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Sergey Krasovsky
Breasia Love
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Scott Hartman
Zubin Erik Dutta
Chris Alfaro
Amin Khaleghparast
Steven DeMarco
Angie Rodriques
Elliott Smith
Sergio de La Rosa
Paul Passano
Jason Ward
Joshua Ballze
Fabio Pastori
John Goodier
Justin Miller
William Stout
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Angel Dominquez
Bob Eggleton
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Phil Brownlow
Jacek Major
Christoffer Gertz Bech
Ricardo Delgado
Arthur Machabee
John F Davies
Pedro Salas
Frederik Spindler
Jim Martinez
Darren Maurer
Darren McDonald
Brian Ford
Meg Bernstein
John C Womack
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Jason Abdale
Lee Jern Inn
Alberto Gennari
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Charles R Knight Remembered . . . . . . . . . . Kalt Knight. . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Tyrannosaurus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 How to Draw Dinosaurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Dinosaur Collector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Knol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
145 Bayline Circle, Folsom, Ca 95630-8077
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(916) 985-7986 between 8-5 PST M-F business hours only please.
Release The Beast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kotz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
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What’s New in Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fredericks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
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Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
FROM THE EDITOR
Artist/sculptor David Silva mans his Wonderfest table
Ad graphics by Michael Stevens
Welcome to the second twenty years of Prehistoric Times magazine, your best source for the latest info about HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” I think we have another good issue for you starting with Tyrannosaurus cover art from the up and coming, very talented artist Sergey Krasovskiy. Sergey is from the Ukraine, and lives in the city of Lugansk. He grew up loving the artwork of Czech painter Zdenek Burian whose artwork has had a great influence on him. He also credits the work of John Sibbick and readers show up at Wonderfest each year and we Raul Martin as also being very inspiring. More of Sculptor Shane Foulkes & his son Ben at their Wonderfest table had a good turnout. We talked a bit about the magSergey’s art is inside this issue. azine and dinosaurs in general and then the audiatrox1.deviantart.com/gallery ence asked us questions. It was great fun. I manned I love T. rex. When I die and hopefully go to the PT table all weekend selling copies of the magheaven, the angels will be showing me the pearly azine at sale prices and enjoyed talking with many gates, the beautiful cloudy landscape and everyof you who came by. There is a lot to see at the thing but I’ll be saying, “Yeah, yeah, whatever, just convention including many people in SciFi cosshow me what a living T. rex looked like.” Our featumes, celebrities, model kits and other items for tured animals are Tyrannosaurus rex and sale on tables and many beautiful model kits on Postosuchus and as usual, Phil Hore does a nice display. There also is a lot to do in the Louisville job talking them up. I REALLY have to apologize area. I visited some great caverns, took a tour of to many artists this time as we received even more the Louisville Slugger baseball bat factory and art than usual of these popular prehistoric animals also the Maker’s Mark bourbon distillery. Next and there was simply not enough room for all of it. year will be Wonderfest’s 25th anniversary (the Martin Garrett’s Our Tracy Ford also tells us about Tyrannosaurus, as weekend of May 31, 2014.) I don’t know that I will Jinfengopteryx model be able to make it but I recommend you go as I’m does Jason Abdale. Tracy also covers our Paleonews was a favorite. column in this issue for the first time. sure it will be an extra special event. Check out One of my childhood heroes, the great movie spewww.wonderfest.com. cial effects artist Ray Harryhausen, died last May. MOVING?? PLEASE let us know your new His sword fighting skeletons, cyclops, and of course, address the second you plan to move. I am continualbattling dinosaurs were among the many stop motion ly amazing at how many subscribers move and never characters he masterfully created that had me and bother to let us know. The magazine is NOT forwardthousands of other fans hypnotized with fear and ed and it costs us to resend the magazine a second pleasure when we were kids and still do to this day time to your new “digs.” Thanks so much. (at least the pleasure part). Computers create the speARTISTS! PT does not pay for submissions but cial effects of movies today, but they cannot create many artists whose work is seen in Prehistoric Times the love of the subject matter that Harryhausen gave get paying work from other sources. Please send jpg his work. World famous artist William Stout was files of your artwork scanned at 300 DPI resolution. kind enough to write a tribute to Harryhausen at my Send as an approx 4” jpg with your name in the title request and Sean Kotz offers a model build-up artiof the image--example--Triceratops by John cle on one of Ray’s monsters. Speaking of model Smith.jpg to our e-mail address or send good copies build-ups, master modeler Steve DeMarco was kind (that you don’t need returned and that aren’t too big enough to take three old, poorly built model kits by to fit our 9 x 12 scanner bed) to our mailing address Pyro that I sent him and turn them into beautiful in California. We need your art and info. For #107 works of art that replicate the original boxart of the Utahraptor/Uintatherium (Sep 10, 2013) For #108 kits from the late 1950s. Very cool! Australovenator & other Australian theropods I proudly include select passages from Rhoda Wonderfest model with Gigantopithecus (Dec 10, 2013) For #109 Knight Kalt’s forthcoming children’s book about her contest table full of Chasmosaurus with Moa/Bullockornis (ducks vs time with her grandfather, the world famous father of ratites) (Mar 10, 2014) Thank you! dinosaurs. paleoart, Charles R Knight. I think it shows what a down-toearth and extremely loveable man he was. I saw Jurassic Park 3D and enjoyed it but as I had seen it so many times, I couldn’t help but quote all of the actor’s lines before they could say them; thereby annoying everyone around me. (There is also a new movie coming into theaters this Christmas called Walking With Dinosaurs Spectacular. Its about a Pachyrhinosaurus who they docu- Two of the many people in costumes at ment from its birth to its death. Wonderfest, a Jurassic Park handler and While aimed at kids, it looks like a raptor (PT subscriber Elizabeth some fantastic CG graphics.) As McKinon in a costume she made.) we continue to celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the showing of the first Jurassic Park film, I do a wacky interview with beloved artist Ricardo Delgado in an attempt to learn about his work on Jurassic Park 3 but the interview takes some weird turns. Plus Allen Debus talks about ancient sculptures and much, much more. Writers Paul McFarland and Ron Lemery are taking a break but I hope to have them back before too long. I had a great time at the Wonderfest model convention in Louisville, Kentucky in May. I show some photos here. This was my fourth time and I loved it as much as ever. I was asked to be on a panel with artist William Stout and dinosaur movie expert and author Mark Berry in celebration of the twenty year anniversary of Prehistoric Times magazine. Quite a few PT Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
5
because they are in my brian all my waking hours? - editor
ME S O Z O I C MAIL
