Image from Big Red Bat Cave
Jessica, the same coworker who delivered the poster I posted about last week, tipped me off to this nifty little bugger. I think it's a miniature of a dinosaur pimp*. It's apparently connected to an RPG which takes place in the fantastical realm of Glorantha, which has been used for a variety of games. Its name is Hugg'e Brrr, and he's a "Trachodon mage from Dragon Pass." He's a modified version of the Nanotyrannus miniature (Item #K-11) made by Copperstone Castings, a company who wisely manufactures such things. They have a few other dinosaur miniatures at the above link. I especially like the Oviraptor greedily clutching a huge egg to his chest.
I cannot stress how heartily I endorse this.
A few other bits and bobs:
- Matt Martyniuk's adorable furry Leaellynasaura demands your attention.
- At Chinleana, Bill Parker has shared some photos of his Independence Day weekend amidst the gorgeousness of the Chinle Formation
- The most recent episode of BBC's Material World takes a field trip to the Royal Society's 35oth anniversary "See Further" exhibition. Thumbs up for mentioning the model pterosaurs, thumbs down for totally neglecting to interview any of the Portsmouth University crew responsible. Come on, Quentin.
Hasn't poor Oviraptor been subsequently discovered to be one of the most badly misinterpreted creatures in history? As I understand it, the modern interpretation is that the egg found with the fossil is not poached from another species' nest but is instead one of its own that it died protecting.
ReplyDeleteStill, the name persists and forever prejudices this protective mother dino. There really needs to be a "revise and resubmit" provision in the naming convention - converting Brontosaurus into Apatosaurus still hurts. And it is only via an obscure loophole that we have the epic "Tyrannosaurus Rex" instead of being stuck with "Manospondylus Gigas". Would T-Rex so dominate people's imagination if Manospondylus vertebra had been named in 1900 rather than 1892, and this was thus required to be recognized as the official name?
Oh yeah, their Oviraptor is way wrong... which kind of makes that miniature even cooler. Like it's not just stealing the egg... it's stealing its identity as an egg-stealer back. If that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI just think it's a funny miniature, I guess.
As for "revise and resubmit," I don't think it would ever happen. Once a name is used, it's used. Even if it's poorly chosen, even if the taxa it's naming is found to be invalid. This is an issue with the newly described "mega sperm whale," whose general name Leviathan was chosen for what turned out to be mammoth. There'sa good post on that here: http://svpow.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/is-the-new-miocen-sperm-whale-leviathan-validly-named/
I figure I should do a post on naming conventions, but I haven't been too keen to really dig into it. Taxonomy and nomenclature are pretty hoary subjects, and I'm just starting to get the beginning of an inkling of an understanding of the conventions and why they exist.
Maybe the Oviraptor is making a statement about society and it's tendency to stereotype us. "You want an egg stealer? Is that how you see me!? Well, I'll give you an egg stealer! Take this, society!! Are you happy now?"
ReplyDeleteI'm being facetious about the "revise and resubmit", of course. I'm just still bitter about "brontosaurus".