All about dinosaurs, fossils and prehistoric animals by Everything Dinosaur team members.
28 07, 2010

Dr Phil Manning goes in Search of Triceratops

By |2023-01-10T15:02:50+00:00July 28th, 2010|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page, Palaeontological articles, Press Releases|0 Comments

The University of Manchester’s Dr Phil Manning in Search of Triceratops

Dr Phil Manning from the University of Manchester’s School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences is setting out to explore the Badlands of South Dakota in a bid to find and excavate the fossilised remains of a Triceratops.  Dr Manning is part of a field team in search of Triceratops.

Last year’s prospecting of several promising locations suggested at least three skeletons of this iconic, famous three-horned dinosaur were gently weathering from 66-million-year-old rocks at a secret fossil rich site.

In Search of Triceratops

In his latest trip, Dr Manning is leading a team to evaluate the potential for excavating one of the creatures from its rocky tomb.

The pioneering palaeontologist and his team are famed for their research work on the hadrosaur Dinomummy, known as “Dakota”,  helping dinosaurs “virtually” walk, zapping Archaeopteryx lithographica with particle accelerators and tracking the enigmatic Tyrannosaurus rex in the Badlands of Montana.

The starkly-isolated Hell Creek Formation provides the most promising sites for the discovery of Late Cretaceous dinosaur remains in the world.

This is the last slice of geological time that contains the fossil remains of dinosaurs, before their mass extinction. Dr Manning, is confident that one of the Triceratops will be ideal for their research programme.

“We have been working on the exceptional preservation of soft tissue and the biomechanics of dinosaurs from the Hell Creek for over five years now, but this is our first major Manchester-led expedition to this very promising field area.”

A cast of Stan the T. rex already sits in the Manchester Museum, erected by a museum team and Dr Manning five years ago.

The Hell  Creek Formation

This fearsome predator from the Hell Creek Formation is also well-known from the area where Dr Manning and his team are working on the Triceratops

He said:

“It’s great that we have a chance to look at one of the prey animals of the mighty T. rex – who knows what we might find associated with the bones of this magnificent creature from the Cretaceous, maybe a predator tooth or three?”

The team, which includes Dr William Sellers from the University of Manchester and a group of co-workers from the University of Pennsylvania and other institutions in Philadelphia, hope to find additional pristine remains of dinosaurs this year in this very remote landscape.

In Search of Triceratops – A Replica of T. horridus

CollectA Triceratops horridus 1:40 scale model. In search of Triceratops.

CollectA Triceratops horridus dinosaur model (left lateral view). Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The Triceratops model is from the CollectA scale model range, to view this range of dinosaur and prehistoric animal figures: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric Life Models.

Dr Sellers, who works on dinosaur locomotion at Manchester, commented:

“The bones of Triceratops will make a perfect large quadrupedal dinosaur model to study dinosaur locomotion.  We have already published on the maximum running speed of predators and even hadrosaurs, but Triceratops are just wonderful creatures to behold.  Many have compared them to rhinoceros, but our work indicates these animals moved quite differently from these modern herbivores.”

The fieldwork is part of an on-going research programme between the University of Manchester and the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University and the Museum of Prehistoric Life in Price (Utah).

Dr Manning is head of the palaeontology research group at the University of Manchester and a research fellow at the Manchester Museum.

Dr Manning stated:

We have used techniques as diverse as evolutionary robotics, high-performance computing, finite element modelling, LiDAR, high-resolution x-ray tomography, nanoindentation, as well as recently published work using synchrotron light sources.  These cutting edge approaches have provided significant advances across the whole subject, generating high-profile international interest.”

We wish Dr Manning and his colleagues the very best and hope to hear more about their fieldwork over the next few weeks or so.

27 07, 2010

Gigantic Rat Bones Discovered – The biggest Rat known to Science

By |2023-03-06T08:49:23+00:00July 27th, 2010|Animal News Stories, Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

East Timor Expedition Reveals Evidence of Giant Rats

Often the subject of urban myths, the brown rats and black rats (members of the Rattus genus) seen in the sewers and subways of cities are sometimes described as being huge.  Some folk claim to have spotted rats the size of a domestic cats.  These highly successful members of the rodent family have certainly benefited from feeding off all the rubbish and fat filled food to be found on and beneath our streets.  However, a scientific expedition to the remote south-east Asian island of East Timor has found evidence of a truly gigantic member of the rat family.