Hi Mike, Wanted to commend you for putting out some interesting information on my son's (and my) favorite subject. Since 2010, my son and I have published two collections of poetry all about dinosaurs and we were thinking the content might be a good match for your Postosuchus © Jason Ward magazine. Our books are geared to elementary age kids, however, it's Hey, Mike, their parents and The 20th Anniversary issue was killer in my humble opinion. It is grandparents that one of the best issues ever; not that I expected less and once I got to make the purreally settle down with it, my wife almost killed me for ignoring all chase. So I was else. Thank you for keeping up the high quality and always giving curious if you us readers more than our money’s worth. I found many more illuswould consider trations than usual, which meant a lot to me. It made my reading that using some of our much easier - kidding, of course. Great article on the dire wolf, by material, perhaps the way! Your history of Prehistoric Times was most informative as an addition to and interesting. PT has persevered through quite a few changes and your Kretaceous a couple of very unfortunate losses, but I’m grateful that you and Kids Korner feayour gallant crew have held your heads up. Thank you again for all ture. Here's a link ya’ll do. May PT reign to our site: Artist David Bonadonna won the SVP 2013 for many, many more art awards; Lanzendorf PaleoArt Prize 2-D Art and the Lanzendorf http://www.dinorhymes.com Thanks for considering years. and hope to hear from you soon. Michael (and Ethan) PaleoArt Prize Scientific Illustration; both shown here. Sgrignoli A funny thing happened a couple of nights ago. After soaking my brain with dinos and other morethan-ancient critters, I turned on the TV to watch “Wheel of Fortune.” One of the toss-up rounds came up with two words that started with the letters G and R. About three letters later, I thought I solved it, “Giant Reptilian”. Well, it turned out to be “Great Reputation”. When I told my loving wife about it, she sweetly suggested I check my imagination at the door. Jeff Tribby, Lakeland, Florida Wow, thanks for a really nice letter. I have talked about “dinosaurs on the brian” in my editorials before. I often see references to prehistoric life in the world when none are there and I have heard from many PT readers who tell me the same thing. I don’t mean hallucinations; I just mean things that remind me of prehistoric animals. My question to all the readers out there is do you dream about prehistoric animals? Surprisingly I rarely do and I’m not sure why; possibly 6
No room this issue for your nice work but hopefully listing your site will help with sales. Good luck - editor
Postosuchus © John F Davies
Mike: Enclosed is a $35 check for a renewal to your wonderful magazine. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to avail myself of a number of the slaveringly nifty products advertised in the mag because your advertisers haven’t seen fit to list a postal address or telephone number and I have no computer. Too bad for them, as well as for me. I was panting to get my arthritic old claws on John Lava’s Collector’s Edition of Doyle’s The Lost World but alas, was prevented for the above mentioned reason. We don’t all have computers and trudging down to the library is more trouble than it’s worth. Aside from that, your magnificent magazine was as Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
engrossing as ever. John Carver, Chatsworth, Ca. John, you have really got to join the 21st century, buddy, but seriously, you are absolutely right. I hear from PT readers all the time that are without a computer and are frustrated, like you. I am telling all advertisers about this problem now and hopefully they will listen, for their own sake as well as for PT readers. Keep in mind, all you computer-less readers are welcome to phone me here at the magazine and I will see what I can do to get you the contact info you need. I can assure you that John Lava’s book is worth the price. Here is his e-mail:
[email protected]. Just kidding again, (although that really is his e-mail address) his postal address is: J. Lavas, PO Box 14421, Panmure, Auckland 1741, New Zealand - editor Hi Mike, Congrats on 20 years of Prehistoric Times! I’ve been collecting your magazine since I discovered it about 5 years ago and I absolutely love it! I’ve been slowly buying back issues and have been asking folks for a subscription for birthday/Christmas for a long time now. However, it seems near impossible to find a lot of issues. Have you ever considered reprinting older issues in a collected edition, say as a nice paperback or hardback? Now that you are over 100 issues in, you could start with a really nice series of Prehistoric Times Collector’s Editions. You could have each book contain perhaps around 200 pgs (or about 2 years worth of material) and sell them for $30 or so. It would give new readers a chance to collect sequential issues (so © John Goodier Volume 1 might be 1-8, Volume 2 9-16, etc.) and would be a really cool collector’s item. I myself would definitely buy all of these, including ones for issues I already have because it would allow me to read your excellent magazine any time I wanted without having to go through my carefully stored issues. It would also look really great sitting on a nice book shelf. I’m sure that many loyal readers would feel the same way. You and your magazine are the BEST! Sincerely, Wesley Holland, Carterville, IL Thanks for the kind words Wesley. I'm often asked to reprint the old issues that are no longer available. The problem is that the appearance of the really early issues was nothing I'm particularly proud of, and some of the information was wrong, plus we have covered some of the same subjects again more recently with much more information than we had then. For these reasons and more, I'm afraid I'm not very likely to do it. Maybe some "Best of" issues of PT could be published but then there is the problem of whether there would be enough sales to warrant the cost. While PT is sold in many stores, I rely a lot on sub-
Tyrannosaurus sculpture by Darren McDonald. See is ad on pg. this issue.
Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
scriptions to pay for the printing cost of each issue. Many of the new PT readers might not object to receiving a "best of PT" issue as part of their subscription but a lot of the older readers would. A "best of" or reprints on disc would be an easy solution but I'm not hearing that is what most PT readers are looking for. So, I think about it every time I get a letter like yours but there is not a lot of likelihood of it ever happening - editor Dear Mike, The first Beastie I ever sent you was Tyrannosaurus rex. Looking back at it now, it has a definite retro feel. After all this time I tried for a more updated look here, but without covering it up with feathers and making it look like a toothy Carmen Miranda. I’m not ready for that yet. Ol’ rex has always been my favorite dinosaur and, like a lot of folks, I was disappointed when he took a fall in Jurassic Park III. Spinosaurus might have been the longest carnosaur but an extra few feet of long skinny tail doesn’t make you the toughest kid on the block. Hmm, we 48 of paleo-guys pick the oddest things to be indignant about. As a l w a y s , thanks. John Goodier
Triassic Tot Art By Breasia Love, 7th grade, Asbury Park Middle School. Age 13
Tallack Refshaw
Postosuchus by Lee Jern Inn
Postosuchus by Arthur Machabee
7
The PT DinoStore
