to a new genus aptly named Seismosaurus “earth-quake lizard”, a good name for an animal with an estimated length in excess of 52 metres.  The fossils proved extremely difficult to excavate, the surrounding matrix was as hard as concrete and unfortunately coloured the same as the fossils.

Gradually as more parts of this huge animal were exposed and studied earlier interpretations of the fossil evidence were revised and it is now believed that this specimen may actually represent a species of Diplodocus.  It was certainly a large animal, one of the longest land animals on record, with a revised estimated length of 33 metres, considerably bigger than Diplodocus longus for example.

Thanks to these two hikers and the many members of the research team, our knowledge of Jurassic sauropods has been enriched.

Thanks to bloggers and forum hosts like Lucille, dinosaur enthusiasts can be kept up to date with the latest developments.

Keep up the good work Lucille.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

21 03, 2008

Plesiosaur named in honour of Dr Elizabeth “Betsy” Nicholls

By |2023-02-25T07:08:19+00:00March 21st, 2008|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Famous Figures, Main Page|0 Comments

New Plesiosaur Genus named in honour of Dr Elizabeth “Betsy” Nicholls

A new plesiosaur discovered in Alberta, Canada has been named Nichollsia borealis in honour of  Dr Elizabeth Nicholls who sadly passed away in 2004.  Dr Nicholls was a member of the Royal Tyrrell museum research team staff for 14 years and much admired by her fellow palaeontologists and researchers.  Her energy, enthusiasm and fascination for palaeontology was the stuff of legend, regularly commuting long distances to work at the museum and journeying to some of the most remote and inhospitable parts of the Canadian wilderness in her search for fossils.

Dr Elizabeth Nicholls

The book “Dinosaur Provincial Park – A Spectacular Ancient Ecosystem Revealed”; edited by Phillip Currie and Eva Koppelhus is dedicated to her memory.

This new genus of Plesiosaur (marine reptile) was discovered in 1994 by machine operators working underground digging through a sandstone deposit at Syncrude’s Base mine, near Fort McMurray, Alberta.  Despite the near completeness of the specimen (left forelimb and scapula missing), the fossil was not named and described until recently.  The paper on this new animal has just been published in the German scientific journal Palaeontographica Abteilung A.

The Alberta Oil Sands

The mines in this part of Alberta have attracted a lot of controversy, the sediments being mined, known as the Alberta oil sands are producing crude oil, part of a global trend to search for oil and natural gas from oil sands, oil shales and deep ocean deposits, reserves that are more and more difficult to reach.  More oil companies are turning to these unconventional sources of fossil fuels as demand for them begins to outstrip supply.

Environmentalists have lobbied against such activity, the sites tend to be very polluting and there is a higher cost of extraction.  Those in favour of such mining argue that with dwindling reserves in the Middle East there is a need to utilise existing technology to explore and exploit new sources of oil and natural gas.

Just occasionally, these miners discover fossils that shed light on the fauna and flora of the Cretaceous.

Plesiosaur Specimen

This specimen measures just under 3 metres in length and dates from approximately 112 million years ago (Aptian/Albian faunal stages).  During this period the eastern part of the super-continent Laurasia, effectively the land mass that was to become North America, was split into as sea levels rose.  A warm, shallow, tropical sea was eventually formed; this is called the Western Interior Seaway, at its greatest extent it covered Mexico, much of the mid USA and a huge central swathe of what was to become Canada.

A Plesiosaur Exhibit on Display at a Museum

Oxford University Museum of Natural History plesiosaur.

A replica of a long-necked plesiosaur swims into view. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Nichollsia borealis was probably an active swimmer, an open water predator chasing down fish in the waters.  Close examination of the sharp, needle-like, overlapping teeth indicate that they would have been ideally suited for catching and holding slippery fish.

The relatively large orbits are perhaps an adaptation for hunting in low light levels and their position in the skull indicate that this animal would have been good at judging distances, an important skill if you are going to hunt by striking at swiftly moving fish.  The fossil provides important information on the evolution of plesiosaurs as the fossil record for these marine reptiles is relatively poor from the mid Cretaceous.

On Display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum

The fossil has just been placed on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Alberta, Canada.  We are sure Dr Nicholls would have felt immensely proud to have a marine reptile named after her on display at the Royal Tyrrell, an institution where she spent so much of her working life.

