Bullyland Prehistoric World Europasaurus Dinosaur Model

It is not often a dinosaur gets named after an entire continent but there are three instances that spring to mind. Firstly, there is Antarctosaurus (although its fossils have not been found in Antarctica), secondly, there is Australovenator, whose fossils do come from Australia and now we have Europasaurus, a long-necked dinosaur from Germany.

Fossils from Lower Saxony

A Dutch amateur fossil collector exploring a limestone quarry in Lower Saxony came across the fossilised remains of approximately a dozen dinosaurs in 1998. It was thought that all the dinosaurs represented babies, as the bodies ranged in size from under two metres long to a fraction over six metres in length. These were herbivorous Sauropods, a group of prehistoric animals that includes the mighty Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus and Apatosaurus, yet since these fossilised skeletons were so small it was thought this must be the fossilised remains of a crèche of youngsters. Only when a researcher from the University of Bonn, who was conducting research into how quickly baby Sauropods grew, examined the skeletons was it discovered that the fossils of the larger individuals represented adult animals. A new genus of Late Jurassic Sauropod was established and Europasaurus holgeri came into being. This dinosaur was officially named and described in 2006.

A Miniature Sauropod Dinosaur

The fossils of Europasaurus were found in marine deposits. It seems this small member of the Dinosauria, one of the smallest members of the Sauropoda assigned to date, was a dwarf form. Land cut off from the mainland of Europe formed an island chain about 154 million years ago, the islands continued to shrink as the sea level rose and populations of dinosaurs marooned on these shrinking landmasses had to adapt to environments with fewer resources. Over many generations, the huge, long-necked Sauropods that were the ancestors of Europasaurus evolved into miniature versions. Being smaller these dinosaurs needed less food to sustain them, a good thing when on an island with limited food resources.

The Europasaurus Dinosaur Model

The replica represents the known fossil material well. It shows the longer forelimbs compared to the hind-limbs, so typical of a Brachiosaurid Sauropod. The model has been nicely painted with a light tan colour on the flanks with darker stripes and spots – excellent camouflage for a forested environment. The dinosaur model measures around twenty-five centimetres in length so it works well to the scale of other, larger figures representing much larger Sauropod dinosaurs.

Domed Skull of a Brachiosaur

The model makers have been careful to depict their dinosaur model with a domed skull, just like other Brachiosaur replicas made by Bullyland of Germany and it is great to see a German dinosaur being made by a German company.

“Europe’s Lizard”

As for being named after a continent, Europasaurus means “Europe’s Lizard”, a reference to the European fauna known to have existed at the end of the Jurassic geological period. The species name honours the Dutch fossil collector who first found the fossils of this dwarf dinosaur.

All in all a great addition to the Bullyland dinosaur model series and a carefully crafted figure.

Microwarmer Dinosaur Soft Toys Reviewed

Lots of children like dinosaurs and prehistoric animals and things like a Stegosaurus or a T. rex soft toy are very popular. This new range of soft toys are also supplied with a special bag that once placed in the microwave and warmed up, can then be put back into the soft toy to make a very warm and cosy bedtime buddy.

Plush for the Microwave

There are three different prehistoric animals in the series. Each one comes with a canvas bag that is filled with linseed. This bag can be popped into the microwave oven to warm up and then it can be inserted into a pocket in the dinosaur’s tummy, to turn this soft toy into the equivalent of a hot water bottle. We found that the bags stayed warm for quite a long time and this had the result of making the plush dinosaur act like a radiator providing lots of warmth, ideal for a chilly night and much less fuss and worry than a hot water bottle.

Triceratops, Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex

There are three different dinosaurs to choice from. The Triceratops is light blue and cream coloured, the predominant colours of the Stegosaurus are brown and green and the T. rex is coloured a sandy hue with splashes of red. The soft toys are well made and having checked the stitching we could not find any loose threads or signs of poor workmanship on any of the ones we examined. Triceratops and Stegosaurus were plant-eating dinosaurs (herbivores). They both lived in North America, during the age of the dinosaurs, but Triceratops lived in the Late Cretaceous whilst Stegosaurus lived during the Jurassic geological period. The Tyrannosaurus rex is the only carnivore in the set. This big meat-eating dinosaur is perhaps the most famous of all the Dinosauria, the name means “Tyrant lizard king”.

