All about dinosaurs, fossils and prehistoric animals by Everything Dinosaur team members.
16 01, 2015

Brandon Demonstrates His Knowledge

By |2023-03-21T21:52:55+00:00January 16th, 2015|Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on Brandon Demonstrates His Knowledge

Year 1 Student Explains About Flying Reptiles

Young Brandon was keen to show our dinosaur expert the model of a flying reptile that he had made  It had been inspired by the CollectA Pteranodon model.  The children in Year 1 are currently studying prehistoric animals as part of their spring term curriculum.  The flying reptiles seem to be particularly popular.  Brandon had made a model of a pterosaur which he showed the Everything Dinosaur fossil expert who came to visit the school to deliver a dinosaur themed workshop as part of a plan to encourage the children with their writing.

The Model of a Flying Reptile Made by School Pupils

Year 2 make prehistoric animal models.

A wonderful model of a pterosaur (flying reptile).  Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Brandon showed our expert the wings and explained about flying reptiles.   He commented on how flying reptiles might have hunted and how the captured prey, as Brandon thought that most pterosaurs ate fish.

Setting the Class a Challenge

We set the class one of our “pinkie palaeontologist challenges” could they design a poster all about a flying reptile called Pteranodon.  We sent over fact sheets and a scale drawing to help them, although we insisted that they write some facts on the poster and label it correctly.  All part of encouraging their writing.

The CollectA Pteranodon Model (A 1:40 Scale Replica of P. longiceps)

Pteranodon model.

A CollectA 1:40 scale model of the famous pterosaur known as Pteranodon.

A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur praised Brandon and his chums for their work. He also stated that Brandon knew a lot about the Pterosauria and it was people like him who helped to inspire the design team behind the CollectA Pteranodon model.

To view the range of CollectA scale models and replicas of prehistoric animals in stock at Everything Dinosaur, take a look at this link: CollectA Deluxe Prehistoric Animals and Figures.

16 01, 2015

Spinosaurus Swimming into View

By |2023-03-21T18:59:08+00:00January 16th, 2015|Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Everything Dinosaur Products|0 Comments

Pictures of the Swimming Spinosaurus from CollectA

In addition, to the Deluxe Spinosaurus replica due to be introduced by those clever people at CollectA, two other models of this iconic dinosaur are to be added this year including a swimming Spinosaurus from CollectA.  2015 marks the centenary of the naming of Spinosaurus (S. aegyptiacus), and this event is being commemorated with a couple of new, not-to-scale figures showing Spinosaurus as a quadruped.

 A Swimming Spinosaurus Dinosaur Model

The first of these new additions to the CollectA “Prehistoric Life” range depicts Spinosaurus in, what many scientists believe to be its natural habitat – water.  Isotope analysis of fossilised remains conducted by a team of scientists, including Romain Amiot (University of Lyon), back in 2010, revealed that spinosaurs may have spent a large portion of their lives in water.  The concept of aquatic dinosaurs had once again come into the limelight.

To read an article about a theory that proposes that all dinosaurs were aquatic: Aquatic Dinosaurs.

The Swimming Spinosaurus Dinosaur Model

An aquatic dinosaur?

An aquatic dinosaur?  A view of the swimming Spinosaurus from CollectA.

Picture credit: CollectA/Everything Dinosaur

There is other evidence to suggest that Spinosaurus may have spent a great deal of time wadding and swimming in the lakes and rivers of its North African habitat.  For example, the Kem Kem region, where many Spinosaurus fossils have been found (Kem Kem Formation of Morocco), was a low-lying area close to the remnants of the mighty Tethys Ocean.  It was a wetland habitat, that some scientists have compared to Florida’s Everglades.  There were many large lakes and rivers and it is interesting to contemplate, that if one removes the possibility of substantial post mortem transportation of bodily remains, spinosaurid fossils are usually found in sediments that represent ancient lacustrine or riverine environments.