A former student of the University of Calgary, Dr Nicholls is perhaps most well known for her work on marine vertebrates.  She conducted an extensive study and review of marine vertebrate fossils from Manitoba, Canada in the 1970s and went on to help in the discovery and excavation of the largest ichthyosaur fossil known to date.

A Giant Ichthyosaur

Discovered in a remote part of British Columbia in the late 1990s, Dr Nicholls and her colleagues over the period 1999-2001 gradually removed the huge beast from its surrounding matrix.  The ichthyosaur is estimated to have measured 23 metres in length, it has been dated to the Triassic and has been ascribed to the genus Shonisaurus.  The animal had no teeth in its elongated snout.  It was a filter feeder, feeding on phytoplankton and zooplankton, plus other small free swimming marine organisms, like a modern baleen whale or a bashing shark.  Much of this specimen is now stored in the vast warehouse area of the Royal Tyrrell museum.

For models and replicas of prehistoric marine creatures: CollectA Prehistoric Life Models.

Betsy Nicholls first decided that she wanted to be a palaeontologist when aged nine she visited the offices of Sam Wells, a university classmate of her father’s.  Later she wrote a letter to Roy Chapman Andrews of the American Museum of Natural History (the discover of the first dinosaur nests amongst other things).  She wrote asking how a girl could become a palaeontologist.  She kept Andrew’s encouraging letter as a treasured memento.

Although Dr Nicholls worked on a number of dinosaur discoveries within the Dinosaur Provincial Park, her first love was marine reptiles.  It is only fitting that a newly discovered plesiosaur should be named in her honour.

Nichollssaura borealis

Update

The genus name had to be changed, as Nichollsia was already in use, it described a genus of isopods (marine crustaceans).  In 2009, the scientific name for this plesiosaur was changed to Nichollssaura borealis.

20 03, 2008

Updating the Unique Everything Dinosaur Web Log

By |2024-04-12T08:30:48+01:00March 20th, 2008|Everything Dinosaur News and Updates|0 Comments

Updating the Everything Dinosaur Blog

The Everything Dinosaur blog site is nearly twelve months old.  It was started back in May 2007 and thus far our team members have posted up nearly three hundred on line articles, reviews , pictures, news stories and updates on fossil finds.  It has certainly kept us busy, we have been buoyed up by all the kind messages of support and comments received.  A special thanks to all our contributors and blog readers.

The Everything Dinosaur company is made up of parents, teachers and dinosaur enthusiasts and we spend our time helping to motivate young people to learn more about science as well as helping collectors source models, providing information, quizzes and all kinds of stuff to do with dinosaurs.

Everything Dinosaur Blog

When we set up this blog site we set out a number of aims and objectives:
  • To provide a diary of our day-to-day activities – what we get up to running our unusual company.
  • To act as a source for more information and a forum on dinosaurs/prehistoric animals for our visitors, customers and such like.
  • To discuss/review new dinosaur models, dinosaur toys and other items being added to our product range.
  • To perhaps, through our scribblings and notes here to help encourage others to set up their own little businesses doing things that they enjoy too.

Nearly one year on, we are staying true to these aims and we shall continue to publish dinosaur, prehistoric animal and fossil themed articles on our web log.  Hope you like them.

To visit Everything Dinosaur’s shop: Everything Dinosaur’s Shop.

19 03, 2008

The Amazing Sir Arthur C. Clarke 1917 – 2008

By |2024-04-12T08:29:02+01:00March 19th, 2008|Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Famous Figures, Main Page|0 Comments

Sir Arthur C. Clarke 1917-2008

Science fiction writer, futurist and visionary Sir Arthur C. Clarke died in hospital in Sri Lanka today.  Already, a number of tributes have been paid to him by fellow writers, politicians and scientists.  Sir Arthur, who turned 90 just a few weeks ago, passed away at the Apollo hospital, he had been in and out of hospital for several weeks suffering from breathing difficulties.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke

Born in Minehead, Kent, Sir Arthur made Sri Lanka his adopted home in 1956, he was knighted in 1998.  Clarke, who in 1945 predicted the creation of communication satellites, wrote more than 80 books. He was Sri Lanka’s best-known resident guest and has a scientific academy named after him, as well as an asteroid and a joint European/Russian satellite.

British astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, who had worked with Clarke on several writing projects, paid tribute to his “dear friend” and said his death was a “great loss.”