Gigantic Rat Bones

East Timor is an independent state, once formerly a Portuguese colony that covers the eastern part of the island of Timor.  Although much of the island has been deforested, those areas of rain-forest that do remain are dense and largely unexplored by scientific teams.  Archaeological research has unearthed the remains of the biggest rat known to science, an animal with an estimated body weight of six kilogrammes, something like twenty times the size of a black rat (Rattus rattus), a species commonly associated with our cityscapes.

A series of cave excavations in the rain-forest of East Timor has revealed a total of thirteen species of rodents, eleven of which are completely new to science.  The bones and teeth discovered suggest that at least eight of the rats discovered weighed more than a kilogramme.

The Australian/U.S. led expedition, part of CSIRO research on the island of East Timor to map the extensive unique fauna and flora has published their findings in the scientific journal “The Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History”.  The acronym CSIRO stands for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.  It is Australia’s national science agency.

A Hot Spot for Rodent Evolution

Discussing the discovery, Dr Ken Aplin, a wildlife biologist at the Australian National Wildlife Collection stated:

“East Indonesia is a hot spot for rodent evolution.  We want international attention on conservation in that area.  Rodents make up forty percent of mammalian diversity worldwide and they are a key element of ecosystems, important for processes like soil maintenance and seed dispersal.  Maintaining biodiversity among rats is just as important as protecting whales or birds.”

Carbon dating tests on the bones and teeth found in the cave system suggest that the biggest type of rat that ever lived could have survived until around 1,000 to 2,000 years ago.  Only one of the smaller species of rats whose remains were found in the cave is known to survive on Timor today.

Rats on the Island of Timor

Pictures show a partial skull of the new to science giant rat compared to the skull of a black rat.

Dr Aplin added:

“People have lived on the island of Timor for over 40,000 years and hunted and ate rates throughout this period, yet extinctions did not occur until quite recently.  We think this shows people used to live sustainably on Timor until around 1,000 to 2,000 years ago.  This means extinctions aren’t inevitable when people arrive on an island.  Large scale clearing of forest for agriculture probably caused the extinctions, and this may have been possible following the introduction of metal tools.

A number of the islands of eastern Indonesia evolved their own unique flora and fauna, including unique types of rat and other rodent.  Dr Aplin and his team have also found six new species of rat on the island of Flores.  Flores has been in the scientific media spotlight recently for the discovery in 2003 of a previously known species of human – homo floresiensis, known as the “hobbit” of Indonesia.

Some of these new species of rat, might still be living on Flores according to Dr Aplin, evading detection by western scientists in the dense and remote jungles of this island.

Few Native Mammals

The island of Timor has few native mammals, the strong tidal currents making the migration of such animals to Timor very difficult.  The majority of the mammalian fauna is made up of bats and rodents, many of the roles in ecosystems occupied by other mammals may have been filled by these rodents and this may have led to the development and diversification of the rodent species.

Pictures show the partial skull and teeth of East Timor’s extinct giant rat compared to the skull of a black rat (Rattus rattus) on the right.

Commenting on the possibility that new species of rats, even giant ones may still be awaiting discovery, Dr Aplin stated:

“Although less than fifteen per cent of Timor’s original forest cover remains, parts of the island are still heavily forested, so who knows what might be out there?”

He went on to add:

“During a recent field trip in East Timor, I found the remains of a freshly dead rat which we knew about only from cave deposits.”

The largest extant species of rat weigh around two kilogrammes and can be found in the rain-forests of the Philippines and New Guinea.  Unless of course those urban myths about giant rats lurking in sewers underneath our feet are to be believed.

For models and replicas of extinct mammals: Prehistoric Animal Figures and Replicas.

26 07, 2010

A Fossil Casting we will Go

By |2023-01-10T13:49:59+00:00July 26th, 2010|Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page, Press Releases|0 Comments

Start of Everything Dinosaur’s Summer Fossil Casting Activities

Today, Monday 26th July, is the start of the school holidays for most children in the United Kingdom.  For us at Everything Dinosaur, we are about to go into one of our busiest periods of the year.  As well as being involved with lots of different dinosaur tours and events over the Summer vacation period, we are also running a series of special fossil handling and fossil casting seminars for children over the course of the school holidays.

