Whilst on a short visit to the London Natural History Museum team members at Everything Dinosaur took the opportunity to visit the dinosaur gallery. Amongst the dinosaur bones and exhibits of fossil teeth, a trace fossil was spotted. It was a fossil dinosaur footprint, a specimen from the famous Lark Quarry site (Australia).
A fossil dinosaur footprint photographed at the London Natural History Museum. The exhibit features a three-toed print from the famous Lark Quarry track site in Australia. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
A Fossil Dinosaur Footprint
The Lark Quarry site is regarded as one of the most remarkable non-avian trace fossils in the world. The site, near the town of Winton (Queensland, Australia) preserves the fossilised footprints of at least three different types of dinosaur. When first extensively studied, it was thought the tracks represented a large theropod disturbing smaller dinosaurs and causing a stampede.
It had been suggested that the big tridactyl prints were made by an ornithopod and not a carnivorous theropod.
Other scientists have suggested that the larger tracks were made by Australovenator. Australovenator (A. wintonensis) was named and described in 2009 (Hocknull et al). It has been classified as a member of the Megaraptoridae family. Australovenator may have been a sister taxon of Fukuiraptor, which is known from Japan.
The CollectA Australovenator replica.
The picture (above) shows a CollectA Australovenator model from the CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Popular range.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“The Lark Quarry site is extremely important for ichnologists. The site preserves around 3,300 dinosaur tracks. The tracks have been interpreted in several ways. For example, the largest tridactyl prints could represent an ornithopod, or perhaps they were made by a theropod like Australovenator.”
The Wild Safari Prehistoric World Cryolophosaurus dinosaur model is coming into stock at Everything Dinosaur. A spokesperson from the UK-based company confirmed that the Cryolophosaurus figure was due to arrive next week.
The colourful Wild Safari Prehistoric World Cryolophosaurus dinosaur model is expected in stock at Everything Dinosaur.
Cryolophosaurus Dinosaur Model
Cryolophosaurus “frozen crested lizard”, was named and scientifically described in 1994. At around six metres in length, this theropod is thought to have been the apex predator in the Early Jurassic ecosystem associated with Antarctica. The new for 2023 Safari Ltd Cryolophosaurus sports a crimson crest. This thin crest earned this dinosaur the nickname “Elvisaurus”. The crest probably played a role in visual communication or confirming fitness for breeding.
The Wild Safari Prehistoric World Cryolophosaurus dinosaur model measures twenty centimetres in length. That beautifully sculpted head stands around eight centimetres off the ground. Sales of this dinosaur model will be sent out with a free Cryolophosaurus fact sheet. The fact sheet has been researched and written by Everything Dinosaur team members.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented that Safari Ltd, was not releasing details about new models in a single press release. Introductions had been scheduled to take place throughout the year. As a result, Everything Dinosaur team members had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of this colourful theropod figure.
The spokesperson added:
“It is a fantastic model. It’s great to have another dinosaur model representing the fauna of the southern part of Gondwana.”
The first tetrapods (land living animals) were amphibious. It had been thought that the development of an egg with a semi-permeable shell (amniote egg) was a fundamental step in the development of life on land. This adaptation meant that land animals did not have to return to water to breed and spawn. Freed from having to return to the water, early tetrapods could explore new environments and expand into new habitats.
However, a new paper written by researchers from Nanjing University (China) and the University of Bristol challenges this view of evolution.
The researchers conclude that the earliest reptiles, birds and mammals (Amniota), may have borne live young.
What is an Amniote?
Amniotes lay eggs that have a semi-permeable shell that protects the embryo from drying out. A tough, internal membrane called the amnion surrounds the growing embryo as well as the yolk, the food source. Development of the embryo in a shelled egg meant that for the first time in history, the tetrapods were no longer tied to water to breed. We as mammals are amniotes, along with the birds and reptiles.
The amniotic egg, showing the semipermeable shell and the extraembryonic membranes. Picture credit: M. J. Benton (University of Bristol).
Studying Extinct and Extant Species
However, a study of 51 fossil species and 29 living species which could be categorised as oviparous (laying hard or soft-shelled eggs) or viviparous (giving birth to live young) suggests that the earliest reptiles, mammals and birds probably were capable of bearing live young.