Light Linseed Bags

Unlike some microwaveable soft toys, which have wheat grains in them, the linseed bags were quite light and so a child as young as three years of age could have no difficulty in carrying them around. The material from which they are made is very soft and this was commented upon by a number of mums who also helped us review these new dinosaur soft toys. One of the grown ups commented that as these soft toys were much lighter than other microwaveable items, they would be much cheaper to post out as gifts to friends and family.

Surprisingly Big – Sizeable Prehistoric Animals

Each of the microwarmer soft toys measures over thirty centimetres in length. The Stegosaurus at a whopping forty-three centimetres is the largest. Each one had simple, easy to follow instructions and the sponge washable material is a bonus, making them easy to wipe clean. These reptiles had very cute faces, we think the big eyes helped and although we can’t be certain of how accurate the designs were, the children seemed very happy and didn’t seem to care too much if the supposedly fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex looked cute.

Warm and Cozy Dinosaurs

As a gift for a young dinosaur fan from about three years and upwards, these items combine plush with a practical bed warming solution. Their bright colours, cute faces and sensible design are bound to make them popular with children along with mums and dads – recommended. After all, who doesn’t like dinosaur toys!

It’s possible that people might think that I’m starting to make dinosaur names up, as a friend of mine said the other day when I said I’m going to write a short introduction to the Therizinosaurus. Let’s face it, he said, who’s ever heard of a Therizinosaurus. We’ll I can face that fact as this is an extremely unusual dinosaur and I can well believe that it’s not particularly well-known. I don’t believe it features in many stories or films, but none the less it deserves notice.

The Therizinosaurus, or Ther as we’re going to refer to them, lived in the late Cretaceous period around 77 million to 69 million years ago. Whilst Ther was a meat-eater, so to speak, they basically feed on insects. One has to note that insects tended to be rather larger than the ones we are used to these days and they would have made a good snack for this dino, even though they weighed in at around 5 tons, with adults reaching around 30 feet in length. The belief is that these creatures dug into large anthills and had their fill.

Whilst experts originally described Ther as a giant turtle, it soon proved to be nothing of the kind. Unlike a lot of dinosaurs, Ther had very long foreclaws, which measured as long as a quarter of the length of their arm and it was with these giant claws, that possibly reached 2 foot in length, which were attached to the end of 8 foot long arms that made it possible to dig into the ground / anthill.

Looking at Ther one may get a little confused as they would have looked unlike other dinosaurs. Starting at the head, the skull was small and it sat on a long neck. This dino had a bulky broad body and would have walked on two legs. The arms were very long and featured the extra-long claws. I’m sure they didn’t drag along the floor, however you can build up a picture in the mind that would have looked much like that or Edward scissor hands.

Not a lot else is none about Ther as we haven’t seen a complete specimen that I’m aware of. But from this introduction you can understand why this Dinosaur was totally unique. The internet and books are a great source of information and you can see various pictures of how experts believed Ther to look. Bullyland have delivered a fantastic model and it is really worth a look.

Amargasaurus – A Bizarre Relative of Diplodocus

As an increasing number of bizarre forms of Sauropod are unearthed, the family tree of these huge long-necked dinosaurs is becoming more complicated. Although, thanks to recent discoveries of more basal Sauropods and Prosauropods the evolution of these Saurischians has become a little clearer, there is still a lot of confusion over the taxonomic relationships between the various families of these long-necked dinosaurs.

