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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Mastodon bones found in Daytona Beach


From 13News: Mastodon bones found in Daytona Beach
DAYTONA BEACH --

The digging will continue in a residential area where archaeologists are making a pre-historic discovery.

Workers digging a hole for a retention pond in Daytona Beach earlier this week found what appeared to be pieces of a mastodon.

Archaeologists say they believe it belongs to an American mastodon, an elephant-like animal which lived in Florida thousands of years ago.

On Wednesday archaeologists found part of a mastodon's rib. On Thursday, however, they uncovered two tusks -- about five and a half feet long each.

Part of the jaw, skull, leg and vertebrae were also found.

The dig is bringing out curious locals, excited to see what is being unearthed underneath Daytona Beach. For one boy, it will be quite a story to share with his classmates Monday.

"I'm gonna tell them that right up the street from my house they found dinosaur bones," Jeremy Gilbraide said.

The president of the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach says it will be a while before they can carbon date the remains found, but they could be as many as 100,000 years old.

But they want to eventually exhibit their find next to remains of a prehistoric sloth found just a few miles away from the Mastodon

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Buffalo, NY: Science museum goes prehistoric, revealing ‘BIG’ new residents

From Buffalo News.com: Science museum goes prehistoric, revealing ‘BIG’ new residents
For weeks, the Buffalo Science Museum tantalized its members and fans with clues about an exciting surprise to be revealed Thanksgiving weekend.

“Something BIG is coming,” the museum’s website teased, urging people to send in guesses as to what that big something was through Facebook and Twitter.

At least 600 people were waiting Saturday morning outside the East Side museum’s door to find out.

They were not disappointed.

The museum unveiled two new “residents,” as museum president Mark Mortenson likes to call them: towering life-size casts of a 12-foot-tall mastodon and a 26- foot-long Albertosaurus.

“I love dinosaurs!” declared Arianna Pocobello, 10, of North Tonawanda, as she gazed up at the bones of the Albertosaurus, a relative of the Tyrannosaurus that walked the planet 70 million years ago.

Arianna, who was accompanied by her grandmother Suzanne Pocobello, acknowledged she wasn’t too surprised by the museum’s secret.

“We kind of figured it out,” the grandmother said.

But they, and seemingly everyone else, seemed thrilled to be a part of the welcoming celebration.

Sam Leaderstorf, 7, of the Town of Tonawanda, came with his little brother Max, 6, and friend Bryan Crispin, 7. Bryan had never visited the museum before.

“I didn’t really know what would be here,” he said.

The boys enjoyed “looking at bones,” Sam said, and were excited by all the paleontological activities that were available Saturday, including making fossils out of play-dough.

The dinosaur and the ancient mammal will be permanently displayed in Hamlin Hall on the second floor of the Buffalo Science Museum.

They will be the first of a series of new exhibits planned for the museum, said Mortenson, president and CEO of the museum.

“This is the trigger of a major transformation at the Buffalo Science Museum,” he said.

Over the next four to five years, he said, the museum plans to open a new exhibit area. The next to open will be a hands-on health sciences studio in March, and then an earth sciences studio in October.

“We’re going to essentially transform the entire museum,” he said.

The former dinosaur exhibit at the museum will be dismantled, but the pieces from the collection will be used in other areas, Mortenson said.

The giant casts of bones were funded in part by a donation from Lise Buyer, a Buffalo native who runs an IPO advisory firm in Silicon Valley. Her late father, Bob Buyer, was a reporter at The Buffalo News and she attended Nichols School, where she now serves as a trustee.

Buyer named the mastodon Seymour after a beloved childhood pet dog.

But the Albertosaurus so far is unnamed, and the museum is sponsoring a naming contest. Name suggestions can be submitted through the museum’s Facebook page or through forms available at the museum. The names must be submitted by Dec. 19. Buyer will choose the top 10 names, and the community will vote on the winner, which will be announced Jan. 19.

NY: Dino dreams spark kids' imaginations

From RecordOnline, Wayne's World Blog: Wayne's World: Dino dreams spark kids' imaginations
By Wayne Hall
Published: 2:00 AM - 11/27/11

Here's a 200-million-year-old-user's-guide warning for overexposure to dinosaur Christmas presents.

Too much dino dreaming can turn you into a paleontologist – the people who study dinosaurs.

“That's what happened to me,” says Richard Kissel, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Ithaca-based Museum of the Earth.

He's not fooling.

Listen to Brianna Cockshuttle, 10, of Sullivan County:
“I want to be a paleontologist,” says this 4-H Club kid whose rabbits, chickens, turkeys and hermit crab got her animal love stoked. “The first time I watched a movie about this I thought this is awesome and I came to love it.”

And so could anyone, now that there's even more reason to get excited about dinosaurs.

Turns out they're as local around here as the neighborhood diner.

“There's no reason to believe they weren't here,” says Kissel.

Which isn't something a lot of people know.

Dinosaurs so big they could peer into your second-story bedroom shook the ground right here in Orange and Ulster counties and maybe even Sullivan.

We're talking a big bruiser, something like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park, located just down the road in Pennsylvania. And maybe in our region, too.

“We had our fair share of top predators,” says Kissel.

“No reason they wouldn't have been there,” says Robert Ross, a vertebrate paleontologist with the Museum of the Earth.

And the New York State Museum's curator of vertebrate paleontology, Robert S. Feranec, points out there's always something new about dinosaurs.

Right next door in Rockland County, footprints were found of a meat-eating small dinosaur hunting in packs – called the wolves of their day.

Gigantic bones of a huge duck-billed plant-eating dinosaur with 2,000 teeth were found in the gray slime of a marl pit in nearby New Jersey.

And found along the Hudson and Connecticut rivers were primitive crocodilian teeth, bones of meat-eating toothed flying reptiles, and intriguing bits and pieces still under study.

In fact, this ancient world is endlessly fascinating – new stuff's always getting found like a 230-million-year-old petit dinosaur found in Argentina.

So it's not a surprise that kids love dinosaurs because they're “so cool, so unusual and different,” says Balmville Elementary School third-grade teacher Kris Campbell-Defoe, whose student, Stephen Justino, 8, just chose a new dinosaur favorite – one that flew – over his old choice – one that walked. “I just love Jurassic Park,' Stephen says .

So popular are these reptilians that the Museum of the Hudson Highlands' “dino pit,” where the great beasts' feet are measured, comes alive in the imagination, says museum educator Carl Heitmuller. Even for him. If he was a dinosaur, Heitmuller says, he'd be one of the plant-eaters “with a club on its tail and armor on its body” to fend off the carnivores like T-Rex.

In other words, dinosaurs tell us about life before we existed and ask us to use our imaginations. Amazing.
Check out dinosaurs

- You can see the world of dinosaurs at the New York State Museum's Ancient Life exhibit at 222 Madison Ave., Albany, 518 474-5877;

- The Museum of the Earth, 1259 Trumansburg Road, Ithaca, 607-273-6623;

- The American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West, New York, 212-769-5100.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Australia: Dinosaurs on show in Apollo Bay

From Weekly Times Now (Melbourne, Victoria): Dinosaurs on show in Apollo Bay
THE dinosaurs of the Otways are back.

An exhibition created by some of the world's leading palaeontologists, and comprising more than 300 individual and cast fossils, including full skeletons discovered in the Great Southern Continent of Gondwana, opens in Apollo Bay this week.

Gondwana was made up from what are now known as Australia, South America, Antarctica, Africa and India.

"Wildlife of Gondwana" will focus on the dinosaurs of the Otways, some from more than 3.8 billion years ago.

The dinosaurs found in Apollo Bay are from the Cretaceous period, 106 million years ago.

Fossils of these fascinating creatures were blasted from rocks on the Otway coast between 1984 and 1994, and some are still being discovered.

The first "trackway" of footprints was found recently and scientists don't know what else may be in the area.

One of the original palaeontologists, Professor Pat Vickers-Rich of Monash University, put the final touches on the exhibition on Monday. Prof Vickers-Rich and her husband, Tom Rich, a fellow paleontologist and senior curator at Museum Victoria, started digging around Apollo Bay in the 1990s.