The findings, published today in the academic journal “Nature Ecology & Evolution”, show that all the great evolutionary branches of the Amniota, the Mammalia, Lepidosauria (lizards and relatives), and the Archosauria (dinosaurs, crocodilians, birds) reveal viviparity and extended embryo retention in their ancestors.
Extended embryo retention (EER) occurs when the young are retained by the mother for a varying amount of time, likely depending on when conditions are best for survival. While the hard-shelled egg (amniote egg), has often been seen as one of the greatest innovations in evolution, this research implies it was extended embryo retention that gave this particular group of animals the ultimate protection.
Professor Michael Benton (School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol) explained:
“Before the amniotes, the first tetrapods to evolve limbs from fishy fins were broadly amphibious in habits. They had to live in or near water to feed and breed, as in modern amphibians such as frogs and salamanders.”
Professor Benton added:
“When the amniotes came on the scene 320 million years ago, they were able to break away from the water by evolving waterproof skin and other ways to control water loss. But the amniotic egg was the key. It was said to be a “private pond” in which the developing reptile was protected from drying out in the warm climates and enabled the Amniota to move away from the waterside and dominate terrestrial ecosystems.”
Challenging the Standard View About Amniote Egg Evolution
Project leader and corresponding author Professor Baoyu Jiang (Nanjing University) stated:
“This standard view has been challenged. Biologists had noticed many lizards and snakes display flexible reproductive strategy across oviparity and viviparity. Sometimes, closely related species show both behaviours, and it turns out that live-bearing lizards can flip back to laying eggs much more easily than had been assumed.”
Phylogeny of amniotes, showing known reproduction mode and eggshell mineralization, and EER of 80 modern and extinct species, and the estimated ancestral states for all branching points. The dominant inferred state at the origin of amniotes is viviparity with extended embryo retention (EER). Picture credit: M.J. Benton, University of Bristol.
Many Marine Reptiles were Live-bearers
Co-author Dr Armin Elsler (University of Bristol) commented:
“Also, when we look at fossils, we find that many of them were live-bearers, including the Mesozoic marine reptiles like ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. Other fossils, including a choristodere from the Cretaceous of China, described here, show the to-and-fro between oviparity and viviparity happened in other groups, not just in lizards.”
The picture (above) shows the CollectA Age of Dinosaurs Popular Temnodontosaurus model. The ichthyosaur is giving birth, demonstrating viviparity within the Ichthyosauria.
In many types of extant vertebrate extended embryo retention (EER) is quite common. The developing young are retained by the mother for a lesser or greater span of time. The mother delays giving birth until conditions are most favourable to permit the survival of her offspring. The mother deliberately gives birth at the most propitious time.
Co-author of the paper, Dr Joseph Keating commented:
“EER is common and variable in lizards and snakes today. Their young can be released, either inside an egg or as little wrigglers, at different developmental stages, and there appears to be ecological advantages of EER, perhaps allowing the mothers to release their young when temperatures are warm enough and food supplies are rich.”
Skeleton of a baby choristodere, Ikechuosaurus, from the Early Cretaceous of China, found curled up inside the remnants of a parchment-shelled egg. Picture credit: Baoyu Jiang (Nanjing University).
Profound Implications for our Understanding of Tetrapod Evolution
Professor Benton summarised the study:
“Our work, and that of many others in recent years, has consigned the classic ‘reptile egg’ model of the textbooks to the wastebasket. The first amniotes had evolved extended embryo retention rather than a hard-shelled egg to protect the developing embryo for a lesser or greater amount of time inside the mother, so birth could be delayed until environments become favourable.”
The professor implied that this study had profound implications for our understanding of tetrapod evolution. He added:
“Whether the first amniote babies were born in parchment eggs or as live, snapping little insect-eaters is unknown, but this adaptive parental protection gave them the advantage over spawning earlier tetrapods.”
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a media release from the University of Bristol in the compilation of this article.
The scientific paper: “Extended embryo retention and viviparity in the first amniotes” by Baoyu Jiang, Yiming He, Armin Elsler, Shengyu Wang, Joseph N. Keating, Junyi Song, Stuart L. Kearns and Michael J. Benton published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.
A team member from Everything Dinosaur spotted an unusual stegosaur replica on display at the Manchester Museum. The label next to the armoured dinosaur figure stated that this was a Victorian stegosaur model. The model must indeed be old, as stegosaurs such as Stegosaurus stenops are viewed very differently by palaeontologists today.