Another View of the CollectA Swimming Spinosaurus

Splashing about - Spinosaurus.

Splashing about – Spinosaurus.

Picture credit: CollectA/Everything Dinosaur

The model, which measures around 26 cm in length, does not stand up on its own.  A clear, plastic stand will be provided so that the replica can be displayed.  The model is based on the 2014 re-interpretation and review of Spinosaurus fossil remains.  Everything Dinosaur team members wrote an article about this new interpretation, on what is regarded as the largest carnivorous dinosaur known to science, back in September.

To read this article: Spinosaurus – Are Four Legs Better Than Two?

How Did Spinosaurus Swim?

The inference from one of the conclusions following the re-interpretation of Spinosaurus as a dinosaur very much at home in the water, is that Spinosaurus was a good swimmer.  When our dinosaur experts visit schools to conduct dinosaur themed workshops we often come across pictures of plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs downloaded in all innocence by the teaching team from on line retailers of teaching resources, these are described as “swimming dinosaurs”.    Plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs are not members of the Dinosauria, and, as far as the fossil record shows, no member of the Dinosauria adapted to a marine environment.

However, like most vertebrates, it is suspected that dinosaurs, if forced to, could swim quite well.  There is even some evidence that those ungainly looking pterosaurs could swim, bizarre though it may sound.

A herd of sauropods could cross rivers and estuaries in search of food.  Once they had waded out of their depth, these giants could have quite happily paddled their way across.  There have even been trace fossils found that have been interpreted as being the scratches and marks made by a dinosaur as it swam across a body of water.  The marks being made on the river or lake bed as the reptile occasionally “touched down” only to push itself off again.

To read an article about one of these remarkable trace fossils: Evidence of Swimming Dinosaurs.

Which swimming stroke the Spinosaurus preferred is very much open to debate.  The CollectA replica shows an animal swimming in an undulating, sideways motion, with propulsion provided by the long, strong tail.  This is reminiscent of the swimming motion of extant crocodilians.  In crocodiles, the limbs don’t really play a role in the swimming action.  In the absence, of much of the skeleton, what we do have, as investigated by the team of international scientists last year, may have come from very different sized individuals so limb proportions are conjectural to some extent.

CollectA Spinosaurus Model

Could Spinosaurus have adopted a sort of “doggy paddle” approach, swimming with all four limbs?  Perhaps, this super-sized dinosaur propelled itself along in the same way as one of the largest land carnivores around today does.  Polar bears (Ursus maritimus), technically a marine mammal considering the amount of time they spend on the sea ice, swim with a different motion.  They paddle themselves along just using their massive front paws, the back legs provide the steering, a sort of “rear wheel steer”.

We at Everything Dinosaur are not aware of any papers having been published with regards to the proposed swimming action of the Spinosauridae, perhaps one will be published soon.

To view the range of CollectA prehistoric animal figures stocked by Everything Dinosaur: CollectA Prehistoric Life/Prehistoric World Figures.

15 01, 2015

“Wind Hunter” Rebor Announces New Replica

By |2023-03-21T18:56:27+00:00January 15th, 2015|Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Everything Dinosaur Products|1 Comment

Utahraptor ostrommaysorum – “Wind Hunter” from Rebor

No sooner have we completed writing about the work to remove an enormous sandstone/mudstone block that may contain the remains of six Utahraptors, then it is time to release the first pictures of the new Rebor Utahraptor replica.  The next edition to the 1:35 scale replica series is going to be model of Utahraptor ostrommaysorum and what a beautiful sculpt it is.  Our team members have followed the “Utahraptor story”, since this enigmatic dinosaur was formally named and described back in 1993.  It is regarded as the largest of the “raptors” and we have speculated that a similar sized “raptor” may one day be discovered in Europe.

Rebor Utahraptor Replica

To read more about the “Utahraptor block”: Potential Predator Trap and Utahraptor.