Vintage dinosaur collectibles for sale from PT magazine 23. Dimestore dinos 1. “Dinosaur Collectibles” price guide co-written and signed by PT editor $49 1. Collectibles 2. Linde 1950s Coffee Premium plastic dinosaur figs 7 from Austria. $12ea. book 3. Rare 8th Linde figure to complete above set: Rare Rhamphorhynchus $45 4. Marx orig. sm/med 50s/ 60s dinosaur toy figs (green, brown, gray) $5 5. Marx orig. Krono, T-rex (pot-belly or slender) $39, Brontosaurus $34 6. Marx original second series dinos/mammals $12 each, set of 8 - $79 7. Marx 45mm cavemen (6 diff) $7 ea Marx 6” cavemen (6 diff) $15 ea. 8. Marx World of Dinosaurs comp. boxed 1979 playset $99 9. Multiple (MPC) dinosaur plastic figures many colors $5-10 each (inquire) 16. Sinclair banks 10. J H Miller waxy plastic nice Prehistoric cave toy $45 25. SRG 11. J H Miller waxy plastic1950s Dimetrodon, broken feet -stands fine $39 12. J H Miller waxy plastic1950s Stego, short tail $49, Woolly Rhino $59 22. Sinclair bagged set 13. J H Miller waxy plastic 50s Bronto $69, RARE SMALL Dimetrodon $99 14. /15. J H Miller plastic 50s Mastodon short tusk $49, Triceratops short horn $49 39. Palmer 2&3. Linde 16. Sinclair 1960s green plastic 10” brontosaur bank $24.9 17. Sinclair 1934 Dinosaur book $25 & Sinclair1964 Worlds Fair booklet $15 18. Sinclair 60s colorful Hardback “The Exciting World of Dinosaurs” $39 19. Sinclair hollow dinosaurs 64 NY World’s Fair dinos in several colors @$35 20. Sinclair rare hollow NY Worlds Fair Brontosaurus looking backward $69 10. JH Miller cave 21. Sinclair album and complete stamps set1935 $35 or 1959 $20 22. Sinclair 60s solid Worlds Fair dinos (6 diff. various prices) (bagged set $89) 23. Hollow, dimestore plastic dinos, 60s/70s six different $8 each (see photo) 39. Palmer 24. Timpo Brontosaurus plastic figure from England. 1950s/60s $39 25. SRG Small metal dinosaurs caveman $80, T. rex, Tricer, Dimetro, Tracho, Bronto or 19. Sinclair hollow Stego $35 ea. SRG Large metal Tricer $75, Tracho $75, or T. rex $69 26. 60’s Japan Porcelain Dimetrodon, Stego, Bronto, T-rex or Protoceratops 5” @$30 17. 1934 Book 27. 1960s, salt & pepper shakers, bone china, intertwining neck Brontosaurus $39 28. Nabisco silver prehistoric mammal cereal premiums early 1960s $10 ea. All 8 $75 29. Nabisco/Fritos dinosaur premiums, gray (60s) $5 each, 1950s green & red $10 ea. 30. ROM (Royal Ontario Museum)plastic dinosaur figures. $15 ea, Pteranodon $25 28. Nabisco cereal prehistoric 31. La Brea tarpit Wm Otto rare metal 3” sabertoothed cat (I found another one!) $99 mammals 32. View Master Prehistoric Animals 1960s comp. 3 reels/booklet nm $24 33. Topps complete set of 12 - 2” plastic dinosaur figures Nice! Early 90s. $25 34. Animals Of The Past Golden Stamp Book 1968 - $35 8. MPC 35. Teach Me About Prehistoric Animals Flash cards 1960s $49 Multiple dinos 36. Brooke Bonde 60s dinosaur trading album w/ set of cards attached $59 37. Rare Bandai motorized Dimetrodon or Brontosaurus model kit in box @$45 38. Pyro white box MIB dinosaur model kits, Proto, Dime, Stego, Tricer, @$49 39. Lifelike Neanderthal Man plastic model kit Mint in box 70s - $49 40. Palmer 1960s Mastodon skeleton or Brontosaurus skeleton $45 each MIB 33. Topps dino set 41. Chialu T. rex figure from Italy 1950s Very rare - ankle breaks $159 42. Marx Linemar 1060s one inch metal dinos. Kronosaurus or T. rex $29 ea. 41. Chialu PT back issues 23, 24, - $16 32, 46, 54, 103- $12 27, 31, 33, 38, 41, 42, 45, 52, 66, 74, 75, 76, 78, 82, 85, 89, 93 - 102, 104-106 T. rex 24. Timpo Brontosaurus only $7 each on sale (PT issue prices include shipping) 42. Marx Linemar metal Pls. add $6 shipping in U.S. • Call or e-mail me about condition. dinos Mike Fredericks Prehistoric Times 39. Neanderthal man model 145 Bayline Cir. Folsom, California 95630-8077 31. Wm Otto (916) 985-7986
[email protected] sabertooth 35. Flash cards
29. Nabisco dinos
27. 1960s salt & pepper shakers w/ intertwined necks. 5” long each.
36. Brooke Bond
30. ROM plastic dinos 18. Left: Sinclair 1960s hardback
8
32. 60s Viewmaster
26. 1960s Japan 7. 6 inch Marx large cavemen
21. Sinclair 1959 Oil dino stamps & album
Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
their bags into the trunk. "All set?" he asked hopefully. "Just one or two more little things," Toppy replied, striding back into the lobby. He appeared with a large, glass aquarium whose bottom was full of grass, freshly pulled from Central Park. This was to prevent our turtle, Johnnie, from getting bumped against the glass walls if we had to stop suddenly on the highway. ''Rhoda, dear, raise your legs,” Toppy said, as he placed the aquarium on the floor below me. “You keep an eye on Johnnie for Top, please," He slammed the door and disappeared again. He came back out with Vincent, the elevator man, who was helping him to carry three enormous canvasses, a large wooden paint box, another valise containing lecture slides, a hot water botby Rhoda Knight Kalt tle which fell to the sidewalk, a bulging pillowcase Childhood memories of my filled with something, and an extra-thermos of tap water in case of an emergency. grandfather, the artist Charles Toppy opened the rear door and moved the R. Knight aquarium as far back under my legs as possible. The canvasses were placed in front of the turtle It was a steamy 90 degrees! June in tank, leaving me with limbs twisted into pretzels. New York! The sidewalk baked the soles "Now Rhoda," Toppy started giving directions. of our shoes. And our heads felt woozy. ''Be careful of your knees. They must not touch the Yet I was walking on clouds of joy, for canvasses or you may put a hole through one. And today we were leaving New York City to every once in a while, look to be sure the floor of spend three wonderful months on Cape Cod. The Johnnie's tank isn’t getting too warm. If it does, we'll Knight at his easel whole family was going. My mother; my grandhave to stop and dampen it. And these are my glass mother, Nonnie; my grandfather, Toppy; my brothlecture slides beside you, here on the floor. If the car er, Knight; and me. stops suddenly, try to hold them steady with your Father had offered to drive all of us up to foot." Woods Hole-all of us, that is, except my brother, "We've got everything," he commented a minute who became ill with the mere mention of any car later as he climbed into the seat beside the driver. "We ride and was now comfortably seated with his really didn't bring much this time, did we? Everyone nurse on the Cape Cod train (the "Cape Codder", comfortable?” alas, now a thing of the past). My father had made On Their Way one request, though, in agreeing to act as chaufFather turned on the engine, shifted gears, and the feur-that most of the luggage be sent on ahead by car rolled forward. We were on our way to Woods railway express. Hole, a journey of two hundred and fifty miles. When we left my parent’s home to pick up my It took most people eight hours of leisurely Knight with sculpture grandparents, the car was already packed with a driving. It took us twelve very hectic hours, couple of suitcases, a huge bundle of linen, a carton made up of many starts and stops. of canned food, three pillows, a picnic lunch basket, The car needed gas. My legs cramped and Penny, our fox-terrier, my parents and me. needed stretching. Johnnie's tank needed "Isn’t it a good thing your grandparents have sent dampening. Penny wished a romp. Nonnie and most of their belongings ahead?" Father commentI craved ice cream cones, which we dripped ed as we drove out of Central Park and turned down over everything. Nonnie felt chilly from the ice toward Fifth Avenue. "We'll be cramped for room as cream cones so a blanket had to be tugged it is." from the trunk for her. Mother wanted a sand“Yes. We were very wise for once," my mother wich and decided that the ones we had brought answered. along looked gummy, so we stopped at a Our car pulled up beside the curb at 24 West 59th Howard Johnson's. About seven o'clock, Toppy street. (My grandparents' home in New York City; wanted to stand beside the highway to admire also Toppy's studio. This apartment building has the sunset. been torn down, replaced by a large, modern one.) Finally, after midnight, we arrived at Woods Hole. The car was parked as "Where are they?" Father asked. “I can't stay here long. We're blocking the near to the door as possible. entranceway to the building. They said they’d be on time." “I wish we could help but there's so much to be done inside," Mother said "I'm sure they'll be right down,'' my mother said reassuringly. as we women walked away, leaving poor Toppy and Father to struggle with Many minutes elapsed. Suddenly, Toppy and Nonnie emerged from the the unpacking. Penny raced about the lawn, barking loudly to announce to lobby. the neighbors that the Knights and Steels had arrived. "Oh no!" gasped Father. Where on earth are we going to put those?" He “Nan, please step outside for a moment,” Toppy called at two in the mornpointed to the heavy valises which they were trying to maneuver down the ing. ''You really ought to see this gorgeous sky." steps. I pressed my nose against the gritty screen of the window and watched My grandparents saw us, and their faces burst into radiant smiles. Father my grandparents from my bed. I could just barely make them out by the rushed to help them. After great heaving and pushing, he managed to get street lights. A series of meows came from the other side of the house.