The original discovery of the first bone at Dinosaur Cove was made by Tom, along with Tim Flannery and Mike Archer, in 1981.

"It's special because this is the first time the exhibition has come to a regional venue," Prof Vickers-Rich said. "It's fitting because what was found here has really impacted on the world view of how tough dinosaurs could be."

* The exhibition, at 313 Barham River Rd, will run until April 15.

NZ: Preserve dinosaur discovery - scientist

From Nelson Mail, New Zealand: Preserve dinosaur discovery - scientist
The need to preserve the Golden Bay area where dinosaur footprints were discovered will be highlighted in a public talk tomorrow as part of a Geosciences conference.

About 330 earth scientists will be in Nelson next week for the week-long 2011 Geosciences conference.

The event is the annual showcase of geological and geophysical research being undertaken in New Zealand. As well as presentations, it includes a wide range of field trips to areas of geological interest in the Nelson region.

Among the themes speakers will address will be the Christchurch earthquake sequence, the Alpine Fault, the latest research on New Zealand's volcanoes, understanding the plate boundary beneath New Zealand, petroleum basin research, the role of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica in driving global climate, and the influences of tectonism, climate and ocean processes on New Zealand's coast.

A major conference session will be devoted to the role of geoscience in studying the earthquakes and rebuilding Christchurch.

As part of the conference GNS Science sedimentologist Greg Browne will give a public talk about his discovery of dinosaur footprints at Whanganui Inlet which was announced two years ago.

The discovery marks the first time dinosaur footprints have been recognised in New Zealand, and is the first evidence of dinosaurs in the South Island.

The footprints, estimated to be 70 million years old, occur at six locations in northwest Nelson and are as much as 60cm in diameter.

Dr Browne found the footprints while examining rock and sediment formations.

They are likely to have been formed by sauropods – large plant-eating dinosaurs with long necks and tails, and pillar-like legs.

Most of the footprints were formed on exposed tidal flats, but at one location there is evidence that the animals may have been swimming or wading when they produced the structures.

"What makes these footprints special is their unique preservation in an environment where they could easily have been destroyed by waves, tides or wind," Dr Browne said.

Dr Browne said his talk would illustrate the variety and nature of the footprints and the need to preserve the area where they were found.

He would also comment on the possibility that such structures might exist in other parts of New Zealand.

The illustrated talk will be held in the Maitai Room at the Rutherford Hotel at 7.30pm tomorrow.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Australia: Funding plea to make dinosaur site safe

From ABCNet: Funding plea to make dinosaur site safe

A western Queensland council says it does not have the capacity to fix a building over world-renowned dinosaur site, Lark Quarry near Winton, and it will need state or federal support.

Lark Quarry is known as the only recorded dinosaur stampede on Earth, with thousands of dinosaur footprints dating back about 95 million years.

Winton Mayor Ed Warren says the site has been closed because of concerns about a building constructed over the footprints.

He says safety needs to be guaranteed for the thousands of people who visit.

"It is somewhere in the vicinity of 12 or 13,000 [visitors] per year," he said.

"We believe those numbers will grow, hence we should be doing something about this building now and the infrastructure that is there, rather than leave it until some actual event happens and the wall falls in.

"That could be this national monument lost forever."

He says it is too early to say when the conservation park will reopen.

"These are the sorts of things we need to discuss with [the] State Government in particular, form a partnership with them and probably move onto the Federal Government," he said.

"Because this is a national icon and we don't have the capacity to carry forward what needs to happen to that building.

"The soil and the rock that's there is very fragile and it needs to be preserved."

Plankton research adds to controversy over cause, chronology of dinosaur extinction

From the Daily Princeton: Plankton research adds to controversy over cause, chronology of dinosaur extinction

A recent study led by geosciences professor Gerta Keller challenges the most commonly-held belief for the mass-extinction of dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago.

The prevailing extinction theory — part of an ongoing 30-year controversy — holds that the dinosaurs’ destruction was caused by the Chicxulub impact, a crater buried underneath the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.

However, Keller and her team dated a specific species of plankton, planktonic Foraminifera, that has trails nearly half a million years old, and found chronological links between the mass extinction and volcanic eruptions of the Deccan Plateau of western India.

Keller’s close analysis of Deccan volcanism indicates that the formation of the Deccan Traps — layers of solidified flood basalt that resulted from the eruptions — caused a huge temperature drop, deteriorating environmental conditions and acid rain.

These effects altered the climate and put a strain on biodiversity, cutting off the dinosaurs’ food source and eventually killing them, Keller said.

The species of plankton that Keller studied is “very sensitive to environmental changes in temperature oxygen, salinity, nutrients and toxins,” she said. “They not only record the environmental changes over the past 150 million years but are also our best measure for reconstructing the climatic history and the conditions that led to the [dinosaurs’] mass extinction.”

Keller also wrote a paper with her former student Brian Gertsch GS ’10 investigating the same species of plankton in Meghalaya, a region in northeastern India. Gertsch, now a postdoctoral researcher at MIT, spent several years conducting lab analyses and hypothesizing about the environmental conditions that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

“In Meghalaya, blooms of planktonic foraminifera and high chemical weathering indices are indicative of the very high stress conditions and correlate well with the main phase two of Deccan volcanism,” Gertsch explained. “Our study clearly shows that Deccan volcanic activity ... triggered increasingly stressful environmental conditions, both marine and continental.

As such, it has become increasingly clear that Deccan volcanism is a major factor in understanding the disappearance of dinosaurs, he said.

Keller spent over 15 years trying to confirm the commonly-held meteorite hypothesis, but instead found increasing evidence against it.

During an undergraduate field trip to Mexico in 2000, Keller’s students discovered layers of impact spherules — tiny rock glass particles that resulted from the Chicxulub meteor impact — that were over a dozen meters below the mass extinction horizon, suggesting that the meteorite hit before the mass dinosaur extinction.

Indeed, further analysis and several other trips to different regions near the Yucatan site confirmed that the meteorite hit about 300,000 years before the dinosaurs died out. Later results “spectacularly confirmed the earlier findings that the Chicxulub impact predates the mass extinction,” Keller said. The only other natural disaster that occurred during the dinosaurs’ extinction period was the Deccan volcanism on the other side of the world, which prompted Keller’s research in India.

The results of Keller’s study are “far-reaching,” she said.

“The implications go beyond the mass extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous,” she said. “Large volcanic eruptions occurred at four of the five major mass extinctions in Earth’s history; our studies in India show that volcanism can cause mass extinctions, and it is now up to other researchers to conduct similar studies for all other mass extinctions.”

Keller’s project in India was recently approved to continue for another two years. She has already begun evaluating the detrimental effects of Deccan volcanism on a global scale.

She said she hopes to find the underlying causes of the climate and environmental changes that led to the mass extinction, as well as the primary “killing mechanism” for the dinosaurs and the timeline of their extinction.

Friday, November 18, 2011

County Selects Hemet Museum to Handle Dinosaur Bones Found Locally


From The Guardian: County Selects Hemet Museum to Handle Dinosaur Bones Found Locally
Archaeopteryx, the famous feathered fossil, was probably the oldest and most primitive bird after all.

For 150 years the creature occupied top spot on the avian evolutionary tree until this summer when the discovery of a close relative suggested it was a mere bird-like dinosaur. Now it looks to have regained its previous perch thanks to a more sophisticated anatomical analysis.

"This shows that when you look at the data with a higher degree of analytical rigour it supports the traditional view that Archaeopteryx is a bird," said Dr Paul Barrett, a dinosaur researcher at London's Natural History Museum.

The first complete specimen of Archaeopteryx was discovered in Germany in 1861, two years after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species.

It lived around 150 million years ago, had sharp teeth, three fingers with claws, a long bony tail, feathers, broad wings, could grow to about 0.5 metres in length and could fly.

This combination of avian and reptilian characteristics saw it positioned at a key spot in the branching off of birds from dinosaurs in the tree of life, and provided hard evidence to back Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.

Since then palaeontologists have largely taken it as the starting point for bird life.

But in July, researchers led by Xing Xu at Linyi University, China, announced the unearthing of Xiaotingia zhengi, a previously unknown chicken-sized dinosaur. The group carried out a statistical analysis of its anatomical traits that placed it in a group of bird-like dinosaurs called deinonychosaurs.