Fossil Casting

We have been putting together a number of our fossils and dinosaur casts and they are packed into one of our vehicles ready for the drive to a council run leisure centre where the first of our sold out sessions is being run.  We are all looking forward to meeting the keen and enthusiastic dinosaur fans.  Using specially prepared latex moulds we are intending to give each participant the chance to cast their own museum quality replica of various dinosaur and prehistoric animal replicas, items such as teeth, claws, ammonite shells, brachiopods and such like.  No doubt our experts will be put on the spot and asked lots of challenging and difficult questions, we don’t get stumped very often but it does happen.

A Successful Fossil Casting Activity

Completed fossil casts.  A successful fossil casting activity.

The completed fossil casts produced by visitors to The Beacon Museum (Whitehaven) who participated in Everything Dinosaur’s workshops. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

We have created a special dinosaur themed activity to help burn up some of the energy of these young dinosaur fans, we can run this activity whilst we are waiting for the casts to set.  It is always an exciting moment and a little nerve racking when it comes to turning out, hopefully everything will go well.  Due to our policy on photographs we don’t normally take pictures which is such a shame, but we know the mums and dads who remember to bring their cameras or phones are glad they did, especially when the children see some of the huge fossils that we bring along to show them.

All in all, an exciting and interesting day ahead for us.

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

25 07, 2010

Giant Ichthyosaur Predator of the Triassic

By |2023-01-10T13:32:59+00:00July 25th, 2010|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Dinosaur Fans, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|0 Comments

Fearsome Triassic Ichthyosaur Ruled the Seas North of Laurentia

A team of scientists have identified a potentially new genus of Triassic ichthyosaur, one that was the “jaws” of its day, an apex predator probably feeding on other marine reptiles.  During the Triassic, sea levels across the world were higher than today and as a result there were extensive, shallow continental seas in which marine reptiles were rapidly establishing themselves as the dominant vertebrate predators.  The super continent of Pangaea stretched from the South Pole almost to the North Pole, it was sub-divided into two great land masses.  In the south there was Gondwanaland consisting of Antarctica, Australia, India and southern Africa.  In the north there was Laurentia made up of the land masses that were to eventually become North America and Europe.  In the shallow seas north of Laurentia, lurked a gigantic 14 metre long predatory ichthyosaur.  It ruled this watery domain, which 240 million years later was to become the arid, deserts of Nevada (United States).

Triassic Ichthyosaur

Nadia Fröbisch, a vertebrate palaeontologist at the University of Chicago unearthed the fossil in the Augusta Mountains of central Nevada in 2008.  A preliminary report on this huge beast that measured somewhere between 12 -15 metres long was published last year in the scientific journal “The Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology”.

Ichthyosaurs had been found in this region for many years, in fact the ichthyosaur is the state vertebrate fossil of Nevada.  However, the size and sharpness of the teeth found in association with these fossils indicate that this animal was something different.  It is likely that this ichthyosaur specialised in hunting other marine reptiles.

An Model of a Typical Ichthyosaur

An Ichthyosaurus model

The Ichthyosaurus model (Wild Safari Prehistoric World) ready to take its turn on the Everything Dinosaur turntable. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Rather than having a round cross-section, the teeth of this particular specimen were roughly diamond-shaped with serrations along their front and rear edges, dentition particularly well-suited to shearing flesh.

Even though erosion had removed much of the snout, the fossil was more than 10 metres long, indicating that a fully grown adult could have easily have been twice the length of a Great White Shark.

Commenting on the discovery, Fröbisch said:

“This could have been the T. rex of the seas”.

Although some later Mesozoic ichthyosaurs also had serrated teeth, those predators weren’t nearly as large and probably specialised in catching fish and smaller prey.  This giant ichthyosaur was probably the top predator around at the time.

Donald Henderson, a palaeontologist at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, (Alberta, Canada), stated that such sea monsters may have been quite widespread in the Early and Middle Triassic. He had recently found some isolated teeth from strata of the same age as the Nevada find, but in British Columbia.

He commented:

“I was mystified when I first saw them [the fossil teeth], I thought they had possibly belonged to a dinosaur.”

Marine Reptile Models

For models and replicas of ichthyosaurs and other marine reptiles: Prehistoric Animal Models and Figures.