Coming Soon to Everything Dinosaur 1:35 scale Replica of Utahraptor

The largest known member of the Dromaeosauridae.

The largest known member of the Dromaeosauridae.

Picture credit: Rebor/Everything Dinosaur

With its integumental covering of coarse “proto feathers” and quills on the forearms, this is indeed an intriguing interpretation of a carnivorous dinosaur.  We love the fact that the base has been painted a dark, red, sandstone colour, we suspect that this is in recognition of the work done on the Arches National Park Utahraptor concretion, that has been featured in the media very recently, but was actually first discovered back in 2004 (first bone from the site in 2001).

The Arches National Park, found to the north of the town of Moab (Utah), is famous for its sandstone arches and structures.  Parts of the Park, managed by the U.S. National Parks Service, are referred to as the “Red Rock Wonderland” due to the abundance sandstone geological features.

The Rebor 1:35 Scale Utahraptor Replica

Beautiful detail on this model.

Beautiful detail on this model.  The Rebor Utahraptor replica.

Picture credit: Rebor/Everything Dinosaur

Like the earlier releases Yutyrannus and T. rex, this replica has an articulated lower jaw.  The forelimbs also move, in recognition that these types of dinosaurs were “graspers and grabbers” as one of our colleagues frequently mentions whenever we get onto the subject of Early Cretaceous theropods.

A Striking, Dynamic Pose for the Replica

Depicting an agile, active dinosaur.

Depicting an agile, active dinosaur.

Picture credit: Rebor/Everything Dinosaur

The dinosaur can be removed from its base (can you spot the skull bones on the mount in the picture) and it is certainly a very dynamic and dramatic pose.  Made from a composite of PVC and polystone (like the Rebor Yutyrannus), this looks like to be another “must have” prehistoric animal replica for 2015.

Everything Dinosaur team members will post up more information soon, it will be added to our Rebor range later in the spring.

For further information and to see the current Rebor models: Rebor Prehistoric Animal Models and Figures.

To contact Everything Dinosaur with a view to reserving one of these superb Rebor Utahraptor replicas: Email Everything Dinosaur.

14 01, 2015

Guidraco 1:4 Scale Model (CollectA)

By |2023-03-21T18:49:44+00:00January 14th, 2015|Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Everything Dinosaur Products, Photos of Everything Dinosaur Products|2 Comments

Guidraco Pterosaur Model is on Its Way

Team members at Everything Dinosaur are very excited as we await the arrival of the first of the 2015 model releases from CollectA.  One of the first replicas that will be available in the early Spring is a super model of the pterosaur known as Guidraco, the name means “malicious ghost dragon” and this model is in the company’s “Supreme Deluxe” range.  One look at the model and you can see why it needed the “supreme” designation, it is very well designed and a wonderful depiction, of what we think is a member of the Ornithocheiridae.

Guidraco

The 1:4 Scale Guidraco Pterosaur Replica

Model has an articulated jaw.

Model has an articulated jaw. A photograph of the 1:4 scale CollectA Supreme/Deluxe Guidraco pterosaur.  Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

CollectA 1:4 Scale Pterosaur Model

Described as standing around 25 centimetres tall, if you include the crest, this is not much smaller than the reconstructions of Guidraco venator seen in several Chinese museums.  The skull size is around 13 cm and the largest of those vicious rostral teeth are around 14 millimetres in length.  The wing finger is a whopping 26 cm long.  The overall length of the model that we have measured is 23 centimetres, this really is a very impressive replica indeed.

To read a recent article that looks at pterosaur evolution: Pushing Back Pterosaur Evolution.

Can I Keep These Please?

A pair of Guidracos, note the articulated jaws.

A pair of Guidracos, note the articulated jaws.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The above picture gives you some idea of just how big these flying reptile replicas are.  It also gives you quite a good idea about how excited we are about these new additions to the CollectA “Prehistoric Life” model range.