Archaeopteryx was so closely related to the new arrival that the consequent tweaking of the tree of life saw it shifted into this grouping as well.

Now Dr Michael Lee of the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, Australia, has repeated the exercise using the same technique, known as phylogenetic analysis, only this time applying a more sophisticated statistical method.

Instead of considering all anatomical traits he examined as equally informative, Dr Lee placed greater weight on slow-evolving characteristics, in order to minimise the effect of biological traits that evolve independently in unrelated lineages.

"When we did this for Archaeopteryx we found this pulled it away from dinosaurs such as Velociraptor and nestled it back with the birds," said Dr Lee.

The research was published on Wednesday in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

As a greater number of related species and specimens have been discovered, the distinctions between them have become smaller, leading to several species flipping between groups.

"There is now a very fine line between birds and bird-like dinosaurs, with only some subtle differences between them," added Dr Barrett. "As a result it's not surprising that the positions of these animals will occasionally flip around in the tree as they are really very similar."

County Selects Hemet CA: Museum to Handle Dinosaur Bones Found Locally

From My Valley News, Fallbrook, CA: County Selects Hemet Museum to Handle Dinosaur Bones Found Locally

RIVERSIDE - Dinosaur bones unearthed in Riverside County will have a home at the Western Science Center in Hemet, in accordance with a policy enacted today by the Board of Supervisors.

Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone, in whose district the museum is located, won unanimous board support to direct all future fossil finds to the repository instead of the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, which has received paleontological artifacts recovered locally for years under the Riverside County general plan.

The Western Science Center, located near Diamond Valley Lake, opened in 2006 and now has the resources to study, catalogue and showcase fossils located within the county, according to museum spokesman Bill Marshal.

"We're ready, willing and able -- with 7,000 square feet of storage space -- to help in any way we can," Marshal told the supervisors.

Stone introduced his "Safeguard Artifacts Being Excavated in Riverside County" or SABER policy in recognition of the facility's curating successes, including the recovery last year of the skeletal remains of a saber-toothed tiger in San Timoteo Canyon, where a construction crew stumbled onto them while laying the foundation for a building.

"The Western Science Center has been very proactive in getting collections from other museums," Stone said. "It's a magnificent museum for our county."

Supervisor John Benoit and board Chairman Bob Buster both questioned whether the center could end up overloaded by too many artifacts. Though noting the museum was a "great asset," Benoit raised concerns that a recent cut in staffing could slow down the curative process.

"We did lay off one of three qualified curators," replied Marshal. "But we have a qualified archaeologist and a paleontologist. It kind of saddens me when people say we're not qualified when we are."

Buster underscored that the change in county policy would not imply public funding to support the center in the future, and Marshal acknowledged there were no strings attached.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Dan Aykroyd - Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd Digging For Dinosaurs

From ContactMudsic.com: Dan Aykroyd - Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd Digging For Dinosaurs
Actor Dan Aykroyd has turned explorer by teaming up with palaeontologists to search for dinosaur bones in his native Canada.

The Ghostbusters star will feature in upcoming U.S. TV show Born to Explore to scour for fossils in Alberta and help excavate a new species of dinosaur, the hadrosaur, which was discovered in September (11).

Programme host Richard Wiese says, "The natural beauty of Alberta took our crew's breath away. Filming in the dinosaur bone bed was a rare opportunity and to discover a new dinosaur species was sensational."

Wayne's World actress Donna Dixon and Criminal Minds star Matthew Gray Gubler will also join Aykroyd at the site.

The celebrity dig, which aired on 5 November (11), will also help raise funds for the creation of the Phillip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum.

Dallas scientists discover dinosaur in northern Alaska

From Pegasus News: Dallas scientists discover dinosaur in northern Alaska
The Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum, a dinosaur named partially after Ross Perot and his family, was carefully removed from the ground recently by two Dallas paleontologists who work at the Museum of Nature & Science in Dallas. Coincidentally, the TV series NOVA on PBS was filming as Anthony Fiorillo, Ph.D., and Ronald Tykoski, Ph.D., made the finding in Alaska.

The dinosaur lived about 70 million years ago and was an herbivore, Fiorillo said. The skull they found was about three meters tall, and it will eventually find its home in Dallas.

Excavating a quarry above the Arctic Circle – which they toiled at for about three months over the course of three years – proved to be no easy task. “It was challenging,” said Fiorillo. “The weather was a little uncooperative.”

While working in frigid conditions, the team encountered permafrost, which is frozen ground that required extra time, and ultimately patience, in removing the dinosaur remains. In order to reach the skeleton layered in ice, Fiorillo explained that the crew would use their tools to scrape off pieces, then wait for the ice to melt. The skull itself was excavated patiently “over the course of one field season” – or about a month.

On November 2, the scientists' hard work will be explained in Las Vegas at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's 71st Annual Meeting. The dinosaur will then be on display after the Perot Museum of Nature & Science opens its doors in 2013. The skeletal remains of Pachyrhinosaurus will be part of a “featured exhibition.” There, visitors will be able to experience up close what was once a large, roaming dinosaur.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Ice Skating Dinosaur in Central Park


Denver Museum of Science "Dino" from Smoke & Mirrors on Vimeo.


There's a video - which my Kindle readers can only see if they visit the original page via a computer - of a brontosaurus ice skating.

It actually looks really cool - it's not a childish thing - and its an advertisemet for the Denver Science Musuem.
Smoke & Mirrors was responsible for this from concept through to execution. The CG team modeled, textured, animated and lit this ice skating dinosaur, seamlessly integrating it into footage shot by the team in Central Park and transposing it, through the magic of CGI to Denver, where you can see the Rocky Mountains in the background.

http://www.kuriositas.com/2011/11/ice-skating-dinosaur-in-central-park.html

Thursday, November 10, 2011

2nd coelacanth population found off Tanzania coast

From Daily Yomiuri: 2nd coelacanth population found off Tanzania coast
A team of Japanese researchers has discovered a hitherto unknown population of coelacanths, a fish species known as a "living fossil," off southeast Africa.

The researchers from Tokyo Institute of Technology and other entities said the newly found breeding group of coelacanths linked to the site has existed for more than 200,000 years without genetic contact with other groups.

Researchers had believed there was only one breeding group of the species off Africa.

The team published the results in an online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.

Coelacanths have been found only in the sea off Africa and Indonesia. In Africa, an area in the sea around the Comoros Islands near Madagascar is home to the only previously known population of the fish.

Tokyo Institute of Technology Prof. Norihiro Okada and his colleagues analyzed genes of more than 20 coelacanths caught off Tanga, northern Tanzania, and nearby sites. The areas are nearly 1,000 kilometers north-northwest of the Comoros Islands.

The results showed the fish belong to a population genetically distinct from that off Comoros Islands.

The two groups seem to have separated 200,000 to 2 million years ago, the researchers said.

Considering the number of fish caught, the researchers assume the newly discovered population may comprise hundreds of coelacanths near the site.

Buns of Prehistoric Steel May Have Graced the Backside of T. Rex, Sez Paleontologist

Discover Magazine: Buns of Prehistoric Steel May Have Graced the Backside of T. Rex, Sez Paleontologist
Instead of a loping, lunging Tyrannosaurus rex, imagine the thunder lizard doing more of a power-walk: the clenched bum, the stiff legs, the whole shebang.

Pretty evocative mental image, right? For that, you have a recent presentation at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting to thank. Dinosaur gaits are right up there with “how did flight evolve?” and “what makes us human?” on the list of fascinating, but intangible, things scientists wish we understood, and this particular scientist, Heinrich Mallison, a palaeontologist at the Museum of Natural History in Berlin, was leveling a criticism at traditional efforts to figure out how dinosaurs perambulated. Basically, he says that dinosaurs had such big butts that our usual method of comparing dinosaurs to small-cheeked modern animals is doomed to failure.

Dinosaurs, unfortunately, are not available for gait analysis today, and scientists have to depend on rare sets of tracks preserved in mud to study their movement. They usually assume that the faster a dinosaur is going, the longer their stride, which is how it works with modern animals, and most estimates find that dinosaurs, despite our sense of them as speedy predators, would have topped out at about 27 mph.