24 07, 2010

Allosaurus for Sale – Pop Along to Paris

By |2023-01-10T13:26:29+00:00July 24th, 2010|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

Mounted Skeleton of Allosaurus for Sale at Auction

Times may be hard and the world economy struggling to recover from the recent financial crisis but Sotheby’s in Paris are expecting the mounted skeleton of an Allosaurus to fetch an estimated 800,000 euros when it goes under the hammer later this year.  Although not likely to fetch as much as its more famous theropod cousin T. rex, if you would like a 10 metre plus mounted skeleton of this fearsome Late Jurassic carnivore in your living room (presuming you have a living room large enough), you will be expected to fork out in excess of £660,000 GBP.

Allosaurus for Sale

The fully prepared and mounted skeleton is believed to be a female, the fossils were found in Wyoming and represent an individual animal.

The Allosaurus will go under the hammer at a special auction of fossils and other prehistoric items at Sotheby’s Paris headquarters.  If an Allosaurus is not your particular fancy, then there are the fossils of a pterosaur (flying reptile) or a beautifully preserved Plesiosaurus discovered in a block of stone in Gloucestershire to bid for.

The Plesiosaurus (marine reptile) was dug out from a limestone outcrop in Blockley, Gloucestershire, in the early 1990s.  Sotheby’s says that the 6ft 7in by 9ft 10in skeleton is the best-preserved specimen of a Plesiosaurus to date, meaning it could easily go for more than £300,000 GBP.

The Plesiosaurus family has recently been revised with a number of specimens assigned to other marine reptile genera.  This is one of the earliest group of ancient animals to be studied with the likes of the great English anatomist William Conybeare studying and describing the Plesiosaurus fossil discovered by Mary Anning at Lyme Regis in the early part of the 19th Century.

At Everything Dinosaur, we remain uncomfortable with the continued popularity of large fossil specimens and the quantity of fossil material ending up in private collections.  This deprives scientists from being able to study them and encourages individuals to dig up specimens irresponsibly.

We can’t offer you a £300,000 Plesiosaurus fossil specimen but for a lot less we can recommend an Elasmosaurus model from the Wild Safari Prehistoric World series.  This model has been well received by collectors and dinosaur fans alike and it is lovely to see a scale model of a plesiosaur introduced into a major model series.

The Safari Ltd Elasmosaurus Marine Reptile Model

A typical Elasmosaurus model.

Cretaceous plesiosaur. A replica of an Elasmosaurus.

The Elasmosaurus model and other marine reptile figures: Wild Safari Prehistoric World Models.

For those of us with a slightly smaller budget you could snap up a pair of fossilised crabs found near Vicenza in Italy and dating from the Cenozoic.

Fossilised Palm Leaf

Alternatively, there is a fossilised palm leaf and accompanying fishes dating from the Eocene, some 50 million years ago, about 15 million years after the dinosaurs went extinct but before mammals had fully risen to take their place as the dominant, large terrestrial lifeforms.

Commenting on the sale lots, Professor Eric Mickeler, a palaeontologist and the expert consultant on the Sotheby’s sale stated:

“Whether you look at them as artistic masterpieces or wonders of nature, dinosaur skeletons, fossils and minerals retrace the saga of evolution, especially that of mighty terrestrial and marine mammals that are now extinct.”

It is clear that fossils, especially Mesozoic fossils are big business.  According to Lorraine Cornish, a senior conservator at the Natural History Museum in London, who is involved in the museum’s attempts to purchase fossil specimens.

Commenting on the problems that these auctions bring, she stated:

“We try not to buy on the commercial market.  For a start we have limited funds, but we also don’t particularly want to encourage the sale of fossils that may be dug up without the details of the find being recorded, which would mean the loss of important scientific information.  But we have to accept that dealing in fossils is a reality.  Some very wealthy people are passionate about the fossils they collect and they want the best, just like some people want the best works of art.”

23 07, 2010

Digging for Dinosaurs One Maniraptoran Gets his own Back on Us Mammals

By |2023-01-10T13:24:29+00:00July 23rd, 2010|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|0 Comments

Trace Fossils Show Evidence of Dinosaur Digging for Mammals in their Burrow

For us, the concept of digging up dinosaurs is not unusual, we have had the opportunity to be involved in a number of vertebrate fossil excavations including Dinosauria.  However, a paper published in the scientific journal “Geology” discusses a remarkable find in Utah (USA) that provides Late Cretaceous evidence of a dinosaur turning the tables and digging up mammals.  This amazing trace fossil (a trace fossil preserves evidence of behaviour and/or activity) provides an insight into the hunting behaviour of a small theropod dinosaur.

