All about dinosaurs, fossils and prehistoric animals by Everything Dinosaur team members.
2 11, 2016

Batrachotomus – A Fearsome Triassic Predator

By |2023-05-08T14:19:01+01:00November 2nd, 2016|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal Drawings, Dinosaur Fans, Main Page|0 Comments

Batrachotomus kupferzellensis

An email from a young fan of prehistoric animals listed their favourite non-dinosaurs.  Top of the list was the formidable Triassic carnivore Batrachotomus, fossils of which have been found in Germany.  Batrachotomus was not a dinosaur, (a point made in the email by the aspiring junior scientist who contacted Everything Dinosaur), but it was a member of the same clade of diapsid reptiles, the archosaurs (Archosauria).  Roughly the size of a modern saltwater crocodile, this terrestrial predator was one of the largest carnivores known from the Middle and Late Triassic of Europe.

Batrachotomus

In the email, a fact sheet about Batrachotomus was requested, we duly obliged and we also emailed over some drawing materials of Triassic reptiles, including a scale drawing of Batrachotomus for this young person to colour in.

Team members try to encourage budding young palaeontologists.  Staff were happy to send out a fact sheet and drawing materials.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

Despatching Drawing Materials

Everything Dinosaur’s Illustration of Batrachotomus

Batrachotomus drawing.

A scale drawing of the Triassic reptile Batrachotomus.  Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Batrachotomus Fossils

Fossils ascribed to this genus have been found at several locations in southern Germany.  The first fossils were discovered in 1977, although it was not named and scientifically described until 1999.

For models and replicas of ancient archosaurs and other prehistoric creatures: Deluxe CollectA Prehistoric Animal Figures.

1 11, 2016

Fossil Hunting at Biddulph Grange

By |2023-05-08T14:09:13+01:00November 1st, 2016|Dinosaur Fans, Educational Activities, Geology, Main Page, Teaching|0 Comments

Already for the Fossil Hunting at Biddulph Grange

Last Sunday, Everything Dinosaur team members visited Biddulph Grange Garden in Staffordshire as part of the dinosaur themed activities that had been organised at the National Trust property.  Our staff arrived nice and early and set up a fossil hunting activity for the budding young palaeontologists in the specially erected marquee that had been provided.

Fossil Hunting with Everything Dinosaur

All Ready for the Fossil Hunting Activity at Biddulph Grange Garden

Everything Dinosaur fossil hunting activity.

Fossil trays laid out at Biddulph Grange Gardens.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The picture above shows the marquee starting to get prepared for all the visitors we were expecting that day.  The event, part of The National Trust’s promotional campaign to raise awareness about the restoration of the unique Geology Gallery at Biddulph Grange, had been sold out for some weeks.

However, on the day itself our dedicated team met up with a number of other visitors to the beautiful gardens and we even gave away some fossils to visitors who had been unaware of the event and “popped into the tent to have a look around”.

To take a look around Everything Dinosaur’s award-winning website: Everything Dinosaur.

Preparing the Tables to Help Identify the Fossils

Everything Dinosaur at Biddulph Grange Gardens 2016.

Fossil trays laid out at Biddulph Grange Gardens.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Giving Away Fossils

We put lots of gravel into the trays on the floor and then carefully added a variety of fossils so that visitors could have a go at spotting fossils amongst the stones.  There were shark teeth, bivalves, brachiopods, fossilised wood, trilobites, ammonites, belemnite guards and even pieces of fossilised bone.

We certainly had a busy day, our early arrival allowed us to get organised and lay out all the helpful fossil identification charts that we had prepared.  We had to keep up topping up the fossil hunting trays, the visitors were finding so many specimens.

The Geology Gallery

The early arrival also allowed Everything Dinosaur team members to visit the partially restored Geology Gallery.  When completed (late spring 2017), the gallery will house many fossils and casts that help explain about prehistoric animals and life in the past.  Mr James Bateman, the former owner of Biddulph Grange and Gardens, built a wonderful gallery dedicated to uniting the ideas of a biblical creation with the newly emerging sciences of geology and palaeontology, scientific ideas that were beginning to take root in the 1860s.

Day V (Five) in the Geology Gallery

Biddulph Grange Geology Gallery.