To view Everything Dinosaur’s range of CollectA scale models: CollectA Deluxe/Supreme Prehistoric Life Models.

We have already prepared a fact sheet on this fascinating and enigmatic creature, this fact sheet will be sent out with models.  These new for 2015 models will be with us shortly, if you would like more information or if you would like to reserve one (with no obligation to purchase) just drop us an email: Email Everything Dinosaur.

13 01, 2015

Scotland’s Very Own Ichthyosaur

By |2023-03-21T16:12:13+00:00January 13th, 2015|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Geology, Main Page|0 Comments

Dearcmhara shawcrossi – An Ichthyosaur from the Isle of Skye

No it’s not a dinosaur, contrary to some media reports.  It certainly is not “Nessie”, but it does mark the culmination of a tremendous effort by Scottish palaeontologists to collate and study marine reptile fossils that have been found in Scotland.  A new species of ichthyosaur (marine reptile), has been described from fossils found on the Isle of Skye.

The “wee beastie” has been named Dearcmhara shawcrossi, the name comes from the Scottish Gaelic for marine lizard and the trivial name honours amateur fossil hunter Brian Shawcross who found the creature’s fossils at Bearreraig Bay in 1959.  Bearreraig Bay is part of a highly fossiliferous coastline which can be found on the eastern side of the island.  As far as we at Everything Dinosaur know, this is the first marine reptile to be given a Gaelic name, Dearcmhara is pronounced “jark vara”.

 A Model of an Ichthyosaur (Fish Lizard)

An Ichthyosaurus Model

An Ichthyosaurus model.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Scotland’s Very Own Ichthyosaur (D. shawcrossi)

Around 170 million years ago, much of the Isle of Skye was underwater.  A shallow sea separated the landmasses of Europe and North America, this sea formed when rifts in the Earth’s crust led to the break-up of the super- continent Laurentia.  Marine reptiles like Dearcmhara shawcrossi were part of a diverse ecosystem, Dearcmhara grew to around 4.5 metres in length, motor boat size as described by Dr Steve Brusatte (University of Edinburgh School of GeoSciences), who led the study.

Fossil Vertebra of the Newly Described Species

Most likely a dorsal vertebra from Dearcmhara.

Most likely a dorsal vertebra from 

Picture credit: BBC News

 Dr Steve Brusatte (holding the fossil in the photograph) went onto comment:

“During the time of the dinosaurs, the waters of Scotland were prowled by big reptiles the size of motor boats.  Their fossils are very rare, and only now, for the first time we’ve found a new species that was uniquely Scottish.”

The Isle of Skye

The Isle of Skye is a very important part of the world to palaeontologists.  Exposures along the shoreline and inland are strata that was laid down during the Middle Jurassic.  There are very few places in the world where such rocks are exposed and this makes any fossil discovery from the island very significant indeed.

Recently, Everything Dinosaur wrote about a new initiative to try and protect the island’s geological heritage in the wake of fears that unscrupulous fossil dealers might want to remove rare and valuable fossil bones of plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs.

To read the article: Action Taken to Safeguard Scotland’s Fossils.

The discovery of a new species of Scottish ichthyosaur is just part of a collaborative effort being undertaken by researchers from the University of Edinburgh, the Hunterian Museum, the National Museums of Scotland, Staffin Museum (Isle of Skye) and Scottish National Heritage to try and catalogue significant vertebrate fossil finds.

A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:

“Without the donation made by local fossil enthusiast Brian Shawcross, this new species of ichthyosaur would not have been recognised.  This goes to show how important amateur fossil collectors can be when it comes to learning about life in the past.”

To read an article that explains the importance of the Isle of Skye from a palaeontological perspective: Scotland’s Mid Jurassic Heritage.

Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a media release from the University of Edinburgh in the compilation of this article.