Described as an “ancient crime scene”, the 77-million-year-old dinosaur claw marks and scratches were discovered next to a series of mammal burrows in the Dixie National Forest by Edward Simpson, a geologist at Kutztown University (Pennsylvania).  Some of the burrows were made by rabbit sized mammals, others were much smaller, perhaps the homes of shrew-like creatures.  However, it appears that one little dinosaur was attempting to dig out the residents, aiming to turn the mammalian burrow dwellers into lunch.  This is the first instance of this behaviour being found in the fossil record.

Commenting on the discovery, Simpson stated:

“It appears a dinosaur was digging down and trapping rodent-like mammals in a similar way to coyotes hunting prairie dog burrows today.”

A co-author of the paper that has been published in the journal “Geology” Simpson and his colleagues describe the study of this newly discovered trace fossil of signs of digging and scratch marks found in association with mammalian burrows as evidence of a predator/prey relationship.

The fossils are actually three component elements that together can be interpreted as evidence of dinosaur hunting behaviour.  All the fossils occur within a floodplain siltstone-mudstone bed of the Upper Cretaceous Wahweap Formation in southern Utah.  The strata and the fossils they contain have been dated to Campanian faunal stage and although the dinosaur cannot be specifically identified, the scientists suggest that the marks indicate a maniraptoran theropod, possibly a dromeosaurid or a troodontid.  The team conclude that the close proxmity of the digging scratches and marks to the mammalian burrows suggests that dinosaurs used excavation techniques to prey on mammals.

A study of the strata and surrounding fossil matrix paints a picture of a sparsely vegetated, dry and exposed sandy plain, crossed by meandering streams.  The trace fossil evidence was preserved when it was suddenly covered by a flood and sand was deposited  covering the tell-tale signs of dinosaur and mammalian activity.  The fossils were eventually re-exposed at the bottom of a cliff face and discovered by the geological team.

Dinosaur trace fossil expert (ichnologist) Martin Lockley of the University of Colorado agreed with Simpson and his team’s interpretation of the fossils.

He went on to state:

“Hopefully, this will encourage palaeontologists to look for more of this type of evidence.”

Although trace fossils provide extremely important “in situ” evidence of behaviour such as digging for prey, it is difficult to associate the trace fossil evidence with any known specific dinosaur genera.  However, the size of the claw marks and an assessment of the curvature has led the authors to conclude that the culprit was a one metre tall maniraptoran theropod, possibly a dromaeosaurid such as Dromaeosaurus or maybe Saurornitholestes.  The claw marks may also have been made by a member of the Troodontidae such as Troodon.

Although it is difficult to ascribe this behaviour to any known genus, it is very easy to imagine a keen eyed maniraptoran spotting a burrow entrance and then starting to dig out the hole to get to the small mammal cowering inside.

To view a large range of articulated “raptor” models including dromaeosaurids and troodontids: Beasts of the Mesozoic Models and Figures.

22 07, 2010

Cool Dinosaurs – Mojoceratops

By |2023-03-06T08:50:38+00:00July 22nd, 2010|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Dinosaur Fans, Main Page|0 Comments

New Species of North American Ceratopsian – Mojoceratops

One of the fascinating aspects of vertebrate palaeontology is looking into the origins of the scientific names given to species.  Whilst the ceratopsians are currently in the spotlight with controversial theories being put forward as to the validity of Torosaurus latus and with the publishing of a comprehensive guide to horned dinosaurs (New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium), it is worth reflecting on one of the more unusual of their kind – Mojoceratops.

Mojoceratops

Mojoceratops, a new genus of chasmosaurine (horned dinosaur with a long-neck shield and with brow horns usually bigger than the nose horn), was named after its flamboyant heart-shaped neck frill.  The name that was blurted out by the discoverer, Nicholas Longrich (postdoctoral associate at Yale University) after a few beers with colleagues has stuck, after all, it is very appropriate as Dr Nicholas went onto explain.

“It was just a joke, but then everyone stopped and looked at each other and said, wait that actually sounds cool.”