Monster from Argentina

The Argentine Amargasaurus for instance, is an example of a strange-looking, long-necked dinosaur and the strata from which the single fossil skeleton so far known was discovered adds to the mystery of the Sauropods. The global fossil record indicates that the Diplodocid type of Sauropod was beginning to become rare during the early Cretaceous. Their heyday appears to have been the late Jurassic when behemoths such as Diplodocus, Barosaurus and Apatosaurus roamed. However, the fossils of Amargasaurus date from the early Cretaceous (Hauterivian faunal stage – approximately 135-130 million years ago). This indicates that this particular group of long-necked dinosaurs were still present, at least in the southern hemisphere during the early Cretaceous.

Bizarre Looking Prehistoric Animal

Amargasaurus also had a very strange appearance, being relatively small compared to the Diplodocids known from the upper Jurassic deposits of the Morrison Formation of the western United States. For a start, it was only about 12 metres in length, considerably smaller than Diplodocus and Apatosaurus and it had a much shorter neck, compared to other Diplodocids.

The most distinguishing feature though was that along the neck and back of the animal was an array of long, spines extending up from the back bone. These spines consisted of two rows of long spines over the neck and shoulders, gradually reducing to a set of single spines running along the back to the hind quarters.

The exact purpose of these spines is hotly debated by scientists. Some believe that they supported a brightly coloured sail that could have been used as signalling device amongst members of the herd, whilst others suggest that the spines were for defence against attack from large meat-eaters that shared the same environment. This frill makes this animal look similar to dragons from mythology. Those spines on the neck which are paired, may not have supported a sail, but been covered in horn helping to protect a vulnerable part of this animal’s body. Certainly, with the likes of members of the Allosaur family wandering around it would pay to have some form of protection, but the precise purpose of these spines remains unclear.

Related to African Sauropods

Amargasaurus may be a member of the Dicraeosauridae, a group of Sauropods that all possessed long neural spines. Amargasaurus may have been a descendant of the genus Dicraeosaurus, a Diplodocid from the late Jurassic of East Africa. It is just one example of just how bizarre some dinosaurs might have looked. There are a number of dinosaur models available, scale model replicas of Amargasaurus.

It took paleontologists a long time to figure out how dinosaurs raised their babies. It was only in the 1920s that researchers figured out that dinosaurs actually laid eggs and did not give birth the way mammals did.

Different dinosaurs had different child rearing habits. Although we do not know everything about these habits, but there is sufficient evidence to show that most dinosaur eggs hatched young ones who could run and walk. A dinosaur would usually lay around 20 to 30 eggs but this number would vary depending on the different species. The reason for laying so many eggs boils down to the theory of survival of the fittest. Many of the babies were eaten by waiting predators the moment they were born and just a few would survive to reach adulthood.

For years paleontologists believed that dinosaurs actually laid their eggs and then forgot about them, leaving the young baby dinosaurs to fend for themselves. However, in the 1970s, a nesting ground of a duck-billed dinosaur named Maisaura was found in Montana by paleontologist Jack Horner. In this nesting ground, researchers found not just fossilized eggs but also fossils of newly hatched babies, young dinosaurs and adults.

Careful analysis of the fossils showed that the young Maisaura did not have fully developed leg muscles and therefore, were not capable of walking and running. In addition, the teeth of the baby dinosaurs showed wear and tear. This led paleontologists to conclude that the adult Maisauras actually brought back food to the nest so that young dinosaurs could eat until they were old enough to look after themselves. A similar site was found in China for Psittacosaurs.

However, it would be wrong to say that all herbivores took care of the newly hatched young ones. For example, based on certain evidence, scientists have concluded that sauropods did not take care of their young ones. A newborn Apatosaurus would have been around 12 inches long and could be easily crushed under the feet of its own mother. Therefore, the survival rate of an Apatosaurus would be higher if felt to fend on its own.

Scientists are still trying to find out more about the birthing and mothering habits of Tyrannosaurus Rex as hardly anything is known about its parenting habits.

Most of us think that dinosaurs must have been quite dumb if they are extinct. However, this is not really true. Although dinosaurs were, in reality, dumb, there some very smart. It is believed by paleontologists that there were some dinosaurs that had mammalian-level intelligence.