Nonnie and Toppy: An Affectionate Memoir
10
Charles R Knight’s tyrannosaur battle © Rhoda Knight Kalt & National Geographic
Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
''There's that damn cat, Blackie. He's stuck in the tree again. Come help carpet.” One’s heel constantly caught as one ran through this room to the “Dutch room.” Since Knight and I were the only runners in the family, we me get him down." My grandparents' voices faded, as they strolled down the slope beyond were also the regular fallers, and our knees were usually in a state of banthe kitchen. Clink. Clink. Rattle. Rattle. I saw the skunks outside. Maybe dage. 'The Dutch Room' they had heard Penny's barking and had come to investigate. The rusty colored "Dutch room" with its brick Dutch oven and another "Stinky's back too." Toppy's voice. "And doesn't he look well? Let's leave colorful hearth was our family room. Alongside the old oven hung three or some food out for him. Tonight he'll find the garbage pail empty." four enormously long handled, black, iron tongs and pots and pans. These The door banged. "How does Toppy know it's the same Stinky?" I wondered. ''Maybe he's cooking utensils were probably older than the house. not the same skunk at all." "This is where Cape Codders used to cook all their meals,” Toppy would My eyelids closed. point out to guests. The House With the Bumpy Lavender Stairs The oven's small door had been sealed for many years. Knight and I That summer was the first of many which I was to spend at Woods Hole, worked hard, combining our strength, trying to yank loose the oven door where my grandparents, Nonnie and Toppy owned one of the oldest houses handle and pry the edges. But this mysterious portal never opened for us. on Cape Cod, a house of aged beauty, history, mystery, and love, one which Actually, it was really much more exciting to sit and speculate about rare offered a little girl a paradise all her own. Large, rambling, gray shingled, treasures than to really discover them. and three storied, our precious house had stoically withstood many a hurriThe ''Dutch room" gave me a gloomy feeling. The furniture was built of cane for well over two centuries. It graced a hill on Quisset Avenue. dark woods, and the heavy curtains which covered the hand-blown, multiClimbing up either side of the front door were masses of red rambler paned windows barely let in a ray of light. Often someone napped on the roses. Each July these delicate buds opened their glorious crimson petals. short, uncomfortable sofa which sat back against these dusty draperies. Touching clear across the door’s high arch, they stretched their brilliance to Strange Creatures parts of the wall on either side. Our roses were the pride of the community. A large, round table stood in the middle of the floor. Toppy would sit there People stopped to admire them and sniff their fragrance. for hours, running a delicate hand through his wavy, silver-white hair, while The narrow wooden steps with the other he sketched on which led from street level up the table cloth. I leaned, Knight's original oil sketch of Brontotherium that was enlarged as a mural in the American Museum of Natural History. © Rhoda Knight Kalt to the front lawn were usually propped against his legs, as he badly in need of repair. When spoke of many things, often stepped upon, they played a describing the animals he was tune which we called, "Musical drawing –strange creatures like Squeaks.” Toppy's foot got Tyrannosaurus Rex, wooly trapped as a step splintered. mammoths, Sabre-toothed ''Oh, damn it!! I thought this Tigers. stupid board had been A feature of the Dutch room replaced." was its six, different sized Shades of Lavender doors. One was offered little Everyone fell in love with our home. The uneven staircase with the bumpy privacy or quiet for four of the hand-hewn doors were constantly banging lavender steps could be seen through the front screen door and give visitors open and shut. The other two were smaller, and where they led was a mysa gay welcome. Lavender was Grandmother's favorite color. Thus, not only tery. Toppy suspected one opened up an old back staircase, perhaps leading was the staircase decorated this startling shade, but most of the floors and to another attic hidden among the eaves. much of the furniture throughout the entire house. Each summer, Toppy From the "Dutch room" one looked into a room which was used both as repainted faded spots and the job of trying to match this impossible color Toppy's workshop and toolroom. Here he stored dozens of boxes, overflowaccurately defied him in every room. Our house boasted every conceivable ing with weird-shaped tools. Here also were partly used cans of enamel for shade of pinky, lavender purple. patching the house and delicious smelling tubes of oils for his canvasses. The living room was to the left of the front The room was shared by Nonnie. Here she was door. The old plaster walls were prepared a forever mixing up concoctions of seafood and warm grey, while the table, desk, chairs and meat and spices for tea parties and storing them floor were lavender. The sateen window curinside an old square, "ice box." Twice a week, a tains were deep purple and somehow always hefty man stumbled across our hilly lawn, carrygave the appearance of being unironed. The ing two enormous blocks of ice, gripped by huge sofa, a disguised, made-over cot was dressed black tongs. Nonnie would poke at these chunks with purple chintz and bedecked with four of ice with a sharp pick and hand me some "iciunmatched pillows. They didn't match each cles" to suck. other or anything else in the room. The sofa The house had other rooms I loved. Surely, if stood against a wall, beside a smoke-blackened an antique dealer had climbed the long, winding hearth and fireplace. Hot evenings, cool back staircase, ducking his head the entire way, he evenings, no matter which, my grandparents would have found heaven in our attic. Toppy and built a crackling, roaring fire. Each night, after I rummaged through it regularly. dinner, the sofa sagged with the weight of too An Old Spinning Wheel many, for Nonnie would sit at one end, Toppy We sat for hours midst musty odors and very lolled at the other, and in between my brother, dusty belongings. In one dingy corner, there stood Knight, and myself would snuggle cozily. an old spinning wheel, now a home for spiders. Together, we watched the fire's long arms As though draped in lace, dainty cobwebs were reaching high up the chimney and, as we chatspun in between the spokes of this aged wheel. Knight oversees work on his tered, our eyes were held spellbound by the Another gloomy niche held a large black bathing design for the Brooklyn Zoo. spurting orange cinders. tub and two china wash basins. The vibration of A straw mat with numerous holes lay in the our feet on the old timber floor rocked a wooden center of the living room and was called “the cradle. I was particularly intrigued with the cradle Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