Pictures show a ventral (side) and anterior (front view) of the skull of this newly discovered horned dinosaur.  The fossils were found in the Dinosaur Provincial Park (Alberta, Canada) and have been dated to the Late Cretaceous, approximately 75 million years ago (Campanian faunal stage).  The ornate epoccipitals (bony growths around the edge of the frill) are very prominent and the two holes in the crest were probably covered in skin when the animal was alive.  The skull and crest are very similar to the fossilised remains of another Dinosaur Provincial Park resident Chasmosaurus russelli.

A Spectacular Neck Frill

The neck frill would have looked very spectacular when this dinosaur stomped around western Canada 75 million years ago, the crest may have been used for visual communication amongst herd members, perhaps to ward off rivals or to attract a mate. Researching into the origins of the word “mojo” Dr Longrich discovered that the joke name that he had thought of on the spur of the moment is very appropriate.

He commented:

“I discovered that “mojo” is an early 20th Century African-American term meaning a magic charm or talisman, often used to attract mates.  This dinosaur probably used its frill to attract females (or males if this is a female), so the name makes sense”.

The specific name published in the scientific description earlier this month is Mojoceratops perifania.  The species name is Greek meaning “pride”, all advanced ceratopsians known in the fossil record had frills on the top of their skulls and whilst animals such as Triceratops may be more famous, it seems that Mojoceratops had the most ostentatious frill known to date.

Dr Longrich got his first clue that he might have found a new species at the American Museum of Natural History (New York), where he was studying the dinosaur fossil collection in 2008.  There, he found a distinctive frill that didn’t match anything previously known.  Later, while sketching the skull of another specimen on display, which was thought to be a species called Chasmosaurus, he noticed the skull was identical to the one on the specimen next to it.

He explained:

“I realised the skull on the supposed Chasmosaurus must have been a reconstruction.”

Examining the Skull

When he examined the skull closely Longrich noticed some subtle differences from the Chasmosaurus holotype, including longer horns.  Investigations carried out at other museums with ceratopsian fossil collections turned up more examples that did not fit the Chasmosaurus holotype.  Expressing surprise at the discovery of a new genus of horned dinosaur amongst fossil collections that have been extensively studied Nicholas added:

“The fossils we were studying didn’t look like anything we had seen before.  They just looked wrong.”

According to Longrich, finding yet another previously unknown large dinosaur species in the Dinosaur Provincial Park area, a part of the world that boasts the world’s most diverse dinosaur fauna, is a little surprising, especially since the area has been so closely studied.

He commented:

“So far, we really have no good explanation for why there are so many dinosaurs in the area and how they managed to coexist.”

The unique geology of the Dinosaur Provincial Park may explain why so many vertebrate fossils have been found in that part of the world.  It was certainly a lush habitat but an explanation of the large numbers of dinosaur fossils, especially the extensive bone beds has recently been proposed – this prehistoric coastal area was hit from time to time by ferocious tropical storms.

To read more about this theory: Northern Alberta Centrosaurine Bonebed.

All in all, Longrich turned up eight partial skulls of the new species, which now boasts a name with just as much flair as its unusually shaped skull.  However, with all the reclassification of horned dinosaurs going on at the moment coupled with more recent studies into Dinosauria ontogeny (growth rates), it may be just a matter of time before Mojoceratops gets reclassified.

For replicas and figures of Late Cretaceous horned dinosaurs: PNSO Horned Dinosaur Models.

21 07, 2010

More Fossil Evidence of Proboscidea found in South America

By |2023-01-10T13:10:06+00:00July 21st, 2010|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|0 Comments

Elephant Fossils Found in Brazil

When people today are asked about elephants they associate these members of the Class Proboscidea (animals with trunks) with Africa and India.  Those extant species that survive today are strongly associated with the African Savannah and the Indian sub-continent.  However, the elephant lineage is long and the fossil evidence indicates that over the course of the Cenozoic these animals have existed in some form or other over much of the globe.

For example, the United Kingdom has its fair share of prehistoric elephant fossils, perhaps most notably the West Runton elephant.  Partial remains including elements of the pelvis, skull and tusks of an enormous prehistoric elephant (Mammuthus trogontherii) were discovered eroding out of the sea cliffs at West Runton, near Cromer on the Norfolk coast in 1990.  A complete excavation took place in 1995 and evidence of a ten tonne giant elephant was revealed.