Here is a list of the 5 smartest dinosaurs to roam the world. This list is compiled based on the research conducted by paleontologists after carefully analyzing the different dinosaurs’ behavioral patterns and anatomy.

The 5 Smartest Dinosaurs of All Times:

o Troodon: This dinosaur was big as man and lived in the Cretaceous period. It had big eyes, stereo vision and was extremely fast enabling it to catch its preys. Compared to other dinosaurs, this carnivore had a big brain, where big is a relative term, but its opossum-sized brain made it more intelligent than other dinosaurs.

o Deinonychus: Many people believe that the Deinonychus was very intelligent after they finished watching Jurassic Park. They believed that it was intelligent enough to turn a doorknob as shown in the movie! However, the Deinonychus was intelligent but not that much. Researchers have found evidence that Deinonychus hunted in packs and this means that they required a certain level of communication and strategic thinking. Hence, paleontologists have concluded that they must have a bigger brain compared to most dinosaurs and may have been intelligent enough to get on the 5 smartest dinosaurs list.

o Compsognathus: Dinosaur intelligence and smartness is not judged by how big a brain a dinosaur had compared to other dinosaurs but how big the brain was compared to the dinosaur’s body. In this regard, the Compsognathus wins hands down. This dinosaur flourished in the Mesozoic Era and was chicken-sized. Compared to its body, its brain was large and paleontologists believed that it was as smart as dumb mouse, which for those prehistoric times was very smart!

o Tyrannosaurus Rex: A T-Rex did not need that much intelligence as it was one of the major predators of the Cretaceous period. In addition, it was blessed with large teeth, powerful legs and a strong sense of smell. However, paleontologists have concluded, after analyzing the various fossilized skulls, that the Tyrannosaurus Rex was indeed intelligent and smart just by the virtue of its large brain.

o Oviraptor: The oviraptor, which was not a raptor, has made it to the list of the 5 smartest dinosaurs because it was intelligent enough to sit on its eggs until they hatched. It is considered to be one of the most intelligent dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous period.

The extinction of the dinosaurs occurred during then end of the Cretaceous Period, around 65 million years ago, and caused the loss of up to 70 percent of all life on the planet. Although this event was not the only mass extinction in Earth’s history or the most severe, dinosaur extinction has spawned a range of theories from the credible to the less than believable.

Ice Age

If an Ice Age occurred during the Cretaceous Period a considerable amount of the planet’s water and large areas of land would have been locked in ice. Since dinosaurs were thought to be cold blooded they would probably not have been able to cope with such extreme conditions and their numbers would have eventually dwindled.

Disease

Disease is another suggestion for the extinction of the dinosaurs. It is difficult to see however how one disease could be so prevalent as to wipe out large swathes of the animal population, travel vast distances and kill off both land and marine species as well as plant life.

Climate Change

If a gradual change in the earth’s climate occurred with a cooler, drier environment and an adapting plant life, possibly the dinosaurs would not have been able to adapt quickly enough to survive. The fossil records of dinosaur skulls show they could only have had small brains. This indicates dinosaurs relied on automatic body responses rather than the cognitive, decision making responses warm blooded animals are known to make. Therefore a changing environment could have been difficult for dinosaurs to adapt to and they may not have been able to compete effectively with warm blooded animals.

Supernova

A supernova is a star that explodes with enough energy to keep our sun burning for six billion years. If the Earth was hit by the resulting radiation from a nearby supernova it would have destroyed all dinosaur life. There is no evidence for a supernova causing the extinction of the dinosaurs, and it is difficult to see how anything would have outlived such an event.

The Volcano Theory

It is known that volcanic activity was widespread during the Cretaceous era, and is a credible reason why the dinosaurs became extinct. The Deccan Traps in western India and areas in the Pacific Basin are likely sites for increased volcanic activity at this time.

The consequences of large scale volcanic activity would have led to a nuclear type winter with ash and gasses added to the atmosphere, depleting sunlight and creating difficult conditions for dinosaur species. Hydrochloric acid in particular would have broken down the ozone layer allowing harmful ultraviolet rays to penetrate to the surface.