Another way scientists look at the problem is to examine the marks muscles left on dinosaurs’ bones and the way muscles are laid out in their closest living relatives, aka birds, to develop a biomechanical model of how they might have moved. One analysis of this sort, published in 2002, curtailed dinosaurs’ top speed even more, arguing that T. rex could not have run faster than a human, because of its extremely weak ankles.

Mallison’s biomechanical analysis has found that despite their ankles, T. rex could have gone quite fast (though the Nature News writeup doesn’t say how fast), not by running, but by speed-walking. Their large buttocks would have made that kind of gait possible, even though running was out of the question, due to the constraints of their skeletons.

There’s a lot of fuzziness in even the most detailed and labor-intensive attempts to reconstruct dinosaur movement, so this is by no means turning the present understanding on its head (the research is also not published yet). But thank you, Heinrich, for that picture of dino heinies.

Dinosaur bones an untapped market for luxury set

From SFGate: Dinosaur bones an untapped market for luxury set
The Standard & Poor's global luxury index fails to reflect the escalating demand for dinosaurs.

"Investability is a key criterion for index selection," says Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC public-relations manager Dave Guarino. "While luxury dealers exist in dinosaur skin and bones, they're not typically the large and liquid companies we look for."

Hal Prandi, one of the two guys at Two Guys Fossils Inc., shrugs off S&P's evaluation of his trade.

"Market value comes down to what a person is willing to shell out for a dinosaur," says the 60-year-old dino dealer, who has been in the business since 1985, selling Jurassic ribs for $350 each, Cretaceous toes at $295 a digit and a 16-foot-long Camarasaurus tail for $20,000.

Wall Street recognition will be fast and furious once he can supply the market with dinosaur genitalia, says Prandi.

"There's never been a fossilized penis or vagina found on a dinosaur," he says. "The first person who finds one is going to make bundles of cash, but who knows how much," says Prandi.

"This isn't like the used-car business. We don't have a Blue Book, though T. rex teeth go for $1,000 an inch."

From Two Guys headquarters in East Bridgewater, Mass., to the stylish auction houses along Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore in Paris, French art promoter Sylvie Lajotte-Robaglia says affluent trendsetters are on the prowl for trophy dinosaurs.

Indeed, Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage and Leonardo DiCaprio in 2007 entered into a spirited bidding war at I.M. Chait auctioneers in Beverly Hills over who would go home with a 67 million-year-old T. rex skull. Cage's $276,000 bid won the day.

'Fancy market'
"That's the fancy market," Prandi says. "With me it's first come, first serve, and you can find good business in selling dinosaurs to emerging countries. The first thing those guys want to do is build a museum and put a dinosaur in it."

Lajotte-Robaglia, director of Art & Communication SA, caters to a more discreet and established clientele. She has helped Christie's International sell a mammoth for about $423,000 and played a role in auctioning off a complete Triceratops skeleton for about $802,000.

Over at Sotheby's Paris, France's first lady of dinosaurs last year facilitated the sale of a $379,000 Triceratops skull to an anonymous bidder and is currently involved in moving a Prosaurolophus Maximus with mummified skin for $2 million, a giant 483 million-year-old French lobster from the Silurian Period at 12,000 euros ($16,000) and a 12-foot-long Xiphactinus Audax fish for $203,000.

"Whether a Brontosaurus looks good in your salon is a matter of taste, Lajotte-Robaglia says, "but these customers are young wealthy people who grew up mesmerized by Spielberg's Jurassic Park and find the aesthetics of a dinosaur more interesting than a Picasso."

U.S. a dino leader
Prandi says confirming a dinosaur's provenance is just as tricky as verifying the authenticity of a work by the Spanish master.

"A lot of people call me up from all over the country and say, 'I found a dinosaur in my backyard,' but it turns out to be a rock that looks like a dinosaur," Prandi says.

Even so, the United States remains the world leader in mining luxury dinosaurs.

"It's one of the few things we're still No. 1 in," says Prandi. "Countries rich in dinosaurs, places like China and Morocco, have slapped moratoriums on fossil sales, but not America.

"So long as the dinosaur is found on private property, Washington gives you an export license."

Still, Lajotte-Robaglia says Sotheby's was the first to offer dinosaur-market elegance.

"Our first dinosaur auction was in 1997," she says, leafing through Sotheby's 112-page October natural-history sale catalog. Lot 38 is an 85 million-year-old flying Pteranodon Longiceps that comes from what's now Kansas.

Translated roughly from Latin, the "creature with no teeth able to steal and who bears an outstretched head" had a 30-foot wingspan and now has a $339,000 price tag. "Given its age, this is not a very expensive dinosaur," Lajotte-Robaglia says.

Back in East Bridgewater, Prandi says he has no plans to turn Two Guys into an up-market auction house and get in on the luxury-dinosaur action.

"Most of my clients are average run-of-the-mill guys," he says. "For now, my most unique sale was a fossilized organic dinosaur brain. Sold it for $2,000."

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Dinosaur Market Thrives on Jurassic Ribs, Luxury T-Rex Molars

From Bloomberg Business Week: Dinosaur Market Thrives on Jurassic Ribs, Luxury T-Rex Molars
Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The Standard & Poor’s Global Luxury Index fails to reflect the escalating demand for dinosaurs.

“Investability is a key criterion for index selection,” says Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC public-relations manager Dave Guarino. “While luxury dealers exist in dinosaur skin and bones, they’re not typically the large and liquid companies we look for.”

Hal Prandi, one of the two guys at Two Guys Fossils Inc., shrugs off S&P’s evaluation of his trade. “Market value comes down to what a person is willing to shell out for a dinosaur,” says the 60-year-old dino dealer, who has been in the business since 1985, selling Jurassic ribs for $350 each, Cretaceous toes at $295 a digit and a 16-foot-long Camarasurus tail for $20,000.

Wall Street recognition will be fast and furious once he can supply the market with dinosaur genitalia, says Prandi.

“There’s never been a fossilized penis or vagina found on a dinosaur,” he says. “The first person who finds one is going to make bundles of cash, but who knows how much,” says Prandi. “This isn’t like the used-car business. We don’t have a Blue Book, though T-Rex teeth go for $1,000 an inch.”

From Two Guys headquarters near Johnny Macaroni’s restaurant in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, to the stylish auction houses along Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore in Paris, French art promoter Sylvie Lajotte-Robaglia says affluent trendsetters are on the prowl for trophy dinosaurs. Indeed, Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage and Leonardo DiCaprio in 2007 entered into a spirited bidding war at I.M. Chait auctioneers in Beverly Hills over who would go home with a 67-million-year-old T-Rex skull. Cage’s $276,000 bid won the day.

Emerging Buyers
“That’s the fancy market,” Prandi says. “With me it’s first come, first serve, and you can find good business in selling dinosaurs to emerging countries. The first thing those guys want to do is build a museum and put a dinosaur in it.”

Lajotte-Robaglia, director of Art & Communication SA, caters to a more discreet and established clientele. She has helped Christie’s International sell a mammoth for 312,000 euros ($440,000) and played a role in auctioning off a complete Triceratops skeleton for 592,000 euros.

Over at Sotheby’s Paris, France’s first lady of dinosaurs last year facilitated the sale of a 280,000 euro Triceratops skull to an anonymous bidder and is currently involved in moving a Prosaurolophus Maximus with mummified skin for 1.5 million euros, a giant 483-million-year-old French lobster from the Silurian Period at 12,000 euros and a 12-foot-long Xiphactinus Audax fish for 150,000 euros.

Dinosaur Aesthetics
“We once sold a mammoth to a French winemaker for 150,000 euros,” Lajotte-Robaglia says. “He put it in the reception room of his chateau. Whether a Brontosaurus looks good in your salon is a matter of taste, but these customers are young wealthy people who grew up mesmerized by Spielberg’s ‘Jurassic Park’ and find the aesthetics of a dinosaur more interesting than a Picasso.”

Prandi says confirming a dinosaur’s provenance is just as tricky as verifying the authenticity of a work by the Spanish master. “A lot of people call me up from all over the country and say, ‘I found a dinosaur in my backyard,’ but it turns out to be a rock that looks like a dinosaur,” Prandi says.