A model of a stegosaur in a display cabinet in the fossils and dinosaurs gallery at the Manchester Museum. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Stegosaurus stenops
The fossilised remains of an immature Stegosaurus stenops is on display at the Natural History Museum in London. The dinosaur, nicknamed Sophie comes from Wyoming and the fossil material represents one of the most complete stegosaur fossils known to science. The skeleton consists of more than three hundred bones.
The London Natural History Museum exhibit shows a modern interpretation of this iconic herbivorous dinosaur.
Everything Dinosaur stocks a large number of armoured dinosaur figures and models.
Sophie the Stegosaurus (S. stenops), a star exhibit at the London Natural History Museum. This is a modern interpretation of this iconic armoured dinosaur. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
The Victorian Stegosaur Model
The Victorian stegosaur model provides a reminder to visitors about how are views of the Dinosauria have changed. The side of the figure facing the public has been fleshed out, whilst the side which is not visible shows the animal’s skeleton. Note the bones of the lower portions of the limbs on the right side which are visible in the photograph.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“This Victorian dinosaur model is not an accurate representation of a Stegosaurus. However, it does remind us how dinosaurs used to be depicted. It acts as bellwether informing visitors about how our views regarding dinosaurs such as Stegosaurus have changed over time.”
Everything Dinosaur recently featured in a business magazine. The article focused on how companies can develop their potential for selling overseas. Everything Dinosaur team members are delighted to be successful in numerous markets all over the world. Mike and Sue were happy to talk about the Everything Dinosaur export success.
Everything Dinosaur team members Mike and Sue are praised for their export success. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Everything Dinosaur Export Success
Selling business to consumer via mail order through the company’s website: Everything Dinosaur, the Cheshire-based firm has developed an international customer base.
It has not happened overnight, but slowly and surely Everything Dinosaur has built an excellent reputation for customer service and support. This has been reflected in the company’s sales overseas.
The Rebor Diplodocus carnegii “Artist Proof” replica. A reason for the company’s export success is their strong social media presence and willingness to engage with dinosaur model collectors. This includes posting up reviews and pictures of prehistoric animal figures. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Around the Corner or Around the World
When asked to explain their business success, Mike from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“Whether you are working with customers around the corner or around the world, you have belief in your product and you have belief in your service. If you have a good product and good service, then why not try to grow sales overseas.”
The Chamber of Commerce magazine article featured a trio of businesses who shared their stories and insight when it comes to developing export sales opportunities.
The article explained that Everything Dinosaur is passionate about dinosaurs and prehistoric animal models. The company sells these replicas including museum-quality scale models to customers all over the globe.
Our thanks to young dinosaur fan Jenson who provided Everything Dinosaur with a trio of colourful prehistoric animal drawings. A team member had visited Jenson’s school. The term topic had been dinosaurs and Jenson wanted to show his drawing of three colourful prehistoric animals.
Jenson provided Everything Dinosaur team members with a very colourful trio of prehistoric animal drawings. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
Colourful Prehistoric Animal Drawings
Several schoolchildren had produced dinosaur illustrations. The Everything Dinosaur team member praised the children’s efforts and commented:
“Such wonderful, colourful drawings of pterosaurs and dinosaurs. These illustrations make a fantastic classroom display. The boxes on the drawings allow the children to include some adjectives that describe their artwork. This helps them practice their writing skills as well as their hand-eye co-ordination.”
The spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur thanked the teaching team for inviting them to the school. He added that the term topic had been carefully planned. It contained lots of amazing lesson plans to help children with their reading, writing and general development.
Everything Dinosaur is based in the UK, and it supplies dinosaur and prehistoric animal related figures, gifts, soft toys, clothing and merchandise. Run by teachers and knowledgeable dinosaur enthusiasts helping collectors of prehistoric animal models and promoting education and an appreciation of the Earth sciences.
To visit the company’s award-winning and user-friendly website: Everything Dinosaur.
It’s another case of dinosaur book bingo. A book entitled “The Dinosaurs Rediscovered” was spotted in a museum gift shop. This excellent and popular book was published in 2019. Professor Michael Benton is based at the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol.