“He was ahead of his time in so many ways,” Moore told the BBC. “Quite apart from artificial satellites there were other things too. A great science fiction writer, a very good scientist, a great prophet and a very dear friend, I’m very, very sad that he’s gone.”

“2001: A Space Odyssey”

Sir Arthur was perhaps best known for his work on the Stanley Kubrick film “2001: A Space Odyssey”.  The story was loosely based on and developed by Sir Arthur and Stanley Kubrick from Clarke’s short story ‘The Sentinel’, first printed in 1951.

A quotation attributed to Stanley Kubrick on the release of the film helps to sum up the life and times of Sir Arthur:

“He (Sir Arthur) has the kind of mind of which the world can never have enough, an array of imagination, intelligence, knowledge and a quirkish curiosity, which often uncovers more than the first three qualities.”

Source: Fiona Harrison/Associated Press

Sir Arthur worked on a ground breaking television series in the early 1980s.  It was called “Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World”.  This thirteen part series covered the paranormal and explored strange mysterious such as UFOs, monsters of the deep, apeman and other phenomenon.  In one of the later episodes (episode 11), entitled “Dragons, Dinosaurs and Giant Snakes” – Sir Arthur explored the then, current myths and stories about unknown animals lurking in explored parts of the world.

Exploring Myths and Legends

Each programme was written in a documentary style with an introduction and conclusion filmed with the great man from his residence in Sri Lanka.  An earlier episode had focused on the strange stories from around the world of lake monsters such as Nessie and Champ.  A book was published in 1981 to accompany the series.

To read more about Sir Arthur: Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s 90th Birthday.

Sir Arthur’s enquiring mind and curiosity was an inspiration to many scientists and writers, he will be sadly missed, perhaps it is fitting to finish with a brief quotation from the man himself, it pointedly sums up why many people are inspired to become palaeontologists:

“The truth as always will be far stranger”.

18 03, 2008

Update on “Dakota” the recently found Hadrosaurine Mummy

By |2023-02-25T07:20:13+00:00March 18th, 2008|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|1 Comment

“Dakota” Slowly but Surely Reveals Hadrosaur Secrets

Dakota, the nick-name given to the fossil hadrosaur mummy found in Late Maastrichtian (67 million years ago), sediments is slowly but surely being excavated out of the sandstone tomb that encases this amazing dinosaur fossil.

Fossil Hadrosaur

The process is extremely methodical, using tiny brushes and dental picks to remove the surrounding matrix revealing this beautifully preserved animal, complete with much of the skin left on the carcase, hence the mummified appearance of the fossil.

Members of the international team, responsible for this work, expect to spend many thousands of man hours meticulously removing the surrounding rock, often grain by grain as they bring Dakota back from the dead.

An Edmontosaurus

The large sandstone slabs that contain the fossil are now safely secured in the basement of the local museum, being stored and studied under controlled conditions.  The dinosaur has been classified as an Edmontosaurus (a Late Cretaceous, hadrosaurine).

Speaking on behalf of his fellow researchers; Dr Phil Manning of the Manchester University said:

“This is the closest many people will ever get to seeing what large parts of a dinosaur actually looked like, in the flesh”.

“This is not the usual disjointed sentence or fragment of a word that the fossil records offer up as evidence of past life. This is a full chapter.”

Animal tissue usually decomposes or is scavenged quickly after death. Researchers say that this particular specimen must have been buried extremely rapidly and in just the right environment to permit the texture of the skin to be preserved.

An Example of a Fossil Hadrosaur Mummy (Edmontosaurus)

Edmontosaurus fossil exhibit.

The Edmontosaurus exhibit at the Frankfurt Natural History Museum. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

“The process of decay was overtaken by that of fossilisation, preserving many of the soft-tissue structures,” Dr Manning commentated.

Hadrosaur Mummy

For Tyler Lyson, the young palaeontology student who discovered the fossil, these are exciting times.  Preserved skin is exceptionally rare in the fossil record and it is hoped that Dakota will shed new light on dinosaur appearance, skin structure and internal organ morphology.

The horse hair paint brush is typical of the tools used by palaeontologists to carefully remove the surround matrix, revealing the fossil impression of the hadrosaurine skin.

It is hoped that part of this amazing fossil will be able to put on display shortly at the North Dakota Heritage Centre.  The team certainly have their work cut out, the fossil is effectively encased in two huge blocks of sandstone, the total weight of the specimen is approaching 5,000 KG, perhaps about as much as an adult Edmontosaurus would have weighed when they were alive.