Even so, the U.S. remains the world leader in mining luxury dinosaurs.

“It’s one of the few things we’re still No. 1 in,” says Prandi. “Countries rich in dinosaurs, places like China and Morocco, have slapped moratoriums on fossil sales, but not America. So long as the dinosaur is found on private property, Washington gives you an export license.”

Bargain Pteranodon
Still, Lajotte-Robaglia says Sotheby’s was the first to offer dinosaur-market elegance.

“Our first dinosaur auction was in 1997,” she says, leafing through Sotheby’s 112-page October natural-history sale catalog. Lot 38 is an 85-million-year-old flying Pteranodon Longiceps that comes from what’s now Kansas.

Translated roughly from Latin, the “creature with no teeth able to steal and who bears an outstretched head” had a 30-foot wingspan and now has a 250,000 euro price tag. “Given its age, this is not a very expensive dinosaur,” Lajotte-Robaglia says.

Back in East Bridgewater, Prandi says he has no plans to turn Two Guys into an upmarket auction house and get in on the luxury-dinosaur action. “Most of my clients are average run-of- the-mill guys,” he says. “For now, my most unique sale was a fossilized organic dinosaur brain. Sold it for $2,000.”

Prandi says that will change if he can beat the competition in finding a T-Rex penis, which according to paleontologists at the Discovery Channel should measure 12 feet long and 1 foot wide. “Only guys on Wall Street can afford something like that,” he says.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Dinosaurs strike a pose for Eagle Rock’s painter of light


From the Eastside LA: Dinosaurs strike a pose for Eagle Rock’s painter of light
Eagle Rock graphic artist and photographer Darren Pearson has combined his fascination with prehistoric creatures and a relatively new art form called light painting to create images of dinosaurs posed across modern-day Los Angeles. The 28-year-old Pearson uses the LED light emitted by a key chain to “paint” or “draw” lines in the air as a digital single-lens reflex camera set at a very slow shutter speed captures images of the neon-like drawings that emerge. The results are light paintings of dinosaurs poised on the hills overlooking the 2 and 5 freeways in Elysian Valley, blocking the entrance to an Atwater Village bridge and roaming across a parking lot in Glassell Park. Pearson shot a video showing how he creates his “light fossils.” Said Pearson via email:

As an artist, I love the blend of realism/surrealism and the challenge of imagining what you are creating as you go along in the dark. It’s a lot like sketching a mural into the air; an organic drawing process.

Click on the link below for images and a Q&A with Pearson.

Q: How did you get involved in light painting? What attracted you to it as an artist and business?
A: I got involved with light painting three years ago after seeing an image called ‘Picasso Draws a Centaur‘ by Jon Mili and Picasso taken in 1949. A photographer friend told me it was created by using ‘long exposure’ and that we could do it fairly easily with a DSLR camera, I got him to show me how to set up the camera and we did a few light drawing experiments in my living room. I’ve bought a few cameras since then, some lenses, a few tripods, and lots of lights.

As an artist, I love the blend of realism/surrealism and the challenge of imagining what you are creating as you go along in the dark.. It’s a lot like sketching a mural into the air; an organic drawing process. As a business, I just think it’s an interesting medium to work with. It gets people’s attention and has a bit of a magic factor.

Q: In the case of the dinosaurs, do you draw and photograph them in a “dark room” and then overlay them on a landscape photo? How long is the shutter exposure? What do you use for lights?
A: The images are not over-layed, they are all drawn within their respective environments. I’ve began to shoot videos to illustrate the process because I’ve had people accuse me of photoshopping them together.. which is understandable if you don’t know how the process works. The shutter is exposing for 5 minutes or more during most shots. I use press-on keychain LED lights.

Q: What lead you to the dinosaur images?
A: I’ve always loved dinosaurs and bringing the past to the present is always an interesting concept to think about for me. Sometimes I’ll sketch ideas out while I’m getting coffee, it helps to imagine how to arrange the shot. I post the photos on instagram and reference them from my phone as well. The images can take many tries to get right, sometimes I’m lucky and get it on the first or second try. Other times I get so tired from trying to get it right that I just give up and try again another day!

Mostly, the landscape inspires the drawing. I’m always looking out for interesting areas; if I see something that strikes me, I like to shoot a picture with my cell and mill it over for a few days until I have an idea. Sometimes I just go out wandering until I find some place cool.

Q: Have you sold any of your lighting paintings? Where is this project going for you?
A: I sell prints of my photo/illustrations through my etsy shop for $35-60 depending on the size. I’d like to see this evolve into a fine art thing eventually and do some international shows. Until then, I will be developing photo sets based on themes like fossils, mythology, and zodiacs.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Top 10 free things to do in London

From Telegraph Journal: Top 10 free things to do in London
LONDON - Dinosaurs and Damien Hirst, evensong and observatories - the best things in London life really are free. See the city with this guide from online travel adviser Hotels.com (www.hotels.com) to the top 10 things to do for free in London.

1. Evensong at Westminster Abbey: The pomp and history of Westminster Abbey put it on most visitors' must-see lists, but during the day it can be crowded and expensive. Come at Evensong to catch the church at its best - alive with ceremony and song, and free.

www.westminster-abbey.org home

2. Star-gazing and city views at Greenwich Observatory:

Stand with one leg in the western hemisphere and one in the east - the Prime Meridian runs through Greenwich Observatory in south-east London. The elegant red-brick building is also home to interactive displays, a huge domed telescope and great views.

www.nmm.ac.uk places royal-observatory/

3. Cutting-edge art on First Thursdays: On the first Thursday of every month, a host of East End galleries throw their doors open for free events and exhibitions.

www.firstthursdays.co.uk/

4. Dinosaur Days at the Natural History Museum: An awesome 26-metre skeleton of a Diplodocus gazes down on the armies of families milling round the vaulted entrance hall of the Natural History Museum in Kensington. www.nhm.ac.uk/

5. Archive films at Mediatheque: The long sweep of the South Bank is packed with free things to do - from watching the wild rides of skateboarders to the free exhibitions at the British Film Institute.

www.bfi.org.uk/

6. Legal history at the Inns of Court: When location scouts for movies like Harry Potter want a London location, they head for the Inns of Court in Holborn. www.barcouncil.org.uk about innsofcourt/

7. Wonderful window-shopping at Sotheby's: It's not just buyers who can browse the lots at one of the world's most famous auction houses.

www.sothebys.com

8. An open party invite at Cargo: Free Fridays.

The Cargo club is an unofficial HQ for east London's hipsters - the first stop on any self-respecting Shoreditch night out.

www.cargo-london.com

9. Cockney culture at Columbia Road Flower Market:

A nondescript street in busy Hackney comes alive every Sunday as armies of flower-sellers turn the area into a riot of colour, fragrance and boisterous banter. www.columbiaroad.info/

10. A British master at Tate Britain: Many of the world's most famous artworks are on display for free in London's art galleries.

www.tate.org.uk britain

Pittsburgh’s happy to show off its riches

From The Miami Herald: Pittsburgh’s happy to show off its riches
By Eleanor Berman
Travel Arts Syndicate

PITTSBURGH -- Call it the Cinderella City. Like the fairy tale heroine, Pittsburgh has scrubbed away its ashes, the industrial grime and smog of its past steel-making days, to emerge as an American beauty — and a great town for visitors.

Now you can see clearly the awesome vistas in a town ringed by steep, green hills and laced by three rivers and more than 800 bridges. Many days are needed to fully appreciate the legacy of the fortunes made by the likes of the Carnegie, Mellon, Frick and Phipps families when this was the nation’s steel-making center. The riches include world-class museums for art and science and a glorious, art-filled conservatory. The Heinz family, whose food business is still going strong, is a supporter in many areas from art, a history center and concert hall to one of the city’s two fabulous sports stadiums offering river and skyline views. Andy Warhol, a Pittsburgh native, is honored with his own museum.

Pittsburgh remains a major business center, with some 15 skyscrapers rising as high as 60 stories. Three department stores, lots of dining choices, a growing cultural district of theaters and galleries and plenty of green oases are good reasons for a downtown stroll. A multi-ethnic population that came in the past for steel mill jobs created colorful neighborhoods that are full of good eating.