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His eyes were never of the best. At and imagined that it held an invisible the age of six a tragedy befell him, an baby. Nonnie told me that, while tryaccident that proved to be a handicap ing to fall asleep at night, she had for the rest of his life. heard rocking noises coming from the attic over her bed. One day at play a boy carelessly Next to the cradle stood a battossed a small stone, striking my grandtered trunk full of old letters and father directly in his open right eye. diaries. Toppy would sit on the floor The blow knocked him to the ground and read them out loud to me. How and blood came from his eye socket. He funny they were; I giggled, continuwas carried home in a dazed condition. ously. The doctor came at once. Toppy was Sometimes, spotting a grimy garpromptly put to bed in a darkened room ment, I would drag it out of its box where he was made to lie for six weeks and prance around, pulling it along in misery and pain. When the bandage the floor behind me, while Toppy, was finally removed, though Toppy amused, would gently scold. could see fairly well, an undetermined ''Now put that dress right back amount of damage had been done. where it belongs, Rhoda, before With the right eye impaired, an extraKnight considered "The Tiger and the Peacock,"1928 his masterpiece and refused your grandmother catches you.” to sell it during his lifetime. It has remained in the family. © Rhoda Knight Kalt ordinary amount of strain fell on his At times, Toppy would simply left which was already nearsighted and walk about, tenderly touching each object, and then sit down on the floor astigmatic to a marked degree. Within a few years, he began to realize his again by the tiny glass window. From this spot he was able to let his eyes inability to distinguish objects clearly at a distance. Of course, this was a wander across our lawn to the neighbor's beautiful flower garden. catastrophe for an artist. The rest of his life he had to do intricate and deli“I mustn’t forget to water their daisies tonight," he'd remind himself. cate work with only one poor eye at best. This continuous strain contributed "And I must sprinkle their grass a bit. It's looking yellow. Such a lovely gar- a good deal to his rather high strung nature. den. We can't just let it whither." The Perfectionist On Nobska Beach Frequently he devoted several hours a day just to retouching a canvas or The nicest beach in Woods Hole was Nobska. It was privately owned by difficult drawing. An entire afternoon would pass and Toppy would still be Henry Fay Jr. and his family, who loaned its natural beauty to the commu- painting one small area. I'd stand watching him push his glasses to his forenity. Toppy and I would walk upon powder-white sand and watch the foamy head, point his brush toward a minute spot on the canvas, touch it, replace waves roll to shore, carrying seaweed of many colors. Nobska was unlike his glasses, step away and study his work at a distance. After repeating the other beaches. No dirty papers. No ugly debris. Nothing here spoiled God's procedure innumerable times, he'd lay down his palette and say, "Well, I've magnificent creation. Sand dunes rose behind us, and the tall, white Nobska done the best I can do." lighthouse stood atop the bluff. A gay, red buoy rode upon the waves, once Being a perfectionist where technique, color, and anatomy were conin a while appearing to have difficulty keeping its balance. We used to sit cerned, Toppy was never fully satisfied. Upon finishing his day's work, he'd just watching this jolly bell bounce and listening to it sound its warning to appear in the living room with his canvas and question the family. the passing craft that dangerous rocks were nearby. “What do you think of this now?" or “Isn't this coloring better?" But no Toppy looked forward to his morning swim in this clear, sparkling water matter how perfect we felt it might be, Toppy was the authority, and it was of Vineyard sound which, during July and August, seldom went below 70 always his own vote that was the deciding factor. degrees. To ready for his dip, he would disapAfter his late afternoon painting session, Toppy would pear into a borrowed bath house to reappear remove his soft, blue smock, push his long arms through Self Portrait shortly in a woolen swim suit which had both the sleeves of a tweed jacket and button it to the top, trunks and top. (Men were obliged then to wear covering much of his shirt and leaving only a bright tops with their swimming trunks on Nobska Chinese silk tie on view. A straw hat completed the outbeach.) fit. He wore a wide-brimmed straw hat to shield "Come on Rhoda", he’d call as he pushed open the his mass of white hair from the sun and big, squeaky screen door. "Wouldn’t you like to come round, tinted glasses to protect his delicate eyes. along?" He stepped out into the sunset. Scuffing his feet through the sand, he greeted A Gourmet Gull everyone on the beach with a smile and a little One day, a baby seagull with badly damaged feathers chat. and a forlorn look in his eyes was brought to Toppy's Heading in the direction of the water, Toppy house. As the fisherman who carried him prepared to suddenly found himself surrounded by screamleave, I went to take the injured bird into my arms. He ing grandchildren and their young friends. We tried to peck my hand. I named him Pecky. would pass Nonnie dog-paddling at the edge of Pecky took to his new surroundings immediately, the water. Grandmother was petrified of the especially the fluffy pillow which Toppy donated from water and I never saw her once go more than his own bed. ankle deep. In fact, I am certain the only reason Apparently, the bird had not eaten for several days. she got wet at all was because Toppy kept telling He was ravenous and, much to our delight, permitted us her how good it was for her health. to hand feed him right from the start. Besides a voraThe Artist At Work cious appetite for clams, Pecky gobbled worms, and Toppy would often paint for a few hours before dinner. I can see him so spaghetti with or without sauce, and his greatest passion seemed to be baked well, standing by his easel, bending to the canvas. beans, a favorite with all true Cape Codders. Whenever he wished to see detail, he would raise his thick, heavy glass''We must give him some variety," Toppy said, “so he doesn't get bored." es off his rather prominent nose and, pushing them up against his forehead, We catered to Pecky's gourmet taste until his wings and feathers were hold his subject right to the naked eye, almost brushing it with his long lash- completely healed and he could fly with ease. es. One morning, we borrowed a boat and rowed our handsome little com12
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panion out to a nearby island where hundreds of seagulls lived. He you want. First, you turn your pencil so. In this way you get the proper squawked gaily the entire voyage. After we had introduced Pecky to his angle." Within moments, Toppy had sketched in the entire bear and added the cousins and his uncles and his aunts, we rowed back to shore with forlorn salmon in the bear’s paw! When Toppy finished, the boy rose. hearts. "Thank you sir,” he said. "Thank you very much." From the dock, we stared out across the water toward the island. The Toppy smiled. We continued on our way to lunch. seagulls all looked exactly alike. The island was just a mass of whirling grey and white dots. We knew that somewhere, “I first visited this museum sixty years among those birds our Pecky was happily ago,"' Toppy said as we rode an enormous eleRhoda Knight Kalt, the author, with Knight's biographer Richard Milner, in a 2012 photo at the Bronxville Library, where vator down to the cafeteria. "My father squawking. her grandfather's "Tiger and Peacock" had been on loan. ©Rhoda brought me here as a treat on my fifth birthday. Dinosaur's Domicile Knight Kalt. Photo by Bill Dowling, ©Bronxville Historical We walked down the worn, grey steps to It was love at first sight. At that time, the Conservancy the south entrance of the American Museum American Museum was just a single, red brick of Natural History in New York and pushed building, nowhere near as big as it is now. But our way through the heavy revolving door. its long, tiled halls, which overflowed with "Good afternoon, Mr. Knight." The checkglassy eyed birds and animals held me spellroom attendant took our overcoats. "I see bound. I had never seen such thrilling sights you've brought your granddaughter along.'' before and I wandered for hours, gaping at We headed for the elevators. Our footsteps everything. on the hard, marble floors echoed through the “It was heaven for a boy who loved all kinds vast exhibition rooms and sounded like of wild life as much as I did." giants walking. The elevator came to a halt. As we neared We came upon a bench where a young art the cafeteria, Toppy had to stop talking. He student with pad and pencil in hand sat faccouldn't shout above the din. It was always ing one of the superb animal groups. Toppy noisy at this hour, but its clamor was sheer peered over the young man's shoulder. He music to my ears. We edged our way among watched him erase the leg of an Alaskan bear. people, chairs and tables. Our trays filled, our "Here," let me show you how." eyes searched the room. The student, startled, stopped drawing to "Over there," Toppy gestured. “That table look around. Toppy lifted the charcoal from under the zebras." his hand, stooped and began to sketch across A scientist came to our table. ''Hello, the pad. Charles. I thought I'd find you here today,'' he “Now, just watch me carefully," he said. "I said and took a chair. Several more joined us. think you'll find this technique more what Concluding on page 19