13 01, 2015

That Little Bit Extra

By |2023-03-21T16:09:05+00:00January 13th, 2015|General Teaching, Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on That Little Bit Extra

Getting into the Spirit of the Term Topic

At Everything Dinosaur we get the chance to meet and work with some amazing teachers and learning support providers.  The term “teaching professions” is most certainly merited and it always fills us with a sense of pride when we are able to assist and enthuse hard-working, dedicated school teachers and teaching assistants.  Sometimes, members of the teaching team will go that extra step to help motivate and inspire the next generation of scientists.  Key Stage 1 children studying dinosaurs at Rykneld Primary school, were very appreciative of  Lisa Tee, one of the teaching assistants, who got her nails painted with a variety of dinosaur designs – good for you Lisa.

Teaching Assistant Inspires Pupils

“Digital Dinosaurs”

Dinosaur themed nail designs.

A member of the teaching staff gets into the spirit of the dinosaur term topic. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Lisa Tee/Rykneld Primary School/Everything Dinosaur

What a wonderful way to help inspire and motivate the pupils!  We have to “hand” it to the member of the teaching staff her “handiwork” is inspirational.

A member of the teaching staff has certainly got into the spirit of the dinosaur and prehistoric animal term topic.

Our dinosaur workshop was very well received by teachers and pupils.  We provided a number of extension ideas and suggestions, even some drawings of dinosaur footprints, however, none of the dinosaur tracks that we sent over had painted nails, perhaps next time…

Dinosaur Wall Display

A decorative dinosaur wall display spotted at the school. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Everything Dinosaur stocks a huge range of educational dinosaur-themed toys and games, all aimed at inspiring the next generation of young scientists.  Our toys and gifts are all recommended by our own dedicated and enthusiastic teaching team.

To view the range of prehistoric animal-themed items in stock: Replica Models of Iconic Fossil Animals – Learning Section.

12 01, 2015

Thank You Cards from Customers

By |2023-03-21T16:07:53+00:00January 12th, 2015|Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page, Press Releases|0 Comments

Everything Dinosaur Receives Thank You Cards from Customers

Everything Dinosaur receives thank you cards.

At Everything Dinosaur we try to help everyone who contacts us.  We get all sorts of correspondence, emails from teachers asking for advice and support with lesson plans, young dinosaur fans asking questions, museum enquiries and exhibitions wanting our help over the telephone and so on.  Part of our extensive customer base is made up of those parents and grandparents who may not be as internet savvy as the rest of the population.  We get letters sent into us asking for help in finding a specific dinosaur toy and phone calls from those customers who are reluctant to buy on line and prefer to talk to a person over the phone.

We are happy to help where we can and as a result of our customer service, we then get thank you cards and letters sent into the Everything Dinosaur offices by grateful customers.

Thank You Card Sent into Everything Dinosaur

Customer's send in thank you cards to Everything Dinosaur.

Customers send in thank you cards to Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

We all work long hours and it is nice to know that our help is appreciated.  A typical response to some questions that we have answered for a budding, young palaeontologist is:

“I am so grateful, that you took the time and trouble to answer Ben’s questions.  The information you provided was certainly comprehensive and he was so excited when I showed him the email.  Thank you to for the lovely drawing materials that you sent.”

It’s all in a day’s work for us, although with the volume of correspondence we have these days, please be patient, we do try our best to respond to all those customers who have contacted us that require a reply.

Saying Thanks with Angiosperms – Customer Thank You Card

Thank you card received by Everything Dinosaur.

Thank you card received by Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

To view the huge range of dinosaur models, toys and games available from Everything Dinosaur: Visit Everything Dinosaur.

11 01, 2015

Everything Dinosaur’s Social Media Targets 2015

By |2023-03-21T16:06:33+00:00January 11th, 2015|Adobe CS5, Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page, Press Releases|0 Comments

Setting Targets for our Social Media in 2015

Having reviewed our progress on the various social media platforms that we support, Facebook, Twitter, Everything Dinosaur’s YouTube channel and so forth, it is time to look ahead to what we think we can achieve over the next twelve months.  She who must be obeyed “Tyrannosaurus Sue” has set targets for “likes” on Facebook, followers on Twitter, pins on Pinterest and so forth.