Add a day trip to Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece, Fallingwater, just 50 miles away, and there’s every good reason to plan a trip.

To appreciate Pittsburgh, start by boarding the restored 1877 Duquesne Cable Car for its 400-foot ascent to a hilltop where you can get a full perspective on the city. The triangular center is bordered by the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, which merge at the tip to form the Ohio River. The confluence is marked with a handsome park; scenic walking trails border most of the riverfronts.

Next stop is Andrew Carnegie’s grand domain, the free public library, museum and concert hall opened in 1895. The next year, the ongoing Carnegie International was inaugurated, the first showing of contemporary art in the United States. The art museum has grown to include treasures like one of Monet’s Water Lilies plus works by Rembrandt, Hals, Cezanne, Sisley, Cassatt, Klimt, Homer and Hopper, and a fine decorative arts collection.

Carnegie sponsored early expeditions searching for dinosaurs that in 1904 came up with the nearly complete skeleton of an 84-foot saropaud, which was named “Diplodocus carnegii” in his honor. Fondly known as “Dippy,” the huge skeleton warranted an expanded dinosaur hall in 1907. That hall, completely redone in 2007, now is one of the country’s best, featuring 19 skeletons, many of them enormous and in dramatic poses like the fierce fighting tableau featuring a giant T-Rex. The science museum has other excellent displays featuring gems and minerals, American Indians and objects from Egypt.

The expanded 1907 museum also allowed space for a remarkable Hall of Architecture, with cast models of some of the world’s great buildings and sculptures. The Apollo Belvedere, the Venus de Milo and the Nike of Samothrace are just a few of the replicas, fulfilling Carnegie’s goal of allowing those who could not travel to appreciate great works.

The original Carnegie Museums are in the Oakland neighborhood that is also home to the Phipps Conservatory, with 19 indoor and outdoor gardens highlighted by glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly, as well as the impressive campuses of Carnegie-Mellon and Pittsburgh Universities. Two popular newer institutions are in other parts of the city. The Carnegie Science Center and Buhl Planetarium, a modernistic marvel on the Allegheny River with up-to-the-minute interactive displays, opened in 1991

Bermuda Author Celebrates Lyme Regis Ties


From Bernews: Bermuda Author Celebrates Lyme Regis Ties
The 400-year-old links between the Bermuda and the British coastal town of Lyme Regis – birthplace of the “Sea Venture’s” Admiral Sir George Somers– are celebrated in a new children’s book by Bermudian artist/writer Betsy Mulderig.

The Bermudian children’s author honour Bermuda’s connections with Lyme Regis in her latest release “Toppy Tours the Dinosaurs”, set in the West Dorset town.

Bermuda was settled by former Lyme Regis mayor Sir George when he was shipwrecked on the islands on his way to help the starving in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1609. When he later died, his heart was buried in Bermuda and his body returned to Lyme Regis and buried nearby in Whitchurch Cononicorum.

The historic link led to an official twinning between Lyme Regis and St. George’s in Bermuda, which is celebrated with annual trips.

Ms Mulderigg — author of the long-running Bermudian children’s book series about the adventures of Tiny The Tree Frog — introduces a new character in her latest book. In In the new volume, tourist dinosaur Toppy visits Lyme Regis’ Jurassic Coast, where he discovers how he gained all of his personality traits from his ancestors.

The spectacular Jurassic Coast in Dorset and East Devon wa England’s first natural World Heritage Site. This unique stretch of coastline has joined the ranks of the Great Barrier Reef and the Grand Canyon as one of the wonders of the natural world.

The site was granted its status for its outstanding geology, which represents 185 million years of earth history in just 95 miles, covering from Exmouth in East Devon to Old Harry Rocks at Studland Bay on the Dorset coast. It displays not just superb Jurassic, but older Triassic and younger Cretaceous rocks too.

“Toppy Tours the Dinosaurs” is now on sale in Lyme Regis.

It is the first book in a series that will see Toppy touring dinosaur touring children around Palma, Paris, Venice and London in the near future. Toppy will show a child various sights in different cities and teach them, as well, to speak a few words of thoset cities’ languages.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

11 Nov 2011: Rockland, Maine: Celebrate all things prehistoric at Dinosaur Day


From Village Soup: Celebrate all things prehistoric at Dinosaur Day
Rockland — What diverse group of animals populated the earth for more than160 million years? Stumped? Ask a 7 year old and he or she will be sure to say, “dinosaurs!” On Saturday, Nov. 11 the Rockland Public Library invites individuals to come and celebrate all things prehistoric on “Dinosaur Day.”

Scheduled programs are an exciting “Roar! Storytime” at 10:30 a.m. and a showing of the PG rated Disney movie, Dinosaur, at 2:00 p.m. " Dinosaur" tells the story of Aladar, an abandoned iguanodon adopted by lemurs. When a meteor shower plunges their world into chaos, Aladar and his family follow a herd of dinosaurs heading for the safety of the "nesting grounds." Viewers will be able to feast upon treats during the film.

All-day activities include a scavenger hunt for dinosaur facts. There will be a prize drawing for all who have finished the hunt at the end of the day. Participants will also be able to dig for fossils (and other surprises) at the indoor dig site. Others include activity stations throughout the children’s room and a dinosaur art wall where all are invited to get creative and add their art. Activities will wind down at 4 p.m.

This month the library is also featuring a display of bones, which includes a casting of a saber-toothed cat. Although there are no dinosaur fossils in the display, it is sure to appeal to dino fans. The Rockland Public Library located at 80 Union St. and is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please call 594-0310 for more information.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Setting hearts aflutter: The bird-like dinosaur that acted like a Vegas showgirl to attract mates


From Daily Mail Online: Setting hearts aflutter: The bird-like dinosaur that acted like a Vegas showgirl to attract mates
With just a flirty swish of a feathered fan, Vegas showgirls can quicken any man’s pulse.
But it seems it's a centuries-old trick.

Scientists believe a species of dinosaur may have acted like a showy Vegas diva to attract mates.

Oviraptor dinosaurs had a fan of feathers, similar to the fan of a flamenco dancer, attached to a flexible tail, according to a new study.

They may have flashed these feathers to attract attention in a similar way to the modern-day peacock – or a Vegas showgirl.

Scott Persons, a doctoral student at the University of Alberta, presented the research at the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology's annual meeting.

He found that Oviraptors, which lived about 75 million years ago, had tails with a peculiarly dense arrangement of bones.

‘The tail of an Oviraptor by comparison to the tail of most other dinosaurs is pretty darn short,’ he told LiveScience.

‘But it's not short in that it's missing a whole bunch of vertebrae, it's short in that the individual vertebra within the tail themselves are sort of squashed together. So they're densely packed.’

This dense arrangement of bones would have made the tails flexible, Parsons said.

The bird-like dinosaurs also had tails that were much more muscly than those belonging to modern-day reptiles.

Fossil impressions show they also boasted a fan of feathers at the end of their tails, attached to fused vertebrae similar to that found in the tails of today’s birds.

‘If you combine that with having a muscular, very flexible tail, what you have is a tail that could, potentially at least, have been used to flaunt, to wave that tail-feather fan,’ Persons said.

And just like modern-day birds, the dinosaurs may well have waved their tail fans to impress potential mates.

Persons added: ‘If you think about things like peacocks, they often use their tails in courtship displays.'

Oviraptors lived in the late Cretaceous Period.

Their name is Latin for ‘egg thief’ as the first specimen was found near a pile of eggs as if it had stolen them.
Subsequent discoveries revealed they were likely dinosaur’s own, though scientists are still unsure of whether its diet would have included eggs.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Museum's paleontologists discover new dinosaur species above the Arctic in far north Alaska

From Art Daily: Museum's paleontologists discover new dinosaur species above the Arctic in far north Alaska
DALLAS, TX.- Paleontologists from the Museum of Nature & Science will announce their discovery of a new species of the ceratopsid dinosaur Pachyrhinosaurus at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 71st Annual Meeting to be held Nov. 2 – 5, 2011 in Las Vegas. The new species will be formally named the Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum, in recognition of the Perot family (Margot and H. Ross Perot and their children), who have demonstrated a long history of supporting science and science education for the public and for their support of the Museum of Nature & Science, located in Dallas, Texas.

