Pterosaur.net Lives

Pteranodon by Mark Witton, via Flickr

A group of pterosaur researchers, including Dave Hone, Darren Naish, and Mark Witton have officially launched a new website called Pterosaur.net to present the best available information on the lives of pterosaurs. It's not 100% complete (the article on flight is currently missing diagrams cited in the text) but it's got a lot of great information in accessibly written articles. Check it out.

Vintage Dinosaur Art: Peter Zallinger

Here's an old Random House picture book on dinosaurs from the year I was born. That's 1977. It is by Peter Zallinger, son of Rudolf Zallinger (as confirmed by this 2007 New Hampshire Register article). Peter has done illustrations for many paleontology books over the years.





If I was a Tyrannosaur, I'd be aiming squarely for that noodly little neck!



You probably recognize this illustration - it's inspired by a 1914 Charles L. Knight drawing of Ornitholestes. I've run across many Ornitholestes derived from the Knight original. In fact, it seems that this pose is the little Jurassic theropod's main claim to fame.

What Was Really Missing From JP3

Jurassic Park 3, most of us are aware, is not without its flaws. One you don't hear much is the lack of sexy. Still, one enterprising fanfiction writer is working hard to fix that. Taking place immediately after the events of the film is "Soliloquy," a tale of the romance between paleontologist Alan Grant and his student, Billy. Here's a peek:

“Alan?” Alan’s sigh, which was a bit hindered by Billy half-draped over his chest, escaped before he could stop it. He ran his palm over the scar, then leaned down and kissed Billy’s forehead where two thinner, shorter white lines cut across his skin. Billy caught his mouth when he pulled back, using the hand still in Alan’s hair to hold him in place, pressing their lips together warmly and smoothly but only for a too-brief moment. He still held him there, their breaths mingling, until Alan’s eyes slid open again. “Alan.”

I bet this sort of thing happens a lot in the science community. Read the rest!

Hungry

These are all from the Flickr stream of baked creations by A Baked Creation.







Plausible name for a dinosaur with a sweet tooth: Dulcisodon.

Cavemen in Space

This is a little bit off the beaten path for LITC, but I think will have some interest to some of us paleo-people. My friend Joey Weiser is a fine cartoonist and has just finished a big graphic novel called Cavemen in Space. He also publishes a weekly comic in the Athens, GA weekly Jake called Monster Isle, inspired by the kaiju movies so many of us adore ( kaiju also has a history of pulling ideas from dinosaurs). Now, he's embarking on a quest to raise enough money to self-publish his graphic novel, and I figured it might be something LITC readers wouldn't be opposed to supporting.

Joey's pledge drive is here, and hopefully a few people will be inspired to chip in a few dollars. All of the levels come with prizes that are well worth the money. You also get the rosy cheeks shared by those benevolent souls who support up-and-coming cartoonists.

To wrap things up, here's a nifty illustration of diving dinosaurs, Weiser-style.

Image from Tragic Planet

Back in Action

I've returned from England and now I'm slowly settling into being home and having my daily responsibilities to tend to. It will take a few days to get back into a groove, just as it took me some time to accept that my main concern on vacation was fun and relaxation.

It was an eventful couple of weeks, with a flood of reporting on the new paper suggesting that the small chinese dromaeosaur Sinornithosaurus may have been venomous. Well, "suggest" might not be the right word, as the paper is titled "The birdlike raptor Sinornithosaurus was venomous."

Of course, the Jurassic Park connection was pounced upon by plenty of reporters (Matt Martyniuk pointed out this beauty, which actually says the dinosaur "spit venom" into its prey). One of the best breakdowns of the topic I read was at the always dependable Dinosaur Tracking, where Brian Switek made the point that as there is not a single archosaur (i.e. crocodiles, pterosaurs, birds, and dinosaurs) known to possess this sort of venomous bite, the evidence is going to have to be overwhelming. This topic will surely be debated hotly, and hopefully a wider examination of other dromaeosaurs' teeth will help clear it up.

Part of my plane reading was the recently published Dinosaur Odyssey by Scott Sampson, and I'm really enjoying it. Sampson is really making an effort to flesh out the Mesozoic beyond the "who ate who" picture the media often sticks to. I don't want to get ahead of myself as I'll be posting a full review when I've finished the book, but I'll say that I'm very impressed and entertained by the book so far.

I unfortunately wasn't able to do anything dino-centric on the trip. We tried to make it to the Crystal Palace to see the nineteenth century dinosaur sculptures, but weather-tormented traffic around London was a mess that day and the park was closed by the time we got there (the same kept us out of Down House). I'll settle for posting this photo I took of a Baryonyx skull at the Natural History Museum in 2008.

Vintage Dinosaur Art: Zallinger in LIFE

The September 7, 1953 issue of life featured as its centerpiece a huge fold-out of Rudolf Zallinger's "The Age of Reptiles." It's an earlier version than the famed mural at the Peabody Museum. According to Robert Bakker, seeing this issue of LIFE at his grandfather's house was the seed from which his career would eventually sprout.

The whole issue is available at Google books. The essay the fold-out accompanies is the fifth part of a series called "The World We Live In" that ran between 1952 and 1954, a sprawling overview of the Earth's natural history, using the best information available at the time.

Here's a handy list of links to each of the issues featuring an installment of the series. It is definitely worth reading for anyone who enjoys natural history or old-timey science writing. Zallinger also provided the artwork for "The Age of Mammals" and "The Rain Forest."

Part I: The Earth Is Born
Part II: Miracle of the Sea
Part III: The Face of the Land
Part IV: The Canopy of Air
Part V: The Age of Reptiles
Part VI: The Age of Mammals
Part VII: Creatures of the Sea
Part VIII: The Coral Reef
Part IX: The Land Of The Sun
Part X: The Arctic Barrens
Part XI: The Rain Forest
Part XII: The Woods Of Home
Part XIII: The Starry Universe

Very Posh Dinosaur Dinnerware

Greetings from England! Jennie and I just visited from York, and while I was disappointed to find that the Yorkshire Museum was closed for refurbishing until next year, I did run across a nifty dinosaur item in an unexpected place - a fancy kitchen store in the city centre.

The collection is made by Emma Bridgewater and is probably the finest dinosaur dinnerware I've ever seen. I especially like the lunchbox. But it's tiny, because like the rest of the collection, it's meant for children. Because the only people who deserve cool dinosaur things are children.

Stinky little buggers.

For When You're Snowed In

I'm from the midwest, so I'm accustomed to the occasional snow day. Here are a few full-length dinosaur videos you can stream for free online. Nine out of ten Helens agree: it beats the bejeezus out of shoveling the car out of its snowy prison.

Discovery's Dinosaur Central has two episodes of Dinosaur Planet available, as well as clips from the new Clash of the Dinosaurs series, which is about as much as you need to see.

Giants of Patagonia, which is what it says its about, is available at Hulu.

The cult classic Dinosaurus! is available for instant play at Netflix, as is the BBC's Walking With Dinosaurs, Allosaurus: A Walking With Dinosaurs Special, and Chased By Dinosaurs.

The Dinosaur That (Almost) Ate Christmas