To read more about the discovery of this fantastic fossil:

Dinosaur Mummy unlocks Duck-Billed Dinosaur Secrets.

“Dakota” was named after the U.S. state where the specimen was found.

Everything Dinosaur stocks a wide range of duck-billed dinosaur models including replicas of Edmontosaurus.  To view the range of prehistoric animal models available: Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models.

17 03, 2008

Chinese Fossils Return Home (Fossil Eggs in Time for Easter)

By |2023-02-25T07:23:28+00:00March 17th, 2008|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

The National Geological Museum (Beijing) receives “Black Market” Fossils from Australia

A collection of rare fossil dinosaur eggs, fossilised dinosaur bones, fossils of ancient mammals, reptiles and Palaeozoic arthropods has been returned to China.  These items had been smuggled out of the country by dealers selling on the “Black Market”.  The haul was seized by Australian police officers in raids on several sites and offices in Western Australia.  This joint Chinese/Australian police effort to reduce the smuggling of Chinese fossils, has been in operation since 2004.

Fossils

This shipment of mixed Mesozoic and Palaeozoic specimens weighs more than 750 Kgs and would have fetched a small fortune for the smugglers had these artifacts found their way into the hands of private collectors.

This unusual contraband has been delivered to the National Geological Museum of China (based in Beijing).  Chinese scientists will be able to catalogue, study and preserve these rare finds helping to shed further light on prehistoric China.

Dinosaur Eggs

The collection includes 1,300 fossilised dinosaur eggs.  In the west, it is traditional to give eggs at Easter.  Nowadays, most of the eggs are chocolate, but I suspect the palaeontologists at the National Museum of China would much prefer to have these rare and delicate specimens returned to them than have chocolate Easter eggs.

A Fossilised Dinosaur Egg (Theropoda)

Chinese dinosaur fossils. A fossilised dinosaur egg.

A fossilised dinosaur egg (Theropoda). Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

For dinosaur models and prehistoric animal games and toys: Everything Dinosaur.

The smuggling of fossils out of China is a big business, many rare and very valuable specimens are smuggled out of the country every year.  A law was passed in 2006 making all fossil finds state property in a bid to crack down on the smuggling rings. Despite the best efforts of the authorities smuggling is still common place especially in the more remote parts of China.

To read more about the smuggling of fossils from China: China Crisis – new Legislation to cut down on the Smuggling of Fossils.

16 03, 2008

Frog Blog – We have Frogspawn in the Office Pond!

By |2022-12-20T22:43:17+00:00March 16th, 2008|Animal News Stories, Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page|0 Comments

Frog Blog – We have Frogspawn in the Office Pond!

Four years ago whilst some of us were away in Canada working on some palaeontology projects, arrangements were made to build a small pond behind the office.  We had managed to persuade one of the designers of the animal enclosures from Chester Zoo to undertake the work and to produce a water feature with a seating area so that we could take our breaks and watch any wildlife that might be attracted to the water.

The work took about a week and our designer friend built two small ponds in a corner of the paved area behind the offices.  He even cleverly cast some ammonite fossils and installed these in various places in the rockery to make us palaeontologists and fossil collectors feel at home.

Using his expertise, our designer chum shaped the pond so that there would be plenty of shallow areas and margins, important when wanting to create a natural pond.  In addition, he advised on the planting and even provided the oxygenating water plants, the marginals and the lilies.  His final touch was to provide us with a population of snails to help maintain the pond.  We have two species at the moment a small pond snail and rams-horns (Planorbis sp.)

The Pond when it was First Built and Landscaped

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Over the last few years this water feature has proved popular with the local birds who use the shallows as a bird bath and we have been fortunate to have damsel fly larvae as well as water boatmen take up residence.  Although, frogs had been seen in the vicinity and team members were able to count 3-4 individuals at anytime in the summer, (we even had a particularly large one that was nicknamed “Freddie” after Andrew Flintoff the England cricketer who took up residence in 2005);  no breeding had taken place.

However, this morning, whilst returning to the office to sort out some Everything Dinosaur paperwork, a quick check of the pond and hey presto – our first ever frogspawn was spotted.  There had been a number of frogs seen in the pond over the last month or so and apparently last night (a particularly dark and wet night) the spawning took place.