Everything Dinosaur’s Social Media

We are going to list them here and periodically, throughout the year review our progress.  2015 should be an exciting time for Everything Dinosaur, we are going to have lots of new and exciting dinosaur toys and prehistoric animal models, but first and foremost let’s take a look at those targets.

  •  Everything Dinosaur’s School Website (Dinosaurs for Schools)

Since this website went live in August of last year, we have been able to help many hundreds of teachers and thousands of school children.  The free downloads, teaching resources, lesson plans and activity ideas have been very well received indeed.  In 2014, we posted up sixty-seven articles on the teaching blog, all about dinosaur discoveries and about how to teach about dinosaurs and prehistoric animals in school.  We featured pictures, drawings, dinosaur museums that had been set up in classrooms, all sorts of creative and imaginative teaching ideas.

With the focus in England very much on working scientifically we shall continue to do all we can to assist teaching professionals, museums and home educators.

To visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Visit Everything Dinosaur.

So in 2015 our targets for the Dinosaurs for Schools website are:

  1. A further 125 articles posted up on the teaching blog site (total by the end of the year to be 192 articles)
  2. At the moment we have twenty downloads available to support schools, we intend to add another ten to this list, (total number of downloads available = 30)
  •  Everything Dinosaur on Facebook

We really enjoy posting up pictures, articles and information on our Facebook page, we have lots of friends and last year we accumulated 1,580 “likes” we are truly honoured.   We have about 175 friends on Facebook too.  At Everything Dinosaur we believe that Facebook “likes” have to be earned and not purchased we shall continue to work hard to earn every appreciative “like” that we receive.

Targets:

  1. Increase “likes” to “2,000” by the end of 2015
  2. Increase the number of friends we have on Facebook to 400 by the end of the year
  3. Run at least three competitions and free giveaways to show our gratitude to our Facebook fans (just like we did last year)

We believe customer service is the key to getting "likes".

Target for 2015 is 2,000 earned “likes”.

Feel free to “like” our page by clicking on the Facebook logo – that would be brilliant!!

  • Twitter

With over 2,000 “tweets”, Everything Dinosaur team members are beginning to find their feet on Twitter, we love the immediacy of this platform and sharing pictures of fossils and illustrations of prehistoric animals.  Our Twitter feed is linked to our dinosaurs for schools website so we can “tweet” about good teaching practice and post up pictures of children’s artwork and such like.

Targets:

  1. 3,200 “tweets” by December 31st 2015
  2. To increase the number of people we follow over 5oo (up from 345).
  3. To increase the number of people following us from 370 to 650 by the end of the year
  • YouTube

At the moment our YouTube channel: Everything Dinosaur on YouTube has ninety-six videos, this is a few less than we anticipated after we did not get all the videos made that we wanted to last year.   However, we are still really impressed with the number of channel views which now stands at over 890,000 (thanks to everyone).  Subscriber numbers have topped 1,200 which is also very impressive as far as we are concerned.  We make model and replica reviews, post up collecting tips and hints and generally like to feature our favourite prehistoric animal models.  Our targets for the Everything Dinosaur YouTube channel are listed below our YouTube banner.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s YouTube Channel

Click on the banner to visit Everything Dinosaur's Youtube channel.

Click on the banner to visit Everything Dinosaur’s YouTube channel.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

  1. Number of videos up from 96 to 125 by the end of December 2015
  2. To achieve 1,000,000 video reviews by June 12th 2015 (the day of the world premier of “Jurassic World”) and then to achieve 1,235,000 views in total by the end of the year
  3. To up our channel subscribers from 1,200 to 1,750
  • Pinterest

With 5,300 pins on a total of 31 boards and 735 followers (496 following), Everything Dinosaur team members have worked hard to post up pictures and helpful information related to pterosaurs, marine reptiles and of course dinosaurs.  We will create a dedicated board to marine reptiles and attempt to get over 250 pins up on this new board by the end of the year.  In addition, we shall set the following goals for Everything Dinosaur’s Pinterest presence.