Another case of dinosaur book bingo. The book “The Dinosaurs Rediscovered” by Michael J. Benton spotted in a museum shop. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
“The Dinosaurs Rediscovered”
Mike Benton is a professor of vertebrate palaeontology. He studies the large-scale evolution of major groups such as the Dinosauria and other archosaurs. He explores the effects of mass extinctions, environmental change, and biological innovation on the evolution of reptiles, mammals and birds. Professor Benton has written dozens of books about dinosaurs and prehistoric animals. He is a highly respected author.
Professor Benton outlines the changes in palaeontology over the last twenty years. He discusses new fossil discoveries and the impact of new technologies on research. The book illustrates how our perceptions regarding the Dinosauria have changed. We are living in a “golden age” of dinosaur research.
Book Reviews
The book has proved to be extremely popular. It has been widely praised.
The eminent British palaeontologist Richard Fortey OBE stated that the book was an engaging account of the evolution of the “terrible lizards”. It is aimed at readers with a general interest in life in the past.
He commented:
“Mike Benton has brought together all the latest information in this succinct and well-illustrated book.”
Everything Dinosaur team members will see if they can spot more dinosaur books over the summer. We shall continue to play dinosaur book bingo. What other titles can we observe whilst on our adventures?
A letter from Mary Anning to the Reverend William Buckland forms part of an extensive archive recently purchased by a museum. The Oxford University Museum of Natural History has acquired archive material belonging to pioneering geologist the Reverend William Buckland and his artist and illustrator wife Mary (née Morland). The archive includes a rare Mary Anning letter.
Part of a signed letter from Mary Anning to William Buckland from December 21st 1830. Mary Anning wrote to the Reverend Buckland to inform him about the recent discovery of a plesiosaur fossil. Picture credit: Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
The Mary Anning Letter
As a woman, Mary was largely excluded by the male-dominated scientific community. However, she did know more about fossils, geology and palaeontology compared to many of her gentleman patrons who purchased fossils from her. Only a few documents penned by Mary Anning exist. Pages from Mary Anning’s notebook are on display at the Dorset County Museum. A letter from Mary to William Buckland discussing the plesiosaur discovery forms an important part of the Buckland archive.
Mary in collaboration with family members excavated many extremely important fossil specimens including ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and fish. In December 1828, Mary Anning discovered the first pterosaur fossil reported from England. This specimen was described by the Reverend William Buckland a year later (Dimorphodon macronyx).
A section of the Mary Anning letter to William Buckland. Picture credit: Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
A spokesperson from Everything Dinosaur commented:
“This is an important, historical and culturally significant archive. The archive will fit with the Oxford University Museum’s existing collection. It will help to provide a better understanding of the contribution made to science and to scientific debate in the Georgian/Victorian era.”
Thanks to researchers from the University of Bristol, the culprit behind the infamous destruction of New York’s first life-size dinosaur theme park has been revealed. A New York museum mystery has been solved.
A new paper from the University of Bristol documents the bizarre case of the destruction of prehistoric animal figures destined for New York’s Central Park. The research team have shed light on one of the strangest and most puzzling events in the early history of palaeontology.
In May 1871, the partially built, life-size models of prehistoric creatures including several dinosaurs, being created for a new museum were totally destroyed in an act of malicious vandalism by a gang of thugs armed with sledgehammers. The remains were carted away and buried somewhere in the park. They have not been found to date.
The sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkin’s conceptual drawing of the Palaeozoic Museum. Picture credit: Annual report of the Board of Commissioners of the Central Park (1858).
American Politician William “Boss” Tweed Not Involved
It had been widely thought that the destruction of the statues was ordered by the notorious American politician William “Boss” Tweed.
In the new paper from Ms Victoria Coules of Bristol’s Department of History of Art and Professor Michael Benton of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, the politician is exonerated. New light on this bizarre episode has been shed. Contrary to previous accounts, it was the Treasurer and Vice President of the Central Park, Henry Hilton who most likely, organised the vandalism.
Ms Coules commented:
“It’s all to do with the struggle for control of New York city in the years following the American Civil War (1861-1865). The city was at the centre of a power struggle – a battle for control of the city’s finances and lucrative building and development contracts.”
A New York City Power Struggle
As the city expanded, the iconic Central Park was taking shape. It was to be more than just a green space. It was to have other attractions, including the Palaeozoic Museum. Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, a famous British sculptor who had created the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, the life-size models of prehistoric creatures in London – had travelled to the USA to build American versions of the animals.