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Tyrannosaurus rex
© Robert F Walters www.dinoart.com
by Phil Hore
[email protected]
© Jerry LoFaro jerrylofarodesigns.com
The fork of lightning streaking down from the heavens briefly illuminates the tropical forest lining the east dock. Shackleton eyes the phone and considers calling the fat computer tech again, but according to the plan he should already be on his way to the dock with the package. Just as he was about to give up and head back into the far drier interior of the last transport ship, one of the park’s few gas jeeps pulls into the car park. Shackleton takes a step forward in relief and then pulls back into the shadows when he notices that the driver has an older and much slimmer figure than Nedry. Despite the rain and the distance, even from here he could just make out the man was talking on his cellular phone. “Dammit, Sarah, I’ve told you I cannot tell you where I am just now. . . . I know. . . . Yes. . . . Would you just trust me? Everything will be revealed in a few weeks, and you’re going to be one very happy. . . .” Shackleton ran the faces of every major employee of the park though his mind. Almost instantly he came on Dr. Gerald Harding, head of Veterinary Services. Seconds later the agent noticed a pair of headlights swaying to and fro as they began snaking their way down the large hill before the docks. The headlights seem to pick up speed and then violently shudder and stop.
he wasn’t paid to play it safe. Shackleton sprinted over to the car and hopped in. A single twist of the still-present keys, and he was gunning the jeep up the side road into the hills, keeping the still-stationary headlights before him always in sight. All he had to do was get the package, head back to the dock, and be on his way, a trip that should take only a few minutes at most. The torrential rain wasn’t making things easy, but with skill and more than a little luck Shackleton managed to get the jeep up the slippery hill and into the short tunnel that had been cut through the hill to give access between the east and west sides of the island. With no rain hindering his vision and the vehicle’s powerful spotlights illuminating the way, the spy stopped the vehicle before it drove into the high-voltage cable stretching across the road just on the other side of the tunnel’s exit. Walking back into the now-dying storm, Shackleton spotted the source of both the cable and those stationary headlights—another jeep hanging precariously over what had become a small waterfall thanks to the heavy rain. “Anyone there?” the agent called out. “Are you OK?”
© Sergey Krasovsky
Deciding he didn’t have time to worry about whether the car belonged to the incompetent computer technician, he finally called out, “Nedry, are you here?”
In dismay Shackleton watched, as the flush of cold running down his spine had nothing to do with the miserable weather he’d been standing in for the last half hour. He just knew that it had been Nedry, the fool, rushing to meet him and crashing his car. A decision had to be made: he could play it safe and give up the mission and get on the boat and head back to the mainland. Sure, Dodgson would be angry, but in general Dodgson was always angry. What kept him fixed to the spot looking at the jeep he just knew the keys were still in was that 14
© William Stout www.williamstout.com
The cable that had almost decapitated him ran from the stranded jeep to a large tree on the other side of the Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
© Elliott Smith
© Douglas Henderson
road. “You in there?” he called out, peering into the dark forest. A strange, high-pitched peeping noise answered, and not taking any chances, the spy © Sergey Krasovsky
picked up a few rocks and began flinging them, trying to scare away whatever it was making that noise. Climbing up the side of the waterfall, Shackleton managed to get to the side of the other jeep and peer inside. The side window was smashed outwards, as though something inside had escaped the vehicle’s interior. Inside, it was dark, but despite this, he could see what remained of the computer programmer. “Bloody hell.” Quietly, Shackleton cracked open the door and shined the penlight he’d retrieved from his pocket inside, looking for the shaving cream can. Although Nedry’s ruined body took up much of the interior, it didn’t take the agent long to see the package was not inside. © Frederik Spindler www.frederik-spindler.de
“That’s right, girls. Mammal power.” Shackleton grinned, turning around to look under the car to see if the shaving cream can had fallen there. Instead he came face to face with a Ty r a n n o s a u r u s rex, its snout mere inches from his head. Like so many mammals before him, Shackleton froze, his body u n t h i n k i n g ly keeping him in place just in case the predator looming above had missed him.
© Zubin Erik Dutta
Although appreciated, the meal was not enough to sate the tyrannosaur’s enormous hunger. It considered chasing the other dinosaurs that had just run away but thought better of it because they were fast and hardly worth the trouble. Sniffing about the stranded jeep, the carnivore noticed another set of headlights swinging into view farther up the hill, in fact from a spot very near where she had just escaped her enclosure. Investigating the lights here had brought the reward of a small but easy meal, and so the notion that lights equaled food meant this new illumination was worth investigating. Although too far to see what was making the light thanks to the easing rain, the predator could just make out two small voices yelling out. © Robert F Walters www.dinoart.com “Alan!” “Dr. Grant?”
Cursing, he switched the car lights off in case they brought unwanted attention, closed the door, and came face to face with three dilophosaurs. Without thinking, the spy fired a kick at the first carnivore, catching the creature square in the jaw with the toe of his steel-capped boot. The dinosaur went spiraling back down the hill, followed closely by its two friends. Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
Answering these voices with her own roar, the female T. rex started stalking up the hill toward her pen and those lights, roaring once more at whatever this new challenger was that had just entered her domain. Twenty years, two decades, since so many of us sat in a dark theatre and had a grin, a very real, very childlike grin, slowly spread across our face as we 15
Tyrannosaurus rex and imagine himself as a “Calvinosaurus,” stalking the back yard hunting butterflies and sisters. Sure, Calvinosaurus was from the Jurassic and prowled only newspaper comic strips, but you get my point.