The high level of volcanic activity would also have emitted large volumes greenhouse gasses such as C02 and methane, increasing the Earth’s temperature and drastically changing the planet’s climate. The effects on the dinosaurs would have been catastrophic as they struggled to acclimatize to the changing conditions, and large scale extinction of dinosaur species would have been inevitable.

Cretaceous sediments support the theory of volcanic activity as they contain higher than normal concentrations of minerals and sodium, both associated with volcanoes. Cretaceous sediments can also contain volcanic rock.

The Asteroid Theory

In the late 1970’s Luis and Walter Alvarez and scientists from the University of California were studying rocks of the K-T boundary (or Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary) in Gubbio, Italy. Within the clay layer of the K-T boundary they discovered concentrations of iridium thirty times higher than normal. The two natural sources of this rare element are asteroids and lava from the Earth’s core, which led Luis and Walter Alvarez’s team to first suggest an asteroid collided with the Earth causing dinosaur extinction. The Alvarez team estimated the asteroid would need to be ten kilometers in diameter to contain enough iridium to cause the iridium concentrations in the clay layer.

Further evidence to support an asteroid impact has emerged. The K-T boundary has two layers. The upper layer is three millimeters thick and includes soot which is believed to have come from global fires caused by the impact.

The lower level is two millimeters thick and contains ejecta from the asteroid impact site. This includes quartz crystals known as shock crystals which have been physically altered by high temperatures and intense pressure. The layer also contains tektites and micro tektites, which are often made of fused glass. Shocked crystals and tektites are both closely associated with asteroid impact sites.

In 1990 the scientist Alan Hildebrand, after studying data gathered by geophysicists searching for oil, noticed a ring structure called Chicxulub off the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. Chicxulub is a crater 180 kilometers in diameter and dates from around 65 million years ago, the same time as the extinction of the dinosaurs. It was estimated that an object ten kilometers in diameter impacting the site would have caused the crater, which fits the Alvarez team’s calculations for the size of the asteroid to create the K-T boundary finds.

The Effects Of The Asteroid Impact On The Dinosaurs

It is estimated the speed of the asteroid would have been about 100,000 kilometers per hour and the initial impact would have destroyed everything within a 500 kilometer radius. The intense shock wave that followed would have caused large scale fires, whilst trillions of tons of debris, gas and water vapor would have been thrown into the atmosphere.

Earthquakes, tidal waves, volcanic eruptions as well as high winds would have followed. The soot and debris in the atmosphere would have blocked out the sun for months leading to fluctuating temperatures and severe disruption to photosynthesis. The global fires would have emitted large volumes of CO2, increasing global temperatures and causing a chain reaction that would create sulphur dioxide falling as acid rain.

Fires would have destroyed up to twenty five percent of all vegetation, and with photosynthesis unable to function effectively plant eating dinosaurs would have starved. This in turn would have led to large scale deaths of the carnivores bringing dinosaurs to extinction. Smaller animals such as scavengers and birds that could have traveled longer distances in search for food would have been more likely to have survived.

Effects On Marine Life

The levels of oxygen in the sea would have decreased as deep sea water was dragged to the surface by huge under water currents. Plankton would have died as a consequence leading to a collapse of the food chain and widespread death. Acid rain may also have increased the acidity of the sea, killing vulnerable species.

Problems With The Asteroid Theory

Whilst an asteroid impact has gained ground over most other theories, there still remain problems with the theory. Paleontologists have yet to find dinosaur fossils dating to the time of the impact, and some evidence suggests dinosaurs may have already been extinct before this event. In fact dinosaurs had been steadily declining for tens of thousands of years before the Chicxulub asteroid impacted.

There have been a number of mass extinction events in the Earth’s history and a number of large asteroid impacts. However, these impacts have never been the cause of mass extinctions. It is also known that some climate sensitive species such as frogs survived the cretaceous extinction event, bringing into question the true long term effects of the asteroid on the environment.

