Rise of the Robosaurs at Marwell

Marwell Zoo is a marvellous (Marwell-vellous?) wildlife park located in Hampshire, in the south of England. Its vast, open acres are home to perhaps the widest variety of (very happy-looking) exotic ungulates in the UK (and much more besides, of course). For me, at least one visit per year is a must, but this summer the park has also installed sundry robo-saurians about the grounds as part of what it's calling 'Rise of the Dinosaurs'. To quote a famous delivery boy: "Just shut up and take my money!"

Photos mostly by Niroot (marked NP)

Dinosaurs of Brussels

Brussels is an intriguing city - home to the European Parliament, breathtakingly stunning buildings, more recent, butt-ugly buildings, fantastic beer, busy but untalented graffiti artists, and countless gift shops stuffed with tiny statuettes of a young boy taking a leak. It's also home to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences*, also known as the Museum of Natural Sciences, and confusingly promoted about town using just the word 'museum' (often, but not always, accompanied by a John Sibbick-aping Iguanodon logo). The RBINS boasts the largest dinosaur gallery in Europe, occupying some 300 square metres. Fortunately for all concerned, it's a completely wonderful piece of work, packed with far, far more than the spiky-thumbed ornithopods you were expecting.

The Unfeathered Bird in the Time of Jersey Boys

Another shamelessly indulgent post which I nevertheless hope is made up for in sheer geekery. On the last day of his visit to London, Chris DiPiazza of Jersey Boys Hunt Dinosaurs met up with Marc and I once again at the Grant Museum of Zoology, where we were also joined by none other than Katrina van Grouw, the brilliant artist and author of The Unfeathered Bird, a book which has not only been mentioned by us many times, but which every reader of this blog should be in possession of by now (and if not, I recommend rectifying the situation post-haste!).

From left: Katrina, Marc, Chris, and me

Crystal Palace, part II

I feel it incumbent upon me to open this appendix to Marc's Crystal Palace Park report by explaining to our readers that being referred to as an 'adorable mammal' is perhaps one of the highest compliments one could earn from him (grumpy misanthrope that he is)*.

With that in mind, here are a few more adorable mammals and other miscellaneous tidbits from the park which didn't quite make it into Marc's post.

Crystal Palace, finally

Eventually, one simply has to make the pilgrimage. Frankly, I'm not sure how I managed to delay it for so long. For anyone with an interest in palaeontology - and especially for those with an interest in palaeoart - a visit to Crystal Palace Park is simply a must. More than that - it's unavoidable. You will end up here, one day, staring up at Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins' concrete monstrosities. Here is the Land Where Ugly Life-Sized Dinosaur Models Began. And it's quite wonderful.

The Paleoart of Julius Csotonyi - review

Following the success of 2012's Dinosaur Art, Titan Books have evidently noticed the public's appreciation for palaeoart - not just as an eye-catching way of padding out a kiddies' dinosaur book as in the bad old days, but as art for its own sake. In what I can only hope will become a series of titles featuring the work of today's prominent palaeoartists, Titan now present their latest stupendous coffee table compendium - The Paleoart of Julius Csotonyi. It's quite the stunner, and I could happily rant about it all day long (in an interminably rapid manner while flapping my hands about), but I'll try and keep it brief.

Up From The Depths

Godzilla is not the film that you are expecting. It is not a remake or reboot of the 1954 Gojira. It is not a horror movie, although it has leanings in that direction, and it is not a monster fight movie, although monsters do fight in it. It's something a bit more interesting.

But how interesting, exactly?

The Illustrated Triassic Club

Oscar, Darwin, and Wallace

Several readers may recall Marc's having covered Blackgang Chine's The Triassic Club before. After our return this Easter to view the newly installed robosaurs of Restricted Area 5, I decided to finally complete this little project which I had actually begun a year ago, that of accurately illustrating the gentlemanly trio (which, for me, also meant accurate period garments, naturally). This was not only overdue but was especially necessary, since the inclement weather during the latter part of our Isle of Wight visit prevented me from drawing a dinosaur on Shanklin beach as I did last time.

Have No Fear, My Darling Dear; This is What Happens in the Mountains.

Some of you guys may know of Brian Engh. Brian, A.K.A Historian Himself, is a freelance paleoartist, a rapper, and an filmmaker. He's got a self-released album, Earth Beasts Awaken, and an upcoming album Gather Bones. He's also been releasing music videos like the one below, "Bagheera," fairly regularly on his YouTube page. They're worth watching, even if you aren't a huge fan of hip hop; they're short an d very well made, filled with powerful imagery and weird, off kilter performances.


In this latest video, In Mountains, Brian brings us on a strange voyage into a frozen, primeval forest, where some ancient spirit has marked the snow with images of long forgotten creatures. And what he finds inside the mountain could spell the end of the world.




The video was directed and produced by Brian himself, and as you can see, it looks gorgeous. It's also the first in a series, all of them promising more prehistoric mayhem. I'll be interviewing Brian about both his paleoart and music soon, so if you like this, hang tight. There's a lot more coming.

Vintage Dinosaur Art: The Day of the Dinosaurs

Lampoon me if you like for digging up an obscure book from the early '90s and treating it like an ancient relic, but one look at that cover will confirm that this is a tome from a completely different time. For where would one see such lizardy, Burianesque Iguanodon, tail-dragging, sour-faced sauropods, friendly, frog-mouthed Dimetrodon, and horribly dessicated pterosaurs, all united together on the front cover, these days? The Day of the Dinosaurs might only be from 1991, but it certainly makes 1991 seem like a Very Long Time Ago.