However, the notorious William “Boss” Tweed had taken control of the city and, in sweeping changes to the city’s management, put his own henchmen in charge of city departments, including Central Park. They cancelled the partially complete project in late 1870. There the matter would have lain but in May 1871 someone ordered a gang of workmen to smash all of its partly finished contents.
Professor Benton (University of Bristol) explained:
“Previous accounts of the incident had always reported that this was done under the personal instruction of “Boss” Tweed himself, for various motives from raging that the display would be blasphemous, to vengeance for a perceived criticism of him in a New York Times report of the project’s cancellation.”
The studio of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins at the Central Park Arsenal, with models of extinct animals. Published in The 12th Annual Report of the Board of Commissioners of the Central Park for the Year Ending December 31st 1868. Picture credit: The University of Bristol.
Things Did Not Seem Right
Ms Coules added that when reading the reports, suspicions were raised. At the time, Tweed was fighting for his political life having already been accused of financial impropriety. Why would he have got himself involved in a museum project?
The research team examined the original sources and discovered that the culprit was not Tweed.
“The motive was not blasphemy or hurt vanity”.
A Complicated New York Museum Mystery
The situation was complicated by two other projects in development at the same time in Central Park. The building of the American Museum of Natural History and the Central Park Zoo.
Professor Benton explained:
“Drawing on the detailed annual reports and minutes of Central Park, along with reports in the New York Times, we can show that the real villain was one strange character by the name of Henry Hilton.”
Ms Coules stated that with the primary information sources available on-line, the researchers could study them in detail. They were able to demonstrate that the destruction of the prehistoric animal statues was ordered by Henry Hilton. He was the Treasurer and Vice President of Central Park.
Hilton was already infamous for other eccentric behaviour. For example, he ordered a bronze statue in the Park painted white. When the skeleton of a whale was donated to the American Museum of Natural History, he ordered that painted white too.
The Megalosaurus statue at Crystal Palace a dinosaur from 1854. This sculpture is still on display in south London. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
The picture above shows one of the Crystal Palace prehistoric animal statues. This is the Megalosaurus. Like the other sculptures at Crystal Palace, it is a Grade I listed building.
Summing up this bizarre tale, Professor Benton concluded:
“This might seem like a local act of thuggery but correcting the record is hugely important in our understanding of the history of palaeontology. We show it wasn’t blasphemy, or an act of petty vengeance by William Tweed, but the act of a very strange individual who made equally bizarre decisions about how artefacts should be treated – painting statues or whale skeletons white and destroying the museum models. He can be seen as the villain of the piece but as a character, Hilton remains an enigmatic mystery.”
Everything Dinosaur acknowledges the assistance of a media release from the University of Bristol in the compilation of this article.
The scientific paper: “The curious case of Central Park’s dinosaurs: The destruction of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins’ Paleozoic Museum revisited” by Victoria Coules and Michael J. Benton published in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association.
Occasionally, when Everything Dinosaur team members are not in the office or warehouse, they get the chance to unwind by visiting a bookshop. As they peruse the shelves and examine the titles a new game has developed. It is called dinosaur book bingo. Can a book reviewed by Everything Dinosaur be spotted in the shop?
The paperback edition of “The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs” by Steve Brusatte. A fabulous dinosaur book. Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur.
Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur
“The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs”
Whilst taking a well-earned break from work to visit a regional shopping centre, team members indulged in a little bit of dinosaur book bingo. A paperback copy of the excellent “The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs” by palaeontologist Steve Brusatte was spotted.
Everything Dinosaur team members had the pleasure of reading an inspection copy in the early spring of 2018. The book was published in May 2018.
The paperback edition was introduced early in 2019.
A Highly Recommended Dinosaur Book
Dr Steve Brusatte is an American palaeontologist based at the University of Edinburgh. He has worked on numerous dinosaurs and pterosaurs including several important specimens that have been found in his adopted home of Scotland (Isle of Skye).
This is a highly recommended dinosaur book.
Dr Brusatte takes the reader on a journey. He chronicles the evolution of the first dinosaurs and plots their gradual rise to dominance over other reptilian contemporaries. Dr Brusatte charts their progress through the end Triassic extinction event to their emergence as the dominant terrestrial megafauna on our planet. Tyrannosaurus rex and its relatives are thoroughly reviewed. The evidence for feathers in the non-avian Dinosauria is comprehensively covered.