In conjunction with the announcement, a draft of the paper that describes the find was posted recently at the website of Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, an international quarterly journal that features papers of general interest from all areas of paleontology. Jointly submitted by Anthony R. Fiorillo, Ph.D., the Museum’s chief curator and director of research, and Ronald S. Tykoski, Ph.D., chief fossil preparator at the Museum, the paper is entitled “A new species of the centrosaurine ceratopsid Pachyrhinosaurus from the North Slope (Prince Creek Formation: Maastrichtian) of Alaska.” The new dinosaur was discovered on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and the research was funded by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs. The final paper will be published by the end of this year.

An excerpt from the report: The Cretaceous rocks of the Prince Creek Formation contain the richest record of polar dinosaurs found anywhere in the world. Here we describe a new species of horned dinosaur, Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum that exhibits an apomorphic character in the frill, as well as a unique combination of other characters. Phylogenetic analysis of 16 taxa of ceratopsians failed to resolve relationships between P. perotorum and other Pachyrhinosaurus species (P.canadensis and P. lakustai). P. perotorum shares characters with each of the previously known species that are not present in the other, including very large nasal and supraorbital bosses that are nearly in contact and separated only by a narrow groove as in P. canadensis, and a rostral comb formed by the nasals and premaxillae as in P. lakustai. P. perotorum is the youngest centrosaurine known (70-69 Ma), and the locality that produced the taxon, the Kikak-Tegoseak Quarry, is close to the highest latitude for recovery of ceratopsid remains.

“Discovering hundreds of bones from all these pachyrhinosaurs in one spot was unbelievably exciting, and we really thought the expedition was an incredible success. To later realize that we had unearthed a whole new species was one of the best days of my career,” said Dr. Fiorillo.

Dr. Fiorillo discovered the Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum during a return excavation in 2006 in far north Alaska, many miles north of the Arctic Circle. Incidentally, because of Dr. Fiorillo’s stature as an internationally renowned authority on polar dinosaurs, a film crew from PBS’ NOVA series was documenting his team’s work at the site.

The film crew fortuitously captured the unearthing of the skull and hundreds of surrounding fossils that came from at least ten Pachyrhinosaurus individuals. Those exciting moments were featured in an hour-long NOVA program entitled Arctic Dinosaurs, which debuted in 2008 on PBS (view the segment at http://video.pbs.org/video/1022686073/).

The NOVA segment followed the perils of working in Alaska – from operating a base camp in frigid temperatures, to the daily crossing of the precariously frigid river and the climbing of a steep bluff to get the site, to other researchers’ use of dynamite to access the hidden layers of the Earth. According to PBS, the segment also explored “how dinosaurs – long believed to be cold-blooded animals -- endured the bleak polar environment and navigate in near-total darkness during the long winter months.”

Once the dig was completed, Fiorillo and his team meticulously packaged the precious cargo in plaster-burlap jackets (although getting plaster to harden in sub-zero temperatures proved challenging), then painstakingly airlifted them by helicopter – encased only in heavy-duty netting attached to a clevis. They were then taken to a nearby airstrip, where they were flown to Fairbanks. Placed in wooden crates and marked “Dallas or bust,” the carefully padded treasures traveled to Dallas by truck.

Upon their arrival in the paleontology lab at the Museum of Nature & Science, the jackets were handed over to Dr. Tykoski, who spent the next several years meticulously whittling away the 70 million-year-old sediment that entombed the dinosaur bones.

“It’s as if someone took 15 Pachyrhinosaurs, dumped them into a blender for 30 seconds, poured all the mess out into a ball of concrete, then let it solidify for 70 million years,” said Dr. Tykoski describing his experience.

In early 2011, Dr. Tykoski and Dr. Fiorillo were stunned and excited when newly cleaned and reassembled pieces clearly showed they had found a new species of the Pachyrhinosaurus.

Dr. Fiorillo gives credit to field crewmembers that collected data for this project, including David Norton, Paul McCarthy, Peter Flaig, Kent Newman, Thomas Adams, Christopher Strganac, and Jason Petula.

A reconstruction of the Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum will be installed in the Life: Then and Now Hall, a 14,000-square-foot hall that will be part of the new Perot Museum of Nature & Science, which is currently under construction and slated to open in Dallas’ Victory Park in early 2013. The Life: Then and Now hall will showcase the Museum’s paleontological research, mounted animals, and highly regarded ornithological book collection, The Mudge Collection.

Illustrating their strong support of science, in May 2008 the Perot children made a $50 million gift to the museum campaign in honor of their parents, Margot and Ross Perot. The Victory Park facility has been named in their honor. The Perot children are Katherine Reeves, Carolyn Rathjen, Suzanne McGee, Nancy Perot Mulford and Ross Perot, Jr.

“Science has been a cornerstone in the lives and careers of the Perot family. They have also been longtime supporters of science education, especially in the area of making science exciting and relevant to young people. We’re truly thrilled to name this discovery in their honor,” said Dr. Fiorillo. “And we can’t wait for the world and everyone who loves dinosaurs to this see this life-sized reconstruction of the Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum when it debuts at the new Perot Museum.”

To read a draft of Dr. Fiorillo and Dr. Tykoski’s entire paper, go to http://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app56/app20110033_acc.pdf.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Nov 5, Delaware: Dinosaur Museum set to open at Granite Run Mall

From Delaware County News Network: Dinosaur Museum set to open at Granite Run Mall
Granite Run Mall is set to become the first shopping Mall in the region to house a museum.

Dino Don’s Dinosaurium, the brainchild of explorer, author and television personality, Don Lessem, opens to the public Saturday, Nov. 5. Meet the creative team behind this unique new museum via a series of exclusive videos on DelcoNewsNetwork.com.

Advisor to the Jurassic Park film, excavator of the world's largest dinosaurs, and owner of America's largest private collection of dinosaurs, “Dino Don,” has teamed with Media's Granite Run Mall to create the Dinosaurium, transforming a Mall store space into a hybrid museum / under-the-Big-Top-show and providing kids, families and students of all ages the opportunity to see dinosaurs up close and experience dinosaurs as never before. Visitors to the carnival-styled mall museum will not only see dinosaurs, but hear them and smell them.

The exhibit will include a dozen rare dinosaurs up to 30 feet long, including the infamous Velociraptor from the original Jurassic Park film. The Granite Run Mall will be the only place to see this terrifying 15-foot-long villain of Steven Spielberg's classic film outside of Universal Studios.

Dinosaur fans will be able to learn about the evolution of dinosaurs across the Mesozoic World. “I want everyone – kids and adults – to share in the wonder of the greatest creatures ever to grace the Earth.” says Dino Don. “Not only are these dinosaurs far more awesome than any movie, but from an educational perspective, dinosaurs are a child's window into the world of science. And by making it hands-on with surprises around every corner, the Dino-saurium opens that window wider than ever.”

“We’re committed to making Granite Run Mall a safe, clean and family-focused destination, and projects such as this are a perfect way to fulfill our commitment,” said Aubrey Proud, Director of Marketing for the Granite Run Mall.

Via his company ExhibitsRex, Inc. based in Media, Dino Don has created the most popular touring dinosaur exhibitions in science museums across North America. A long-time resident of Delaware County, Lessem is delighted that Granite Run Mall is behind this collaborative venture. “I love sharing the wonder of dinosaurs with my friends and neighbors. And as an overgrown eight-year-old myself, I can’t think of anything cooler than seeing giant dinosaurs in my local mall.”

Located on the lower level of the Mall adjacent to Center Court, Dino Don’s Dinosaurium will open to the public on Saturday, Nov. 5. Museum hours are 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $4 for children, $8 for adults. $1 from each admission ticket will be donated to Delaware County schools.

For more information, visit www.dinodonsdinosaurium.com.

"Dino Don” Lessem is the author of more than 50 books on dinosaurs and natural history. He's dug up the world's largest dinosaurs. He's hosted and written NOVA and Discovery Channel documentaries, founded the world’s largest paleontological charities, and served as advisor to the Jurassic Park film, and to Universal Studios and Disney films and attractions.

