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Critter of the Week: Brachiosaurus

Critter of the Week: Brachiosaurus

Meet Elmer. He’s a little shy, and likes staying in his comfort zone, but he’ll be your best giant friend if you give him some greens and a big hug.   The best way to a dino’s heart is through his stomach, as they say.  Well, that’s not really the phrase, but I’m sure it’s just as true, especially when it comes to these long-necked sauropods. :)  I think the rough estimate is a solid cube- 5ft x…

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Now here’s where things get a little muddy.  Bones are easy.  They’re hard, relatively common, and all bones that look about the same are going to have similar functions.  Back-boned critters all kinda have the same basic pattern.  Same with muscle.  The only squishy thing with muscle is determining how much is where, then you can figure out the basic shape on top of the bones.

  But what about skin?  We’re pretty good at figuring out how a dinosaur works on the inside, but what did they look like on the outside?

Here is where a little mud or volcanic ash comes in handy.

When an animal is buried in soft, fine-grained sediment, then the critter’s skin, scales, fur, or feathers leave an impression.  Just like stamping into soft clay.  With more refined techniques in recovering fossils in the field (or prepping them at the museum), paleontologists are finding more “skin stamps” than ever before.

  Corythosaurus casuarius skeleton, by Barnum Brown, 1916.

A hadrosaur mummy.  Keep in mind that the animal was most likely dead and already decomposing when it was buried.  We can’t know for sure if it had more fat under the skin than showed here or not.  Notice how thick and muscular the tail base is. :)

Photo not mine.  If you know who needs credit, please let me know. :)

Corythosaurus skin.

Bell, 2012

More hadrosaur skin impressions.  The impressions that look like a honeycomb are actually impressions of what’s underneath the bumps.  Reminds me of bubble wrap. :P

Photo courtesy of Black Hills Institute of Geological Research

Triceratops skin impression.  No one knows if those larger osteoderms would look just as they do here, or if larger quills or spikes where attached.  Speaking of quills…

wikipedia commons

A beautiful fossil of Psittacosaurus (distant, small cousin of Triceratops) at the Senckenberg Museum of Frankfurt.  We can’t be sure about color, but you can see the pattern of darker and lighter scales.  Notice how much muscle this critter has, and those quills!  A one-of-a-kind find.  Remember my post a couple weeks back about how hard it is for an animal to be fossilized?  How much more amazing that we have something like this?

Here’s a closer look at those quills…

high resolution images of Psittacosaurus tail quills, from the paper studying the specimen

The general consensus is that these quills are a feather-like integument. Here’s what we don’t know…

If all species of Psittacosaurus had them (there’s 18, all very different from each other), and if they did, how much & where.

If any other ceratopsians had them.  Psittacosaurus was part of a line that died out, so it’s rather unlikely that Triceratops & co. had them.

  Now that we’re on the subject of feathers…just look at this exquisite fossil of archaeopteryx. :) It never gets old…takes my breath away every time I see it.

Photo not mine.  If you know who needs credit, please let me know. :)

Archaeopteryx used to be famous for being the “first bird”, now we know that just about every smallish dinosaur (and even some big ones) where wearing similar outfits.  Yes, most carnivorous dinosaurs are known to have feathers, it’s just a question of what kind, and how much. :)

Photo courtesy of Institute of Fossil Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing

I know that looks like fur, but those are fluffy feathers all over this little sinosauropteryx.  Notice the bands of light and dark color on its tail.

Here are some more birdy feathers on a larger dinosaur.

This is Zhenyu- Zhenya- Zen- Oh forget it.  Let’s just say she’s a cousin of those infamous raptors from Jurassic Park.  She’s about five feet long, so closer to the real turkey-sized Velociraptor.  Fully feathered.  Just look at those glorious wings!

Photo courtesy of Stephen Brusatte

Here’s a close up of those feathers.  Notice the full wing in photo D below.  You can clearly see primary, secondary, and covert feathers, just like what you’d see on a modern bird wing.

But wait, it gets better. :D

Not quite as pretty, but look at figures A, B, and C below.  The bumps that those arrows are pointing to are called quill knobs, and figure D shows us what that means. :D

Keep in mind that this fossil came from a critter called Dakotaraptor.  This guy was every bit as big as the ones in Jurassic Park.  And it has wings.

Image from paper studying Dakotaraptor.

A prettier reconstruction of Dakotaraptor’s wing.

Photo courtesy to Robert DePalma.

These and other fossils from even larger dinosaurs such as yutyrannus (T-rex’s Chinese cousin) that also preserve feathers, can give us clues for exactly how diverse and widespread feathers are in the dinosaur family tree.

  The flying reptiles called pterosaurs, for example.

Picture not mine, if you know who needs credit, please let me know.