A report from Brazil states that scientists have described a fossil tooth, that could only belong to an elephant in the Amazon jungle.  The existence of elephants in South America in prehistory is not disputed, especially when one considers the excellent fossil material of Cuvieronius that has been found in Argentina and Bolivia.  This elephant genus was originally named and described by that great French scientist and anatomist Georges Cuvier back in 1808.  These fossils and those of another member of the Gomphotheridae – Stegomastodon (Stegomastodon platensis) indicate that a number of elephant genera were present in South America.

What is unusual about this fossil tooth from the Amazon, is that it has been dated to just 45,000 years ago, indicating the presence of elephants in South America during the Pleistocene Epoch, whereas the elephant fossils found to date are from the earlier geological Epoch, the Pliocene.

Scientists from Brazil say that this fossil tooth, proves the presence of pachyderms in South America as recently as 45,000 years ago.  The tooth had been discovered in the early 1990s, around the time of the excavation work on the West Runton elephant, but it was only recognised as a tooth from an elephant after a close examination by a University student from the Federal University of Minas Gerais.

Commenting on the find, palaeontologist Mario Cozzuol of Federal University stated:

“Only elephants and capybaras have teeth with this kind of laminate structure, but those of capybaras are no longer than five centimetres, while the fossil measured twelve centimetres.”

Earlier fossil discoveries had indicated that ancient elephants were present in Central America during the Pleistocene, but there was an absence of evidence to indicate that elephants from North America had migrated further south.  Both the African and Indian elephant are very much at home in enclosed forest environments, so the existence of ancient elephant species in the forested Amazon basin would not be entirely surprising.

A Trio of Papo Woolly Mammoth Models

Woolly Mammoth models.

A “Memory” of Elephants.  The collective noun for a collection of elephants.  A trio of Papo Woolly Mammoth models.  Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view a model of a prehistoric elephant (Woolly Mammoth) and lots of dinosaur replicas: Papo Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Models.

20 07, 2010

Review of Prehistoric Times (Issue 94)

By |2023-01-10T13:00:44+00:00July 20th, 2010|Dinosaur Fans, Magazine Reviews, Main Page|0 Comments

Review of Prehistoric Times Magazine (Summer edition)

The eagerly awaited next edition of the quarterly magazine Prehistoric Times arrived late last week, sent over from the United States as promptly as ever.  Prehistoric Times is the magazine for dinosaur enthusiasts and model collectors.  Once again this Summer edition does not disappoint, we loved the front cover artwork depicting two time travellers coming face to face with a tyrannosaur in some ancient, primeval jungle.  The artist Mark Rehkopf produced this illustration especially for the magazine and there is an interview with Mark and a showcase of some of his work on the inside pages.

The Specially Commissioned Artwork for Prehistoric Times

Summer edition.

Picture credit: Mark Rehkopf/Mike Fredericks

The featured prehistoric animals this quarter are therizinosaurs (a special on Scythe Lizards) plus an article on amazing pterosaurs and an update on Megalodon facts and fallacies.  Once again there are lots of examples of reader’s artwork featured and a really fascinating article written by the excellent Tracy Lee Ford on swimming psittacosaurs.  Great to see a review and some super pictures of the Museum of Ancient Life in Utah (we really must send in some pics and information on the museums we work with).  Also, in the book review section there is an unbiased and informative review on the new Horned Dinosaurs book – “New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium”, a definitive study of horned dinosaurs (not withstanding the current controversy over T.  latus and T. horridus.

All in all a super magazine and well worth the subscription.

To visit the Prehistoric Times website: Prehistoric Times.

19 07, 2010

New Fossil Discovery from Saudi Arabia provides Evidence of Monkey/Ape Divergence

By |2023-01-10T12:57:39+00:00July 19th, 2010|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Educational Activities, Main Page, Palaeontological articles|0 Comments

Saadanius hijazensis – New Oligocene Primate sheds light on Divergence of Apes

Saudi Arabia 30 million years ago, looked very different than it does today.  Much of this desert kingdom was a lush and verdant paradise for the rapidly diversifying mammalian species.  Bordering the last remnants of the once mighty Tethys ocean there were extensive mangrove swamps and thriving in this half-way house environment between the land and sea were a number of genera of monkeys and other arboreal creatures.  The discovery of a partial cranium (part of the skull) dating from approximately 28-29 million years ago, may have shed light on the divergence of the apes from Old World monkeys.