Part of the Geology Gallery at Biddulph Grange Gardens, ready for restoration.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The picture above shows the spaces in the walls where the original fossils were housed.  The large, almost triangular space at the top of the photograph was the location of a partial ichthyosaur skull (Temnodonotosaurus platydon).  Sadly, very little documentation regarding the gallery and its contents have been preserved.  One of the fascinating problems associated with this particular restoration project is trying to work out what fossils went into the various spaces.

For replicas of iconic animals from the fossil record: Learning – Dinosaur Crafts and Replica Fossils.

Only one of the original fossils remains, a section of Lepidodendron bark with its characteristic diamond shaped leaf scars.

The Lepidodendron Bark Fossil in the Geology Gallery

A piece of fossilised bark (Lepidodendron).

The Lepidodendron fossil (ancient bark).

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Lepidodendron Fossil Hunting

Although the term Lepidodendron is used to refer to a genus of tree-sized lycopsid, strictly, only the scale bark on the uppermost part of the plant is named Lepidodendron.  Plants are rarely preserved as whole fossils but normally occur as isolated fragments, often representing different parts of the organism, the leaves, roots, trunk, stems, fruiting bodies, flowers and such like.  As these different parts are found separately, each plant tends to get a separate scientific name.  Hence, the roots of this lycophyte are referred to as Stigmaria and the base of the trunk is called Knorria.

Lepidodendron is derived from the Greek, it means “scale tree”, a very apt description for the diamond-shaped leaf scales which can be clearly seen in the Biddulph Grange fossil.

1 11, 2016

Dinosaur Workshops for the Cornerstones Curriculum

By |2023-05-08T13:55:19+01:00November 1st, 2016|General Teaching, Key Stage 1/2|Comments Off on Dinosaur Workshops for the Cornerstones Curriculum

Dinosaur Workshops for the Cornerstones Curriculum

The start of the second part of the autumn term and Everything Dinosaur team members are in the process of delivering a number of dinosaur and fossil themed workshops to support various term topics within schools.  Several schools have approached the teaching team at Everything Dinosaur and requested a provocation, a dinosaur workshop to kick-start a topic area, one that will enthuse the pupils (and teachers too).

Everything Dinosaur and Dinosaur Workshops

Some of these schools are following the Cornerstones curriculum, a cross curricular approach to learning that encompasses four interlocking phases.

Delivering a Provocation to Inspire Young Learners

Helping to promote learning in schools.

Helping to promote science for girls by dressing up as Mary Anning.  Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

The Cornerstones Curriculum

Cornerstones has four main areas of learning:

  1. Engage
  2. Develop
  3. Innovate
  4. Express

Pupils have the opportunity to develop and improve skills learnt during each of these interlocked and related stages.  The aim is to help each child reach their full potential.  When it comes to a dinosaur themed learning topic, our team members are often amazed at the level of pre-knowledge that is demonstrated.  For instance, during one of our recent dinosaur workshops in school, working with a Year 1 class, the children were eager to show us their underwater scenes that featured a variety of marine reptiles and a coelacanth!

The Engage Element of the Cornerstones Curriculum

In the “Engage” section of the Cornerstones curriculum, pupils are given the chance to start their topic with a memorable, exciting and stimulating first-hand learning experience.  Everything Dinosaur team members call their provocation workshops “wow experiences”, after all, a great way to start a topic all about dinosaurs and life in the past is to handle real fossils.

Fossil Handling as Part of a Dinosaur Themed Workshop Helping to Kick-Start a Term Topic

dinosaur coprolite

“Shiny side up” the joys of “dino dung”.  The joys of fossil handling.  Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

For further information about Everything Dinosaur’s science outreach work: Email Everything Dinosaur Team Members.

Dinosaur Workshops

It is important to kick-off the topic with a thought provoking and exciting learning experience.  This will help to enthuse and motivate the children, it will also help to enthuse the teaching team and with the extra resources we provide, there is plenty of scope to build in extension activities after one of our dinosaur and fossil workshops.

The dedicated teaching team at Everything Dinosaur will be undertaking a number of these provocations over the next two weeks as many schools start a new dinosaur and fossil themed topic area in the second half of the autumn term.  We wish all teachers, teaching assistants and home educationalists a rewarding and successful teaching term.

Visit Everything Dinosaur’s website: Everything Dinosaur.

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