With fossils like these we can learn about the structure of the wing, and that these animals also had a fur-like coat of feathery fuzz covering their bodies.  No scaly or naked skin here.

  So there is a lot we do know, but still so much left in the dark.  With bones, muscles, and a few hints of soft tissue, next time we’ll be heading off into uncharted waters.

  Quick Question: These fossils are all amazing, but there is still so much we don’t know.  Take a quick look at the lion and tiger above, and then look at the skulls below.  Can you tell which one is which?  Leave your answer in the comments, I’d love to hear from you! :)

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These are replicas from skullsunlimited.com, but they get the point across :)

  Fleshing out the Bones Series:

Part 1: The Miracle of Fossilization (the crazy hard obstacle course from death to museum)

Part 2: The World’s Toughest Jigsaw Puzzle (making a mounted skeleton out of bits and pieces)

Part 3: Here’s the Easy Part (figuring out muscle and other fun anatomy)

Part 4: Let’s Put Some Skin on That (how much we know, and don’t know, about the soft stuff)

Part 5: Time to Get Wild! (how we can guess about behavior, and how crazy it can get!)

Part 6: Uncharted Waters (all about the big picture.  No animal lives on a blank sheet of paper)

Let’s Put Some Skin on That (how much we know, and don’t know, about the soft stuff) Now here's where things get a little muddy.  Bones are easy.  They're hard, relatively common, and all bones that look about the same are going to have similar functions.  

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Critter of the Week: Camptosaurus

Critter of the Week: Camptosaurus

Meet Copper & Daisy. These gentle giants are always happy to meet new friends.  They love being part of the group.   Copper is a strapping young bull, and never leaves the side of his lovely lady.  He’s very much the gentleman with her, and any friend who joins the herd.  Just keep a close eye on your pockets if you have treats! You can’t hear him, since it’s a picture of course, but Copper is…

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Here’s the Easy Part (figuring out muscle and other fun anatomy)

Here’s the Easy Part (figuring out muscle and other fun anatomy)

They say the dead tell no tales…Obviously whoever coined that phrase never studied the bones of prehistoric animals, because the fossils of dead critters sure say a lot.  Dry bones all kinda look the same, but take a closer look and you can see the clues left behind.   Last Monday, we went through a basic rundown on how paleontologists can figure out how to put the bones together.  How they take…

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Meet Tigger. This big guy is always ready to flash a big, toothy smile, especially at mealtime.

  Tigger sure has a big appetite.  He’ll eat anything that fits in that giant mouth of his.  Don’t mind the teeth though, because he’s just a big softie.

Speaking of teeth, I’ve made a few changes to his smile.  I’d originally chosen Liopleurodon, the marine predator famous in Walking With Dinosaurs, as the critter for Tigger.  But I decided to change it to Pliosaurus for a few reasons.

Pliosaurus is the pliosaur!  It was the original critter discovered that gave the whole group its name

Pliosaurus doesn’t seem to be as well represented as Liopleurodon, probably because of Walking With Dinosaurs.  

Pliosaurus is easier to spell and say than Liopleurodon.  I have to sound out that name in my head every time I write it. :P Kids are awesome at saying long dino names like a boss, but come on, that one is just plain hard unless you’ve heard it. *cough*Walking With Dinosaurs*cough*

What’s the difference between this picture and the last one?

I’m glad you asked, because here’s where I get to geek out on you. :D  But first, a quick disclaimer.

I don’t pretend to be an expert, because I’m not.  I’m just a hardworking mom doing my best to make a scientifically accurate picture book based on prehistoric animals.  I’m just sharing what I learn in the process, so if you happen to be an expert, please let me know if I’ve got something wrong! I’d be happy to hear from someone more experienced. :)

Liopleurodon sketch.

Pliosaurus skull diagram, note the smooth, sloping forehead & shape of the lower mandible. I found this picture by searching the web, but don’t know who to credit. Any help there would be great, because I want to give proper credit to whoever illustrated this helpful diagram.

Pliosaurus sketch

Liopleurodon skull. Picture was found on Pleasiosauria.com, where credit is given to Markus Felix Bühler

Now, Top left picture is the original sketch, which is based on liopleurodon.  Compared to the bottom picture of the skull, now I see where I got the teeth wrong a bit.  Shows what happens when you use a toy for reference. A very well sculpted Wild Safari model, but still a toy. :)

Comparing both skull and sketch to the top right and middle pictures, you can see a few big differences.  You can really go into technical detail, but the basics are…

the slope of the forehead

the shape of the mandible, the bottom jaw.

the size and arrangement of the teeth.