From the amount of spawn produced, we estimate that it is from just one female.  A total of four frogs have been observed in the pond this morning (the back of one can be seen partially hidden by the spawn to the right of the picture).  We have speculated that it is the female with her three suitors.  The frogs are Common Frogs (Rana temporaria), one of three species of frog that are found in the UK (excluding any escaped exotics).  Like all native British amphibians and reptiles they are a protected species.  With much of their habitat destroyed, areas such as landscaped offices and gardens are becoming increasingly important to them.

It is nice to know that after nearly 5 years the frogs have felt comfortable enough with our pond to breed in it, we are playing a small role in the conservation of this species and amphibians need all the help they can get, as they are globally the most endangered and threatened of all the animal classes.

Frogs are special to many of the Everything Dinosaur team members, they are very specialised Lissamphibians (the group of amphibians that includes frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and the leg-less caecilians).  The Lissamphibians were present in the Palaeozoic and it is thought that frogs evolved sometime in the Triassic,  however, the fossil record for frogs is very patchy to say the least.  They were probably relatively abundant during the Age of Reptiles, but the lack of fossil evidence inhibits palaeontologists when it comes to working out Anura (frog) evolution.  Fossil bones have been recorded from a number of Mesozoic sites but they are usually isolated fragments, ilia, humeri (limb bones) and the more robust skull elements.

Occasionally, fossils are found that demonstrate that some of these amphibians would have been formidable hunters, even capable of eating baby dinosaurs and young crocodilians.  The discovery of a giant frog from Mesozoic deposits in Madagascar is evidence of this.

To read about the discovery of fossils of a giant Cretaceous frog: Giant Frog from Madagascar.

15 03, 2008

Make Tasty Dinosaur Chocolate Nests

By |2024-04-12T08:28:10+01:00March 15th, 2008|Photos|0 Comments

A Picture of the Completed Dinosaur Chocolate Nests

Everything Dinosaur team members had a go at making these simple but very tasty chocolate treats, using one of the recipes on the company’s website.  They proved very easy to make and we were quite proud of our results.

Dinosaur Chocolate Nests from Everything Dinosaur

Chocolate nests that are easy to make.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

A fun suggestion to give Easter baking a bit of a twist from palaeontologists.  The recipe was easy to follow and these cakes would make super dinosaur party food, perhaps for a birthday or as food for dinosaur themed parties.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

15 03, 2008

Make Dinosaur Nests for Easter

By |2023-02-17T15:11:48+00:00March 15th, 2008|Educational Activities, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page|0 Comments

Looking for something to do with your young dinosaur fans over the school holiday.  Here is a simple and fun recipe for dinosaur chocolate nests, an ideal activity for Easter time.  A super idea to help entertain the children, dinosaur chocolate nests for kids.

Dinosaur Chocolate Nests

Ingredients – (makes a batch of about 8 nests)

Plain or Milk cooking Chocolate 225 grammes (8oz)

Packet of Breakfast Cereal Cornflakes or Shredded Wheat variety

Packet of Sugar Coated Mini-chocolate Eggs

Pack of Small Cake Cases

Dinosaur Nests – a Great Holiday Baking Activity

Picture Credit: Everything Dinosaur

Method

1.  Break the cooking chocolate into pieces and place in a heat-proof bowl.  Melt the chocolate over a pan of simmering water.

2.  Once the chocolate has melted remove it from the heat and give it a good stir in the bowl.

3.  Add some of the breakfast cereal until the mixture takes on a a brown twiggy look.

4.  Carefully spoon enough of the mix into each paper case so that a little nest is formed.  Make sure you push it down in the middle so that each nest has a hollow in the centre

5.  Place two chocolate mini-eggs in the centre of each chocolate nest, the eggs will stick when the chocolate sets. Two eggs is all you need for each nest (we know that some dinosaurs laid eggs in pairs so your chocolate nests would please a palaeontologist) – see notes below.

6.  Then leave the nests to set.

There you are a set of lovely dinosaur themed nests, an ideal activity for young palaeontologists over the Easter break.

For other baking ideas, recipes and for fun party items visit the section of the Everything Dinosaur website that deals with parties: Dinosaur Toys and Gifts.

Dinosaurs and their Nests (a little bit of science)

Many nests of dinosaurs have been discovered, particularly over the last fifteen years or so with the discovery of sauropod nesting sites in Argentina and Europe plus more evidence having been gathered from places such as the famous Flaming Cliffs area of Mongolia.