In the hills overlooking the Red Sea a team of scientists have unearthed the fossilised elements of a skull of an ancient creature that may be a transitional fossil showing a point in the evolution of apes from monkeys.

The skull could help palaeontologists to answer questions about the life of primates in a geological epoch that until now has provided few fossil clues.  The report on this fossil and its potential implications regarding the evolution of apes is published in the scientific journal “Nature”.

Commenting on the discovery, Iyad Zalmout, a palaeontologist with the University of Michigan and an author of the paper stated:

“It turns out it’s not an ape, it’s not a monkey, it’s something intermediate.”

The expedition were a little surprised to find the fossil, their primary objective being to explore the coastal sediments to excavate ancient whale fossils, helping to piece together the evolution of this particular group of mammals. They were not expecting to find ancient monkey/primate remains, especially skull material which could provide a fresh insight into the evolution of apes from Old World monkeys.

Fossil Discovery

Pictures show an anterior view of the skull material (view from the front) on the left and a ventral view (view from the side) on the right.  Although fragmentary, the nasal concha (hole where the nose tissue would be) is clearly visible, along with the nasal bone (links nose to the eyes) and elements of the maxilla.  The face although elongated and angular does have a flattened appearance, a characteristic of apes and of our own hominid ancestors.

This new genus has been named Saadanius hijazensis and it shares morphological features with a family of apes known as the Propliopithecoidea, an ancestor of apes and monkeys that lived more than 30 million years ago.  The fossil record of monkeys from this part of the Cenozoic is particularly poor, arboreal dwelling animals do not generally have a high potential for fossilisation to occur.  This is due to a number of factors but living in a forested environment leads to very few chances of a corpse being fossilised and preserved.  S. hijazensis lacks the advanced sinuses of extant apes and monkeys (collectively called Catarrhines), however, it does have a bony ear tube that was not fully developed in the Propliopithecoidea.

Commenting on the discovery, Erik Seiffert, an anatomist at Stony Brook University in New York said:

“This fossil is really key because it has that bony tube.”

He went on to add that comparison of the bony tube and other features such as the teeth and the forward facing position of the orbit (eye sockets) with those of other primates could help palaeontologists to build up a more complete picture of the ape/monkey family tree.

Saadanius hijazensis

Zalmout and his co-authors are confident that S. hijazensis could help scientists make sense of “competing hypothesis” about how the shape of Catarrhine skulls changed over time.  One theory put forward by palaeontologists based on the limited fossil evidence found to date is that the Catarrhines developed long, flat faces relatively early on in their evolutionary history.  Other scientists, such as comparative anatomists point out that modern, extant genera such as gibbons, have rounder faces and use this evidence to suggest that long, flat faces evolved much later.

The fragmentary Saadanius fossil has a long, flat face and this discovery has excited scientists as it lends support to the theory suggesting the evolution of the flat face very early on in ape evolution.

Erik Seiffert stated:

“This evidence [Saadanius fossil] very clearly supports the palaeontological point of view.”

However, other scientists warn on the over reliance of fossil evidence to prove a particular theory.  For example, facial features may be distorted over the long preservation and fossilisation process, geological pressure can crush, compact and distort features.  Eric Delson, a palaeontologist from Lehman College of the City University (New York), suggested that fossils may only reflect part of the diversity of a group of particular animals, making it difficult to draw precise conclusions.

All the scientists agree that the discovery of more ancient transitional fossils will help to shed light on the evolutionary relationships between different groups.  Saudi officials, keen to promote tourism have already taken steps to preserve this particular dig site.  This will afford palaeontologists the opportunity to explore the area in more depth, perhaps unearthing more fossils that can indicate how Saadanius moved around its mangrove environment and what it ate.

Delson put it succinctly stating:

“It would be interesting to know whether these primates were beginning to come down from the trees and to know something about what they were eating.”

Welcoming the news that Saudi officials want to preserve the site and to promote fossil tourism Zalmout concluded:

“In my experience, if you find one primate there should be more there.  This will be important to see the whole story about fauna in Arabia and Africa.”

We at Everything Dinosaur look forward to reading about future discoveries.

To view models of prehistoric animals including mammals from the Oligocene: Figures of Prehistoric Mammals.

Go to Top