So a casual glance looks like I didn’t change much, but a closer look shows a much different animal. :)

  Making progress…

I just want to say thank you for stopping by to chit chat with me on my little corner of internet. :)

It truly is humbling (and awesome!) to know that I get visitors all the way from Spain and Indonesia.  I have no idea who came from where of course, so there’s no way I’d ever know where you live unless you wanted to share your address with me.  It’s just cool to see the little map and which countries are colored in. :D  Isn’t technology amazing?

Thank you for taking the time to read.  Life is busy and time is irreplaceable, so I hope I’ve done what I can to make your stay enjoyable.

If there’s anything I can do to make things better around here, then I’d love to hear from you!  I know there isn’t a lot on the site so far, but what do you like best?  Why do you like it?  I’d love to hear your answer in the comments. :) 

  Coming Next Week…

Two thrown in for the price of one this time around.  This pair are always happy to meet new friends. :)

Share your guess in the comments! They’ll be a couple of the critters over on the critter page. :)

Critter of the Week: Pliosaurus Meet Tigger. This big guy is always ready to flash a big, toothy smile, especially at mealtime.

#critter page #fossils #updates

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The World's Toughest Jigsaw Puzzle

The World’s Toughest Jigsaw Puzzle

A six-year-old walks down the hall, eyes wide as he stares open mouthed at the skeletons towering high above him.  Dagger teeth, gleaming claws, curving necks and long, sweeping tails…It’s almost surreal how the bones are suspended in the air, as if the skin around them was just invisible. Of course, now I know about the armature of steel.  How each bone has it’s own pocket to nestle in.  If one…

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#dinosaur #fossils

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Critter of the Week: Dilophosaurus

Critter of the Week: Dilophosaurus

Meet Picasso.  This quiet softie loves spending time with his special person.  Snuggling under the tree to hear a good story?  That sounds like a lovely way to spend a warm afternoon. :) Picasso looks very happy to see you, and he wonders very much if you like his red crest.  He’s very proud of it, you see, and he’s been strutting around the field like a very large rooster. He marches up and down…

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The Miracle of Fossilization

The Miracle of Fossilization

Life is full of everyday miracles.  The sort of things that are so unlikely to happen, it’s amazing they happen at all.   Take fossils for example.  Let’s start with something big- a sauropod, or long-necked dinosaur.  Should be easy to fossilize right? Unfortunately we need a dead one for our fossil, so let’s skip the sad story. Let’s just say an old brachiosaurus (Let’s call him old Mr. B) came…

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Critter of the Week: Plesiosaurus

Critter of the Week: Plesiosaurus

Meet Nessie.  This curious undersea critter is always looking for an opportunity to nab a treat.  You’ll never see her coming!  Her favorite game is hide-&-seek. :) Look at that smile, I think she wants you to chase her! Nessie loves hide & seek, especially seeking.  Better watch out, because she’ll sneak up on you from below.  She’s really good at that.  It’s hard to see in the picture here, but…

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All American Dinos

Happy 4th of July everyone!  I hope you are enjoying the hotdogs, fireworks, family time, and the all around patriotic spirit of the day. :) I really love my country, and everything the founding fathers worked so hard to cultivate in the early years.  So here we have some American dinosaurs to help us celebrate. From left to right… Dippy the Diplodocus.  Proudly wearing the stars & stripes. :)…

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Critter of the Week: Stegosaurus

Critter of the Week: Stegosaurus

Meet Steggy.  She’s a real sweetie who loves nothing more than a pat on the head.  She’ll let just about anybody clamber on her back.  Just be careful not to spook her. :)           She’s not the sharpest rock around, but hey, her brain’s the size of a hotdog.  I know there’s that story about a second brain somewhere in her hips, but that’s just ridiculous.  I can’t really say anything about the…

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Behind the Scenes: From Thumbnail to Draft Sketch

Behind the Scenes: From Thumbnail to Draft Sketch

It’s time for a behind-the-scenes sneak peak on the first installment in the series of Pete’s Paleo Petshop, where anyone can go to find a prehistoric friend to take home.  Time has stopped in the Jurassic Period, the “golden age” of dinosaurs, and Danny and his family have come to the shop to find a quiet, little dinosaur.  Hard to find in an age of giants!   Now here we have a few thumbnails. …

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#Ajax #critter page #dinosaur #Dippy #Elmer #Paleo Petshop #Steggy #Tango #updates

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Critter of the Week: Diplodocus

Critter of the Week: Diplodocus

Meet Dippy!  A giant with a heart of gold, life is never boring when this big guy is around.  Nothing is out of reach!  He’ll stick his nose into everything until every mystery is solved.       Looks like he’s found a very, very big ball to play with.  That ball is pretty much indestructible, and something that comes in handy when you have curious giants like Dippy around.  He loves food just as…

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Prehistoric Beasts or Movie Monsters? Why Paleoart Matters