© Phil Brownlow www.philbrownlow.co.uk
© Darren Maurer
watched a T. rex come to life © Joe Choate during “Jurassic Park.” I don’t care how jaded you had become, how much you were angry or hurt over how different the movie was from the book—all of that faded the second the T. rex opened its mouth and let out that first roar. I still recall sitting there and feeling the very air in my © Douglas Henderson lungs reverberate as that tyrannosaur let loose. It’s such a image that can still strong memory that I was bitbe seen today in terly disappointed watching the Zalinger’s famous © Pedro Salas recent release of “Jurassic Park 3-D” in the cinema. That sound, that roar, it Yale mural with its was there; it just wasn’t as loud as I remember. pudgy tyrannosaur. In issue no. 82 we printed a fairly comprehensive history of T. rex, from For a time it was its discovery to its original name (Manospondylus gigas, Deinodon, believed the beast Ornithomimus grandis, or Dynamosaurus imperiosus—take your pick), and was cold blooded so instead of recovering (like all reptiles) © Christoffer Gertz Bech that ground, I thought and had three finwe’d look at what’s happened in the last two decades to e v e r y o n e ’s favorite dinosaur since Jurassic Park was first released. What doesn’t © Bob Eggleton
kid like © Jim Martinez
© William Stout www.williamstout.com
For nearly a century Tyrannosaurus rex didn’t change much. It was easily the most complete of large theropods uncovered, and the image of a kangaroostanced creature with its massive head soaring high above the trees and its large, meaty tail dragging along the ground to help prop its body up could be found in most books and museums. Various sizes were given, from 35 to 45 feet, and its weight swung from 5 to a monstrous 20 tons—an
gers since all theropods found until that time seemed to have three digits. Despite the complete nature of the tyrannosaurs that Barnum Brown uncovered, none had their arms, much less their fingers. No one knew for sure that tyrannosaurs actually had two fingers until 1989 when a complete limb was unearthed. There was also a suggestion that, instead of one species, there was actually two subspecies o f
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© Joshua Ballze
© Justin Miller
moved strongly into the lagoon after them. “Well, how should I know?” she said. “Everybody knows tyrannosaurs can swim! It’s in all the books! Anyway, all reptiles can swim!” “Snakes can’t.” snakes idiot!”
Tyrannosaurus. The first had a small gracile form, and the second a much larger, heavier-built version. Even the predatory nature of tyrannosaurs was argued, with early paleontologists noticing that there was very little wear on the teeth (so no active hunting), and the large wounds covering their skulls suggested they fought each other. And then Jurassic Park came out and ignited a dinosaur craze that filled museums all over the world with fans hungry for everything dinosaur. Books and documentaries also flooded the market, all infused with a Jurassic Park flavor. Even names, never mentioned before, became commonplace thanks to Michael Crichton. No one said “T. rex” before JP or “raptor” unless they were talking about a bird of prey. Today raptors are everywhere, from a basketball team and even a new bird of prey, the Lockheed-Martin F-22.
“Of course can. You
“Settle down,” Grant said. “Hold onto something!” Grant was watching the tyrannosaur, noticing how the animal swam. The tyrannosaur was now chest-deep in the water, but it could hold its big head high above the surface.
Jurassic Park also influenced our ideas about T. rex (and dinosaurs in T. rex muscles general). A generation has grown up thinking Velociraptors were the size of a small pony, and T. rex could run as fast as a jeep and could see you only © Scott Hartman if you moved. Hammond claimed T. rex could run 32 mph, but the tyrannosaurs in the movie were gigantic, measured between 43 and 46 feet. Jurassic Park wikipedia notes that the “subadult male to appear in the third Then Grant realized the animal wasn’t swimming; it was walking, because film was listed at 37 feet long and only about 14.5 feet tall.” That’s the size moments later only the very top of the head—the eyes and nostrils—proof most adult tyrannosaurs and, on a fan note, may explain why it got truded above the surface. By then it looked like a crocodile, and it swam like whipped by the Spinosaurus—it was just a juvenile. This fight always led a crocodile, swinging its big tail back and forth, so the water churned behind me, as a fan, to another point of speculation: Was the T. rex killed in JP III it. Behind the head, Grant saw the hump of the back, and the ridges along the length of tail, as it occasionally broke the surface. Exactly like a crocoby the Spinosaurus the infant dile, he thought unhappily. The biggest crocodile in the world. with the broken leg from The Lost World-Jurassic Park? I don’t know about you, but I had just about all the dinosaur © Scott Hartman books in the world before JP came out, and I don’t recall ever The fact that we call them T. reading that tyrannosaurs swam like crocodiles. It’s a cool idea, rex now is also great evidence but unlikely. how influential the movie was. Among the theories Crichton wrote about in the first book was another tyrannosaur behavior that did not make the movie but was worth a mention. After Dr. Grant and the kids had jumped in a boat and were rowing past the formerly sleeping T. rex they’d just woken up, Lex and Tim began fighting over waking the predator:
© John Sibbick www.johnsibbick.com
“. . . it doesn't matter,” [Lex] said. “We're far enough away. He can’t swim. “Of course he can swim, you little idiot!” Tim shouted at her. On the shore, the tyrannosaur stepped off the dock and plunged into the water. It Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
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Recent discoveries have helped fill in many of the blanks we had about these creatures though it could also be argued the more things change, the more some things stay the same. Despite media headlines claiming larger and larger tyrannosaurs have been unearthed, the largest are still around the 40-foot mark.
© Sergey Krasovskiy
The idea of two subspecies has also been dropped, though it’s hard to find out why. For myself the variation seen in tyrannosaurs may have had something to do with location. The smaller ones lived in areas where a little more © John Sibbick speed and a little less brute force may have www.johnsibbick.com been necessary. More gracile tyrannosaurs could have specialized in killing hadrosaurs, whereas the brutish versions may have needed the extra power because they had a real fight on their hands tackling horned ceratopians. The kangaroo stance is also gone, though to be fair it had been gone since the 1960s when Deinonychus was discovered, changing forever the image of dinosaurs to a more birdlike stance. We’ve also reverted to an original idea of Barnum Brown. T. rex had three fingers, not two; the third was just little more than a stub. Even the name almost changed. For a short time there was a real push to revert Tyrannosaurus rex to one of its original names, Manospondylus gigas. Although the original M. gigas fossils weren’t enough to be considered scientifically the type specimen, in 2000 the Black Hills Institute inspected the area where they’d been found and unearthed more. Because M. gigas is older, there was a suggestion the name should revert to this, but if anyone thought they’d be able to change the name, I’m pretty sure a legion of angry kids wielding their little plastic dinosaurs would have changed their minds. If you think I’m joking, research what happened when astronomers dropped the planetary status of Pluto to dwarf planet—that was scary—and the little plastic dinosaurs kids carry have sharper edges than a model of Pluto.
these would not have been for flight, however; they were more like the downy feathers chicks use to keep themselves warm. This leads us to another change and the reason why the chicks needed this insulation: they were warm blooded. Today tyrannosaur fossils have been found across the Northern Hemisphere, with the oldest in the UK and western Europe. Some of these early forms had feathers, and I’ve been saying for years that I believe the tyrannosaurs, in fact all the dromaeosaurids, evolved from a group similar to Archaeopteryx, meaning they were birds. Numerous specimens have also been found located near each other, a fact introducing an intriguing possibility: tyrannosaurs were pack (or flock) hunters. Highlighting how strange T. rex has become since JP, another important find occurred in 2005 that captured the world’s media. Soft tissue was found within tyrannosaur © John Sibbick www.johnsibbick.com
bones and proved the strong link between birds and dinosaurs. Although the “blood cells” found have come under intense scrutiny and speculation, there is no doubting the presence of blood vessels within the fossils, and so organic material has indeed been found. So, from a pot-bellied, tail-dragging behemoth, we now see T. rex as a feathered, dangerous, fleet-of-foot predator running about in flocks. It’s going to be interesting to see how the next 20 years change the world’s favorite monster.
