A Late Cretaceous Dinosaur Diorama

By |2023-12-11T07:55:05+00:00May 5th, 2019|Adobe CS5, Dinosaur Fans, Everything Dinosaur Products, Main Page, Photos of Everything Dinosaur Products|0 Comments

A Late Cretaceous Dinosaur Diorama

Prehistoric animal model collector Robert Townsend very kindly sent some photographs into Everything Dinosaur featuring his Late Cretaceous dinosaur diorama.  Robert has created for himself, his very own super-sized model prehistoric landscape, featuring authentic vegetation, artificial rocks and a dinosaur watering hole complete with dinosaur tracks and footprints.

His latest project involved creating typical prehistoric scenes reflecting the fauna of the Late Cretaceous (Campanian and Maastrichtian faunal stages), of North America.  We can expect to see a landscape dominated by duck-billed dinosaurs, ornithomimids, pachycephalosaurs with the apex predatory positions occupied by tyrannosaurids.

The Late Cretaceous Prehistoric Scene

A Late Cretaceous diorama.
A Late Cretaceous landscape.  The brass plate at the front shows the title “The Lost World”.

Picture credit: R. Townsend

North America in the Late Cretaceous

Using Robert’s large collection of prehistoric animal models, the majority of which have been purchased from Everything Dinosaur, he has created a series of mini dramas within his super-sized landscape and his focus has been to use prehistoric animal figures representing animals from the famous Hell Creek and the slightly older Dinosaur Provincial Park Formations of North America.

Admittedly, the addition of the Bullyland Pteranodon sternbergi model (Geosternbergia sternbergi), which is associated with the Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Formation (Kansas) is interesting, after all, this animal is associated with marine and not terrestrial deposits.  However, these large pterosaurs were accomplished fliers and they may have frequently flown inland, perhaps to find fresh water.

The Rare Bullyland Pteranodon sternbergi (Geosternbergia sternbergi) Features in the Diorama

Rare Bullyland pterosaur model.
A rare Bullyland flying reptile model.  Ready for take-off.

Picture credit: R. Townsend

The Bullyland Pteranodon sternbergi figure has been out of production for a long time, but Everything Dinosaur was able to acquire some of these extremely rare figures.

Not All Horned Dinosaurs and Hadrosauridae in the Dinosaur Diorama

Although, North American herbivorous populations were dominated by the horned dinosaurs and the duck-billed dinosaurs, there were many other types of dinosaur resident too.  Robert has skilfully added a range of different prehistoric animals to his landscape.  For example, ornithomimids and pachycephalosaurs feature as well.

A Struthiomimus Bumps into a Dracorex

A Struthiomimus and a Dracorex.
A Struthiomimus and a Dracorex.  Ornithomimids and pachycephalosaurs are also known from the famous Hell Creek and Dinosaur Provincial Park Formations.

Picture credit: R. Townsend

The fleet-footed ornithomimid had better watch out, a recent scientific paper which involved the analysis of the front of the jaw of a pachycephalosaur proposed that these bone-headed dinosaurs may have been partially carnivorous.  To read more about this hypothesis: Pachycephalosaurus – Was it Carnivorous?

Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops

No North American Late Cretaceous dinosaur diorama would be complete without the appearance of Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops.  Creator Robert does not disappoint, he depicts a T. rex feeding on the corpse of “three-horned face” and within the prehistoric scene the tyrannosaurid Albertosaurus can be found along with a horned dinosaur very distantly related to Triceratops – Styracosaurus.

The “Tyrant Lizard King” Feasts on an Unfortunate Triceratops

T. rex feasts on a Triceratops.
Tyrannosaurus rex feasts on a Triceratops.  The dead Triceratops is lying with its beak in a footprint left by a large Theropod dinosaur, probably made by the T. rex that killed it

Picture credit: R. Townsend

A spokesperson for the UK-based Everything Dinosaur praised the prehistoric landscape and stated:

“We congratulate Robert for his creative use of the prehistoric animal figures and the beautiful details of the diorama.  It is always a pleasure to receive photographs of prehistoric scenes which have been choreographed by our customers.”

Visit the Everything Dinosaur website: Everything Dinosaur.