In spite of these problems with the asteroid theory it is still the strongest explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs. Perhaps the answer lies not with one explanation for dinosaur extinction but a combination of factors such as the asteroid impacting at a time of increased volcanic activity. In the final analysis, perhaps the extinction of the dinosaurs was a case of an accumulation of badly timed events that very few species could cope with.

The Collecta 1:20 Scale Deluxe Carcharodontosaurus Dinosaur Model Reviewed

Originally described as a type of Megalosaur dinosaur, Carcharodontosaurus was first scientifically described in the mid 1920’s. Fossils had been collected from Egypt by a German led expedition, unfortunately, most of the fossils associated with these excavations were stored in a German museum and subsequently destroyed by Allied bombing raids in World War Two. However, an American expedition to Morocco uncovered more fossil evidence of this huge, meat-eating dinosaur and much of what we know today about Carcharodontosaurus comes from studies of this Moroccan fossil material.

Carcharodontosaurus saharicus et al

At least two species have been identified. This dinosaur has now been classed as a member of the Allosaur family (allosaurids), a highly successful group of large to gigantic Theropod dinosaurs that lived during the Late Jurassic and into the Cretaceous. Fossils of Carcharodontosaurus have been dated to around 100 million years ago and this dinosaur was a giant predator

Skull bigger than a T. rex Skull

Size estimates vary as no near complete fossil specimen has ever been found. However, many palaeontologists estimate that this creature was around twelve to fourteen metres in length and that it weighed in excess of six tonnes. This makes it amongst the largest meat-eating dinosaurs known to science. The largest skull specimen measures 1.53 metres long, which is bigger than most of the skulls associated with Tyrannosaurus rex.

Collecta Carcharodontosaurus

The Collecta Carcharodontosaurus measures around thirty-two centimetres in length and the impressive head stands more than ten centimetres high. Based on an adult Carcharodontosaurus being around thirteen metres long (taking a mean average measurement), we estimate that this model is in approximately 1:40 scale. This is exactly the scale stated by the manufacturer (Collecta).

Detailed Dinosaur Replica

The model is painted a bronze colour with black stripes running along the body. These stripes are also present on the long tail. The replica is beautifully balanced and stands without the aid of a base. Two blue splashes can be seen around the eyes and the snout has been painted a creamy white colour. This contrasts nicely with the sandy coloured underside of the model. The Carcharodontosaurus replica has a row of prominent spines that descend from the back of the skull, along the neck and down the body to the top of the tail. Other rows of large scales can be seen in the detailed texturing of the dinosaur’s skin.

Grasping Hands and Big Teeth

The long, narrow skull is very well crafted and the open jaws show the large teeth of this dinosaur very clearly. Each tooth was highly curved and finely serrated to help this dinosaur slice chunks of meat from its victims. Grooves along the teeth allowed blood to flow away. Like most other allosaurids, this dinosaur had three-fingered hands. The arms of this dinosaur were bigger than in similar sized tyrannosaurids and they could have been used to help grasp and secure struggling prey.

This is an excellent model made by Collecta and it is great to see a replica of a super-predator such as Carcharodontosaurus added to a dinosaur model range.

With the roll out of the Creative Curriculum within the United Kingdom, giving teachers and administrators the opportunity to be more flexible in the delivery of core teaching programmes, new opportunities have emerged to motivate and enthuse young people, particularly when it comes to the science subjects. After all, one of the key aims of this new development is to help young people, in fact students of all ages from reception/foundation right up to key stage four, gain the capacity for original ideas and actions. In effect, to help students learn about science, the environment and other related science subjects such as mathematics; through personal exploration and enquiry.

The Creative Curriculum and the Teaching of Science Subjects

In our experience, as teachers the creative curriculum has allowed us to act as facilitators to learning, we have found that the greater flexibility in being able to teach core subjects and national curriculum principles has been a very positive experience both for those teachers delivering the lessons and also for the pupils.