He has answered more than 11,000 letters to his "Ask Dino Don" column in Highlights Magazine, the nation’s largest-circulation children’s magazine, and has been a profile subject as well as a frequent guest on such national broadcasts as The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Morning News, and NPR’s All Things Considered and Science Friday.

Via his company, Dinodon, Inc., Lessem is also the creator of the world’s most popular touring dinosaur exhibitions, including Jurassic Park and The Lost World seen by more than 4 million people worldwide. Those exhibitions raised more than 2 million dollars for dinosaur research via the nonprofit Dinosaur Society, founded by Lessem. In recognition of his support, "Dino" Don is one of the few people still alive with a dinosaur named after him -- the Argentine planteater dinosaur Lessemsaurus. As a vegetarian he's pleased, though not with the fact that it was a particularly big-bellied and dim-witted animal.

"Dino" Don's work extends beyond dinosaurs. Lessem’s current international touring exhibition projects include Genghis Khan in cooperation with the government of Mongolia and the forthcoming The Great Wall Exhibition with the government of China.

Lessem is a degreed animal behaviorist and former Knight Journalism Fellow at M.I.T. University while a science correspondent for The Boston Globe. He was a Jeopardy contestant and winner on other network quiz shows.

He and his partner Val Jones live in an 18th century Philadelphia area mansion surrounded by the original dinosaurs from The Jurassic Park film. He has two adult daughters and is a frequent visitor to China, and Mongolia.

What you'll find inside:

Filled with hands-on, participatory activities, the 6500 square foot exhibit will allow visitors to:

• Feel the floor-shaking asteroid impact that may have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

• Behold a Dinosaur “boxing match,” as an ancient 20-foot-long relative of Stegosaurus faces off with its archenemy, the equally big and far more nasty, Monolophosaurus.

• Unscramble the Wacky Dinosaur – A confused 20 foot-plant-eater posed as no museum ever would.

• Dig for a Dinosaur – Excavate fossils as paleontologists do on a Dinosaur Dig in an actual DIG PIT.

• Come face to face with killer dinosaur skulls and compare the deadly heads of Allosaurus, and the last, smartest and deadliest of the carnivores, the tyrannosaurs - Albertosaurus and Tyrannosaurus rex.

New Zealand: Christmas just around the corner as Top Toys revealed

From Scoop.co.nz: Christmas just around the corner as Top Toys revealed
The official start of the holiday season is almost upon us and to help parents to navigate the world of play … Toyworld has released its Top 10 hottest toys list for this Christmas.
Toyworld is New Zealand’s largest toy retailer and compiles the annual list of favourite toys from sales trends from its 39 stores around the country.
This year’s Toyworld Top 10 Hot Toys for Christmas list includes the latest and greatest in international toy trends and some old favourites too.
Toy Buyer for Toyworld Repeka Haurua who travels around the world sourcing and buying toys for New Zealand kids says, “This year we are seeing innovation, creation, construction and interaction in the new toys like we’ve never seen before.”
“Dinosaur Train uses SmartTalk technology to give its toy dinosaur range the ability for the different toy characters to recognize and interact with each other,” she says.
“The dinosaurs can all have roaring contests with the children playing with them; it’s really amazing what these toys can do!”
Old favourites that have returned to the Toyworld Top 10 Hot Toys for Christmas 2011 list include the ever popular collectible range Sylvanian Families and Lego.
“These popular favourite ranges are offer good present options as they have so many different price points meaning there’s a toy for every budget,” says Haurua.
“Traditional play patterns such as toys that allow for creative, interactive and outdoor play remain consistently popular such as the 3 Unit Swing Set,” she says.
“The most popular toys tend to sell out before Christmas every year so we always advise parents to act quickly if their children want a toy from the Top 10 list to avoid disappointment.”

The Toyworld Top 10 Hot Toys for Christmas 2011 are listed below in alphabetical order:
1/BEYBLADE METAL FUSION XTS BATTLE SET: - The Beyblade Metal Fusion Battle Set is an engaging, twenty-first century version of the classic game Battling Tops. Modern details and rules of engagement, along with customizable designs and a concave playing field, will have kids aged eight years and up at the top of their game in no time. Ages 8+

2/ COOKIE PIE PUP: - The most loveable and huggable puppy yet, Cookie will be a girl’s best friend! Cookie will respond to the sound of your voice and the sound of her squeaker toy by turning her head towards you, blinking her eyes and barking! She will even “talk” back to you just like a real puppy would. Ages 4+

3/ DINOSAUR TRAIN:-Boris Tyrannosaurus InterAction Figure is based on the iconic character from Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train television series. SmartTalk technology gives Boris the ability to recognize and interact with other dinosaurs in the line and have roaring contests with YOU! Press his back button for big chomping action! Press his interactive button, and he shares tons of fun dino data! Chomping sounds are triggered in Boris' mouth, huge roaring sounds are activated when Boris' tale is pressed down; and when Boris walks on the ground, he makes stomping sounds! Boris features a fully pose-able head, legs, arms, and tail. It's truly an interactive dinosaur experience! Ages 3+

4/ ELMO ROCK: - It’s music time! Rock out with LET’S ROCK Elmo! Dressed in a concert-style tee, Elmo takes the stage singing and making music - and pre-schoolers can too! Elmo comes with his very own microphone and two instruments – a tambourine and a drum set. Pre-schoolers can choose which instrument Elmo plays, and he "magically" recognizes which one you give him. Kids can also play along on Elmo’s instruments - they’re perfectly sized for little hands! For even more rockin’ fun, Elmo also interacts with other LET’S ROCK instruments (each sold separately); he knows when you’re playing the LET’S ROCK Guitar, Keyboard or Microphone and plays along with you! The LET’S ROCK Elmo toy sings six rockin’ songs, so grab an instrument and join Elmo’s band. Ages 18mths +

5/GLITTER LAVA DESK:-Everything you need to create colourfully sparkly stickers is included for hours of creative fun. Take the special, new Glitter Lava Ice compound, spread it over one of the special project cards, then colour it in with the special markers. Finally, peel and stick your masterpiece wherever you like. Decorate your room, your books or share with friends. It stretches and shines to make the coolest designs and decoration. Ages 4+

6/ LEGO:-Lego is great ways for kids to develop new skill and improve their development. The fine dexterity it takes to make a complete Lego toy is something quite difficult. The imagination that takes place alongside building is something most every parent can praise and the time spent in building and playing with such a simple toy that transitions into complex works of art just cannot be replaced. Kids take such great pride in the creations they make and they building they come up with. All ages

7/ NERF VORTEX NITRON BLASTER: - The VORTEX NITRON disc blaster is the ultimate in VORTEX innovation and technology! The NITRON blaster’s cutting-edge acceleration trigger propels a full-auto storm of discs toward targets at extreme range for an all-out assault. Its Centerfire Tech electronic scope features pulsing targeting lights. Offering long-range, high-powered disc-blasting technology, NERF VORTEX blasters hurl ultra-distance discs for the ultimate battle experience! NITRON blaster comes with electronic scope. Ages 8+

8/ TRANSFORMER LEADER: - Get ready for action with this exciting vehicle-to-robot hero! Convert this mighty Transformer figure from vehicle mode to battle-ready robot mode and back again so he’s ready for anything. His light-up pop-out weapons and blaster sounds are sure to scare off his opponents. As the battle rages on, keep switching him back and forth and prepare to face whatever his enemies throw at him! Ages 5+

9/ SYLVANIAN FAMILIES:-Sylvanian Families is a unique and adorable range of distinctive animal characters with charming beautifully detailed homes, furniture and accessories. They live work and play in the idyllic and wonderful land of Sylvania. Ages 4+

10/ 3 UNIT GYM SET:-It will be hard to get your kids back inside for dinner when they're having such a good time on this 3 Unit Swing Set. This durable metal frame features a classic A-frame style and supports all the play equipment your kids need for an afternoon of fun. A compact design for safe play for up to four children. It includes dual glide ride, roman rings/trapeze bar and single swing. Set up space: 3.25m(L) x 2.8m(w) Ages Junior

For more information visit www.toyworld.co.nz