Let’s imagine I have two pictures in hand. In one, a photo of a lion with his lips pulled back into a snarl. Canines like steak knives glisten with saliva, and he stares straight at you with hungry yellow eyes…What’s your first impression?     Now let’s take a look at the other photo. Here we have a portrait of another lion. This one lays on a rock, at peace. He looks off towards the sunset, and…

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Critter of the Week: Allosaurus

Critter of the Week: Allosaurus

Meet Alfred.  The lion of the Jurassic!  The prince of the Mesozoic! The…oh, there he goes after another butterfly.  All he needs to be happy in life is his food, his chew toy, and a nice long nap.     Looks like Alfred has found something to chase.  No worries though, that butterfly has nothing to fear, and he’ll give up soon enough.  Allosaurus (ah-low-saw-rus) wasn’t very fast, but he can’t…

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Pencil in hand, I settle into the plush couch and slap my sketchbook onto my lap.  The smell of warm chai sits ready on the small nightstand beside me, and I take a small sip of the peppery tea as I flip open to a blank page.  I set the mug down on the table and hold the pencil to the page…but nothing happens.

  – Have you ever started to draw something, but ended up simply staring at the blank page, not knowing where to start?

– Have you started a drawing, only to get frustrated with it partway through?

– Maybe you’re just tired of your drawings.  Maybe you feel stuck and don’t know why.

– Maybe you haven’t tried at drawing since grade school, and have no idea where to start.  Or if you can draw.

I’ve definitely been through the first three at least a dozen or two times.  :)

I have a lovely little book that’s great to turn to at these times, The Confident Creative, written by Cat Bennet. (I’m not earning anything by saying this, I just happen to own it and think it’s helpful :) )  Cat suggests to make marks, like toddlers do.  She says…

“Making marks frees our hand from the judgments of our mind and catapults us into the space of playfulness and presence.  How can the mind complain when we’re just fooling around?”

It’s surprising how hard just making simple marks on paper can be, so it’s good that there are some exercises in the book.  I also watch my kids draw and take a few clues from them.  :)

Little Bird has the bold scribbles of a two-year-old.  She presses the colored pencils down hard, and chooses the brightest colors.

3-year-old Bug holds his pencil carefully at it’s end.  His lines are more delicate- thin lines in one corner, a small circle in the center, and he makes a long, winding line around the whole paper.

“It’s a road.” he says. I ask him if the smaller circle is a car, since it’s right next to the road.

“No,” he says, as if it should be obvious. “That’s a puddle.  The car drives around it.”

  So I grabbed my sketchbook, nabbed the first color to reach my fingers out of the bag,  and drew a small circle in the middle of the page. I held my pencil loosely at it’s end, like Bug did.  A squiggle around it.  Add a few lines- no end in mind, just drawing squiggle marks, lines, and circles.  Just to see what would happen if I tried on purpose not to draw anything.

Suddenly, I realized a pattern was forming.  So I went with it, and before I knew it I had filled up the whole page.  :)

Sometimes even this simple exercise can be pretty daunting to me.  The blank paper can be pretty intimidating!  So when this happens I draw lines and shadows.  Here’s what that usually looks like…

I never draw with pen, so I tried that out next, just to shake things up. :)

Scribbling with mediums you don’t normally paint or draw with is exciting and fun!  No pressure to do it the “right” way, since you don’t really know much about it.  And it’s cool to find out what it can do!

I’m sorry about the quality of the photo.  This is the first time I’ve photographed art, so there’s definitely a learning curve here.  Watercolor on dry paper is on the left, watercolor on wet paper to the right- in case you can’t see what I wrote there. :)  Bottom of the left hand column says “water splashed on drying paint.”

Wondering how this can be used in paleoart?

Experiment with what your brush or pencil can do!  Play with soft and hard textures.  What happens if you draw a tight cluster of circles?

These textures are what become scales, feathers, and other elements that suggest detail in a drawing or painting.

  Play with color, texture, or even mood, and you may be pleasantly surprised with what appears on the page!  :)

I’ve got a question for you.  Where are you at in your artistic journey?  Stuck?  Loving your craft?  Or don’t really draw much, but always wanted to learn?  I’d love to hear from you in the comments!  :)

Making Marks Pencil in hand, I settle into the plush couch and slap my sketchbook onto my lap.  The smell of warm chai sits ready on the small nightstand beside me, and I take a small sip of the peppery tea as I flip open to a blank page. 

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Critter of the Week: Juramaia

Critter of the Week: Juramaia

Meet Maya.  She’s a sweet little fuzzball who loves nothing more than to curl up in your pocket.  At least during the day.  When the sun goes down, that’s when the party starts!     Wait a second…what’s a squirrel doing in a dinosaur book?  Well I’m glad you asked.  So far, her kind is the first mammal discovered that nourishes her babies in utero with a placenta.  A placental mammal.  This is…

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