The first dinosaur eggs were discovered in 1859 (France). The first recognised dinosaur nests were uncovered by an American team of palaeontologists led by Roy Chapman Andrews during expeditions to Mongolia in the 1920s.  Over the last few years, scientists have been able to build up their knowledge about dinosaur reproduction and egg laying as egg-shell fragments, nests, and even fossils of unhatched baby dinosaurs inside eggs have been discovered.

The pairs of eggs laid in our pretend chocolate nests are based on the layout of eggs found in theropod dinosaur nests.  Many theropod nests (tyrannosaurs, allosaurs, Velociraptors, Oviraptors were theropods); consist of a dug out, roughly bowl shaped hole with pairs of eggs laid are in a circle, pushed into the earth and they are laid in pairs.

A Dinosaur Egg Spotted at a School (STEM Learning)

dinosaur nest found in a school

A dinosaur discovery at a school.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Eggs

The laying of eggs in pairs seems to be a unique characteristic of theropod dinosaurs.  No other group of animals either around today or found in the fossil record laid eggs in pairs.  Theropod eggs tend not to be very round, they are rounded at one end with a more pointed end opposite, a little like a loaf of French bread.  The more pointed end is often found buried in the rock which comprises of the fossil, this indicates that the female theropod that laid the eggs, pushed it into the dirt during the process of laying.  This is evidence of dinosaurs showing a delicate touch, in the same way that a crocodile cradles newly hatched baby crocodiles in her mouth in readiness to carrying them down to the nursery pool.

The eggs laid in pairs indicate that dinosaurs had two oviducts (the tube in female egg-laying animals where eggs are formed and through which they are laid).  The position of fossilised pairs of eggs in theropod nests indicate that eggs were laid from the two oviducts at the same time. This would be the equivalent of a double-barrelled shot gun firing both barrels at once.  This behaviour seems unique to theropods.  Crocodiles have two oviducts but they do not demonstrate egg laying in pairs.  Birds, (believed to be close relatives of theropod dinosaurs), only have one functioning oviduct and only one egg is formed by day.  Birds can take several days to lay a clutch of eggs.

Scientists believe that birds evolved only one functioning oviduct and the laying of eggs over a protracted period in order to help them escape from predators.  After all, it would be difficult to fly if a female had a clutch of six or seven heavy eggs inside her ready to be laid.

Other scientists have speculated that the laying of eggs over several days may help the pair bond and this may reinforce behaviour towards brooding and feeding the youngsters as they hatch.  Yet another theory is that with a delay in laying, comes a delay in the time of hatching, some birds end up with a nest full of offspring, but at slightly different ages.  If food becomes scarce then the older siblings can out compete the younger ones and these are the ones that will survive to reach the fledgling stage.

Palaeontologists have a lot to learn about dinosaurs and the egg laying habits, however whilst you contemplate these important aspects of dinosaur behaviour and social habit you can tuck into your own dinosaur nest as a treat.  Help yourself to Everything Dinosaur’s chocolate dinosaur nest recipe.

14 03, 2008

Everything Dinosaur – First of the New Spring Products Now in Stock

By |2023-02-19T10:53:37+00:00March 14th, 2008|Everything Dinosaur Newsletters, Main Page, Press Releases|0 Comments

Everything Dinosaur New Products Spring 2008

Dear All,

It has been a busy time for Everything Dinosaur team members, what with sourcing new products, putting them on test and then adding them to our website.  Our product range continues to grow and a number of new prehistoric animal themed items have been added to our shop, here is a small selection:

Dinosaurs for Dinner! turn dinner time into a dinosaur adventure, a children’s dinner set with a dinosaur design.  Tough, robust, melamine dinnerware, cups, bowls, plates and utensils, items can be purchased separately or as a set including a hard-wearing, matching dinosaur placemat, just £9.99 plus P+P.

Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Themed Clothing – new T-shirts, new Diplodocus socks and all sizes of the popular dinosaur pyjamas back in stock.  Kit out the young palaeontologist in your family.

With over hundreds of dinosaur themed toys and gifts there is something for everyone at Everything Dinosaur.

For the latest information on dinosaurs and prehistoric animal research, visit the Everything Dinosaur web log.  Packed with articles and lots and lots of information, written by our specialists using everyday language, great for young dinosaur fans and as a resource for teachers and home educators.

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