  1. 8,500 pins
  2. 1,050 followers
  3. 600 following

To visit our Pinterest pages, simply click on the Pin It logo below:

Click to visit Everything Dinosaur's Pinterest pages.

Click to visit Everything Dinosaur’s Pinterest pages.

That’s about all for social media targets, but we will continue to remain as dedicated to our customers as we always have been and we look forward to hearing from you in the future.  Let’s see how close or how far over the targets the team members at Everything Dinosaur achieve by the end of the year.

Ah But!  What about this Blog?

Last but not least we come to the Everything Dinosaur web log.  Since we started blogging back in May 2007, we have tried to post up an article at least once a day, aiming for a total of 365 articles and news stories per year.  To date we have published an incredible 2,867 features, stories and articles.  We estimate that by May 20th we will have posted up our 3,000 blog post, to us, that’s simply amazing.  We will have to mark that landmark, with for a start, a special blog post.  By the end of the year our target is to have added another 365 articles to this site, making a total by December 31st of 3,221 or thereabouts.  We shall see…

10 01, 2015

The Inspiration behind Nasutoceratops?

By |2023-03-21T07:50:28+00:00January 10th, 2015|Animal News Stories, Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Everything Dinosaur Products, Photos of Everything Dinosaur Products|0 Comments

The Diversity of the Ceratopsidae – Inspiring a Nasutoceratops Dinosaur Model

The last decade or so has been regarded by many palaeontologists as the “Golden Age of Horned Dinosaurs” could a cow be the inspiration behind a Nasutoceratops dinosaur model?   There have been so many new genera of horned dinosaur described, revisions of earlier research and a whole set of new theories looking at everything from mating rituals, ontogeny and phylogenetic relationships.  Model manufacturers have been keen to reflect the changing state of play with this branch of the Ornithischia. Both CollectA and Safari Ltd have got into the habit of producing at least one new ceratopsian figure each year.

Nasutoceratops Dinosaur Model

In 2015, for example, a Nasutoceratops dinosaur model will be introduced by both CollectA and Safari Ltd.  This dinosaur, the name means “large nosed horn face”, was only formally described back in 2013.   It lived in what was to become Utah, towards the end of the Cretaceous period and this hefty herbivore sported a pair of large brow horns that pointed forward like the horns of some types of cow.

An Illustration of Nasutoceratops (N. titusi)

Nasutoceratops -  a Centrosaurine dinosaur from Utah

Nasutoceratops – the brow horns face forward.

Picture credit: Raul Martin

To view an article written by Everything Dinosaur on the dinosaur discovery: “Large Nose, Horn Face” – Nasutoceratops.

Both models are extremely well done and Everything Dinosaur will be stocking both the CollectA Nasutoceratops and the Wild Safari Dinos model.

New for 2015 the Wild Safari Dinos Nasutoceratops

Available from Everything Dinosaur in 2015.

Available from Everything Dinosaur in 2015.

Picture credit: Safari Ltd/Everything Dinosaur

To view the range of dinosaur models from the Safari Ltd series stocked by Everything Dinosaur: Wild Safari Prehistoric World.

The Diverse Ceratopsia

The diversity of the horns and bony ornamentation within the Ceratopsidae is amazing.  When the fossil material which was to become the holotype for the Nasutoceratops titusi was being evaluated, it was remarked how the horns reminded the scientists of the horns of a cow.  We spotted a cow the other day that reminded us of the new CollectA Nasutoceratops dinosaur model.  Could this have been the inspiration behind the CollectA replica?

To view the CollectA “Prehistoric Life/Prehistoric World” model range available: CollectA “Prehistoric Life/Prehistoric World” Models.