Being more creative has led to the abandonment of many of the older lesson plans and schemes of work we had. Others have been modified and adapted to make them work within the context of having greater teaching freedoms. In particular, being able to introduce new term topics such as a study of dinosaurs has brought real benefits to the delivery of the teaching programmes.

Whilst we accept that modifying existing lesson plans, topics and schemes of work made more work at the beginning of this new teaching style, the outcomes have more than made up for this with a more motivated and enthusiastic group of students, who do, genuinely seem to be able to apply key skills and demonstrate learning.

Why Choose Dinosaurs?

The choice of a study of dinosaurs and indeed other prehistoric animals as part of a themed topic for a term or part of a school term is a really good idea in our opinion. Firstly, most children go through a phase of being fascinated with these prehistoric creatures, this will ensure a willingness to participate in the lessons and activities. Secondly, dinosaurs these days are rarely out of the media what with television shows, cartoons and films so most children are very aware of them and already have some knowledge. Perhaps, most importantly of all, the subject of dinosaurs or to be more precise a study of the Order of reptiles known as the Dinosauria provides enormous scope for developing a range of exciting lesson plans across a range of subject areas.

Subject areas that can be covered include the sciences, mathematics and geography but also with some creative thinking, areas of teaching as diverse as music, physical education and dance. For example, utilising the subject of dinosaurs for a term topic gives teachers the opportunity to explore themes such as changing environments and extinction. When delivering such a scheme of work we have incorporated many different subject areas all loosely based around the mass extinction event that occurred sixty-five million years ago that led to the death of the dinosaurs. Science areas can be covered by exploring the possible reasons for the extinction event, the breaking down of food webs, the impact of volcanoes and changing climates. This can permit teachers to explore current themes and issues related to subject areas such as global warming and the impact of human population growth on the planet. By being creative, the extinction motif can be applied in other subject areas such as composing a piece of music to reflect change and the death of a whole group of prehistoric animals. This enables teachers to tap into other learning styles of the pupils. With music and movement in mind, we have helped create dance classes where pupils try to interpret the death of the dinosaurs through creative dance and other performance works.

Most children have some knowledge of dinosaurs, indeed, in our experience there is usually at least one very knowledgeable person in the class, perhaps a budding young palaeontologist that can be relied upon to help enthuse and inform on the subject area. When wanting to encourage independent learning we hung a washing line complete with pegs across the classroom. We then asked the pupils (in this case key stage two students), to think of questions about dinosaurs and write them on a piece of paper with their name on them. We then examined the questions that had come out and grouped them (another useful exercise involving word association and spatial awareness). Once the question areas were grouped, teams were selected and each team given the task of researching a question and reporting on their findings to the rest of the class. This encouraged independent problem solving and research using a range of resources and then each team made a presentation to their class mates and wrote up their findings for display on the “resources wall” that we had created to help theme up the room for the dinosaur topic.

As teachers, we found the delivery of a topic associated with dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals a joy to teach and found our own curiosity and interest ignited. There were certainly many key benefits for putting dinosaurs into the classroom, a summary of the benefits we found are listed below:

1). Pupils were more involved in their learning and took greater responsibility for their learning. There was a real sense of ownership when being taught this subject. For example, the sense of pride when designing their own prehistoric animal, working out where it lived, what it ate and what name it should have.

2). Students were more enthusiastic about the subject areas and there was greater motivation. For instance, exploring the concept of averages with a key stage 3 class using some dinosaur footprints to make a trackway and measuring the average distance between steps.

3). As teachers, we too were more motivated and enthusiastic about the subject area of dinosaurs. It was a “fun” aspect of the curriculum and it was more rewarding and personally satisfying to see how the children responded to the more creative teaching methods employed.

4). Greater parental involvement. One benefit of teaching about dinosaurs that was not foreseen was the greater interest shown by parents and guardians. Adults too, also seem to have a fascination with dinosaurs, we encouraged the children talk about dinosaurs with their parents and guardians when at home and we saw a marked improvement in the attitude of many parents towards teaching when they began to see how creative we were in delivering teaching plans and programmes. One thing we would recommend is to have an “open afternoon” permitting the pupils to show off their work and studies involving dinosaurs. We set up a “mini- museum” that showcased the work and the experiments the children had done. This was very well received by the parents and guardians that attended.