Cow Reminds Everything Dinosaur of Nasutoceratops

the inspiration behind a dinosaur model?

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

A cow from the Mesozoic, how ridiculous, not at all, as this article proves: Prehistoric Udders!

9 01, 2015

A Review of Everything Dinosaur’s Social Media Targets (2014)

By |2023-03-21T07:41:18+00:00January 9th, 2015|Everything Dinosaur News and Updates, Main Page, Press Releases|0 Comments

How Did Everything Dinosaur Get On in 2014?

Everything Dinosaur team members made predictions about what our social media performance might be over 2014.  This formed part of a larger project that involved staff trying to forecast the news stories and articles that we would feature on this blog site over the year.  With so much emphasis being placed on customer interactions, two-way communication and such like, social media platforms are more important than ever before.

We at Everything Dinosaur, remain committed to being open and honest with all our customers, we try to help and assist where we can.  Our team members do their best to respond to every customer query, enquiries and questions sent into us about prehistoric animals.

“Tyrannosaurus Sue” set some targets regarding our social media work and exposure, these were reviewed periodically over the last twelve months (June and September).  We shall provide a sort of “end of year report”, an update on what we did and what we achieved.

To read the last update on Everything Dinosaur’s social media work (September 2014): Everything Dinosaur on Social Media.

Everything Dinosaur on Facebook

This time last year, we set a target of 1,200 “likes”, this kept being revised upwards as we continued to post up pictures, snippets from news stories, updates, previews of new models and such like.  In September, we set a new target of 1,380 likes before the end of December 2014.  We thought this was quite ambitious but by the end of the year we had achieved over 1,500.  A very big thank you to everyone who supported our Facebook page.

You can help us, by visiting Everything Dinosaur on Facebook (click the Facebook  logo below) and “like” the Everything Dinosaur page.

Everything Dinosaur on Facebook

Click the logo to visit our Facebook page and to give our page a "like".

Click the logo to visit our Facebook page and to give our page a “like”.

Twitter

By September we had “tweeted” 1,670 times, but could we reach our target of 2,000 tweets before the year came to a close?  The answer was yes, just, with our 2,000th tweet being posted up in  late December.  Currently, we have 371 followers on our Twitter feed and we are following a total of 346.  We shall see what targets are set for 2015 shortly.

The Everything Dinosaur Blog (this site)

It was an ambitious target, to continue to post up articles, averaging one a day over the whole year.  If we achieved this level of posting, then, we would have over 2,800 articles and features on line.  By June, some 151 new articles had been added and by December 31st the blog site contained a grand total of 2,854 published news stories and features.  If we continue to work at this rate, sometime over the next one hundred and forty days or thereabouts we will hit the landmark of a 3,000th article on line.

Pinterest

Our initial target to have 3,000 pins was soon overtaken, in fact the target of 3,000 pins posted was achieved in May.  In June, we set an additional target, to get to 4,000, this too was passed and in September we set a new mark of 5,200 by the end of the year.  To our surprise, our enthusiastic pinning led to a total of 5,300 pins by the end of 2014.  We are following 495 other “pinners” and we have 731 “pinners” following us.  Another target, not simply met but smashed.  We now have a total of 31 boards.

YouTube

We would not regard ourselves as the next Cecil B. DeMille, our videos and video reviews are not of Jurassic World quality but they have proved popular once again this year.  Back in January 2014, we stated that we wanted to make more videos and to achieve over 800,000 views.  Our video output may not have been prolific, but by June we had added another fourteen and our viewing figures were already approaching the target amount.  We set a new target of 900,000 video views and sure enough in early December we surpassed this mark.  We will go over the 1,000,000 views mark in the next few weeks, we are so honoured and we thank everyone for watching our videos.

So all in all, not a bad effort, we have surprised ourselves with what we have achieved.  We will have to see how we get on this year (2015).

To visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

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