Bringing dinosaurs into schools is certainly recommended. It enables teachers and educationalists to tap into the enthusiasm of the pupils, it motivates learning and provides a rich environment for developing lessons and learning. We even learnt a few things ourselves – would definitely recommend.

Children’s Books About Dinosaurs

Books have been written about dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals for more than one hundred and fifty years. As our knowledge regarding these long extinct creatures has grown so has the number of titles dedicated to the Dinosauria. The first publications were scientific papers distributed amongst the academic community describing new fossil finds and discoveries. However, the Victorian popular press in England featured many accounts of these fossil finds and explanations of new theories, spurred on by ground-breaking scientific works such as Sir Charles Darwin’s “Origin of Species” that was first published in 1859. This book was one of the first publications of its kind that set out to explain a theory relating to Earth sciences to the layman, it was not written specifically for the academic fraternity but to permit the general public to perceive and understand a new, scientific concept.

New Fossil Discoveries Make Palaeontology Popular

Children’s books featuring dinosaurs followed much later, but with Natural History museums rapidly expanding to fit the new North American dinosaur discoveries into their exhibitions and with the public’s thirst to learn more about these giant reptiles, books both factual and fictional soon were becoming more plentiful. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer of the Sherlock Holmes stories, wrote a book entitled “The Lost World” – a story first published in 1912 about an expedition to a South American plateau where dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals were encountered. This book was first serialised in the popular “Strand” magazine before inspiring a stop-animation film in the late 1920s featuring a number of dinosaur species.

Rapid Increase in Publications

The number of children’s books dedicated to dinosaurs increased dramatically in the 1950s, coinciding with the general rise in popularity of science books and science fiction. A number of once very common publications are exceedingly rare and a good quality, first edition can fetch hundreds of pounds if sold at auction. The rise in the number of dinosaur illustrators allowed dinosaur books to feature a number of colourful illustrations, this work being pioneered by the likes of Charles Knight and the great Czech artist and illustrator ZdenÃ�Â�k Burian. It was in the 1950s that the dinosaurs had their first commercial boom, with a lot of toys, games and models being made. Dinosaur models were even given away in breakfast cereal packets, such as the much sought after plastic prehistoric animals from Nabisco of the United States. Although once given away free with breakfast cereal packets, sets of these plastic models can fetch high prices at auction. Dinosaur books too, in this period had a phenomenal growth with a number of publishing houses producing fact-based books specifically for the children’s market.

Childhood Memories

Flicking through the pages of these books, invoke many childhood memories of reading about and discovering for the first time new dinosaurs and prehistoric animals. It is difficult to decide which ones would be a favourite, although it is hard to ignore the beautifully illustrated “Dinosaurs” – Watson and Zallinger published by Hamlyn or another later Hamlyn publication “Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals” – Leutscher that came a little later.

Perspectives from Different Countries

Reading books about dinosaurs which were published in different countries can provide a fascinating insight into how dinosaurs were viewed from different national perspectives. We are fortunate to have a number of Canadian and American dinosaur books in the collection, it is always a pleasure to read about dinosaurs such as Antrodemus, Brontosaurus and Trachodon – names of prehistoric animals that are no longer valid as taxons in scientific literature.

Old Theories Coming to the Fore

Browsing through such books, shows how much our views regarding the Dinosauria have changed. Most of the early children’s books feature the long-necked dinosaurs (Sauropods) depicting them as aquatic creatures living in swamps and lakes, where the water could support their great weight. This presumption about the behaviour of Sauropods has largely been discounted by the scientific community. Sauropods are seen as essentially terrestrial animals. However, recently an English science writer has re-ignited this debate by proposing that the majority of the dinosaurs did indeed live in water. A theory I first read about as a child in a book about dinosaurs has become prominent once again in academic circles.