The books and movies also talked about how T. rex’s vision was based on movement (thanks to its frog © Brian Ford DNA). Because almost no animal has vision based on movement alone, this isn’t the greatest theory, but we can take it a step further here. Tyrannosaur brain casts show they had very large olfactory senses, and their vision was good too. With forward-facing, powerful eyes, a T. rex had binocular vision, giving it the ability to work out depth—not an adaptation you find in animals with poor vision. Possibly the largest change to tyrannosaurs since JP is their growing connection to birds. Feathers have been found on basal tyrannosauroids, but 18
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Soon there were seven jammed together at to a table which held a big chunk of earth, three feet square. A man was a table meant for four. It happened every removing the little objects with infinite care. “These aren't pebbles, young lady," the man time Toppy ate at the museum cafeteria. Lunch became a Charles R Knight painting at the said. "They're bits of bone. When we get finparty. Toppy listened to them all enthusiastically. Brooklyn Zoo ished piecing them together, we'll have a "Charles, be sure to see the baby mammoth they just brought in upstairs,” one of the men said. dinosaur." I could hardly believe it. ''See that “Yes, I'd heard about it," Toppy told him. creature standing in the corner?" the scientist Lunch passed quickly. Upon reaching the first floor, asked. "It's a prehistoric bear. When we Toppy walked to a passageway that was walled off by a big unearthed him, he didn't look any better than wooden partition on wheels. A sign proclaimed it “Closed this bunch of bits I’m struggling with right to the Public." He rolled the barrier forward a little so we now." could squeeze through. ''When will it look like the dinosaur downBehind it men were working on a new exhibition. One stairs?'' I wondered out loud. was sitting atop a ladder, transforming the upper walls and "Oh! Maybe in two or three years," the sciceiling of the diorama into a realistic blue sky. Several more entist answered and went back to his puzzle. were below, painting in the trees and foliage of a jungle setA nice woman informed us that the new baby ting. And the last man was making a floor plan to show mammoth was kept refrigerated, and she where the animals should be placed. Toppy loved to "talk opened the icebox door for us to look in. shop" with the artists. Every time they prepared a new dis"What a scientific treasure! How fortunate play, he made it a point to drop in for a few minutes. for us!” Toppy said. During the next hour, we roamed all over. We walked He was fascinated by the baby trunk, the leg, beneath a monstrous great blue whale; suspended from the the foot with its tiny toenails and a small ceiling, and gazed up at the grinning skull of a gigantic amount of reddish hair. The idea of an animal Tyrannosaurus rex. When we came to Toppy's prehistoric murals, he would- dying so young depressed him. n’t let me stop. It was almost five o’clock when we entered the Henry Fairfield Osborn "I didn't come to the museum to see these," he said. library. "Remember me telling you about Dr. Osborn, Rhoda? He was one About four o’clock, he hurried me to the fifth floor, where the scientists of the greatest paleontologists and a man whom everyone loved and respectworked and had their offices. Strange odors burned my nose and throat in ed. He became president of the museum and was the first person who comthe tannery of the taxidermy department. The most powerful fumes were ris- missioned me to do a prehistoric mural. ing from a large, black tub in the center of the floor. I stayed as far away “I’ll just be a minute, Rhoda. Sit here on the window seat. I'm going up from it as possible. on the balcony to search for a couple of books. They said I could borrow Learning Anatomy them over the weekend." He disappeared. "When I first decided to be an animal painter, I spent most of my time Later the librarian said goodnight and asked me to be sure we locked the here," Toppy told me. "It's one of the best places in the world to really learn door carefully when we left. something about animal anatomy. A man named John Rowley was head The MBL Lecture taxidermist then and he and I became very good friends. He gave me a wonOur Woods Hole summer was drawing to an end. It was nearing derful education. He carefully called my attention to the fact that bones and September and the annual lecture night at the Marine Biological Laboratory cartilage, tendons and muscles, tissues and skin don't just happen to go would soon take place. It was the last social affair of the season. Toppy was together by accident. Every part of the anatomy has its own important pur- to be the speaker. pose.” Toppy had sorted through his box of glass slides, arranging them in order "I quickly found that his lessons were invaluable ones. Now I could look and making little notes. at a wild creature pacing about its cage at the zoo and visualize the bone and That evening, Nonnie laid out on the bed a blue dress that I had never muscle structure at work. Knowledge of anatomy is vital to the artist.” seen her wear before. I thought her beautiful as she descended the lavender “And then one day in 1894, Rowley told me that the Fossil Department stairs, her trailing lace skirt brushing each step. Around her neck were faswas looking for an artist to draw a prehistoric pig-like creature, the tened her only real jewels, a lovely, deep purple amethyst necklace which Elotherium. I agreed to try.” Toppy had designed himself. ''I studied the Elotherium skeleton carefully, asking myself all kinds of “Nonnie looks like every grandmother ought to look," I thought proudly. questions. What sort of muscle development would it have had? How would Toppy joined us in the living room. He seemed taller and his white hair it have moved? How would it have looked? Naturally, I questioned the sci- shone like a silver halo, touching the collar of his black dinner jacket. entists, too. Slipping her hand into his, Toppy guided Nonnie out the screen door, onto “But I was determined that this would be more than a scientifically accu- the dew-dampened lawn; and over to the waiting car. rate portrait, still and unconvincing. I hoped to bring the Elotherium to life At the auditorium, we were ushered to our seats in the front row. Toppy and show him as he really was in those remote ages when be roamed the was introduced. He rose and walked to the stage. Everyone applauded earth.” warmly. “I sat for hours with my eyes closed, remembering everything I knew He began to speak. The audience laughed at his opening jokes. They about animals. And gradually I began to see in my imagination an relaxed and settled back in their chairs. They watched, spellbound, as preElotherium just as alive as your fox terrier. history passed before their eyes in the color slides of his paintings and "The painting still hangs in the museum today. This fascinating creature murals. The prehistoric creatures loomed large upon the screen. They almost had started me on my life's work, the recreation of a living prehistory.” seemed to live and breathe. The lights went up. We left the taxidermy department and continued down the hall, into the "Everyone seemed to enjoy himself, don't you think, Nan?" Toppy asked paleontology domain. "These silhouettes have hung on this wall for close to as we drove home. He placed his arm gently around my grandmother's thirty years. Do you recognize anybody?" Toppy asked. shoulder. I bent my head backwards to study them. "No, Toppy. I don’t." My first dress affair was over before it had really begun. The minutes had He chuckled. "I'm the one in the middle." flown. And I had wanted this cherished evening to go on forever. I peered I giggled and put my finger against the silhouette. “Oh, yes. There's your out the window and studied the twinkling stars. nose.” ''Look at all those pebbles in that dirt, Toppy," I exclaimed, walking over THE END Continuing from page 13
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How to Draw Dinosaurs By Tracy Lee Ford
Figure 2. Forelimb of Tyrannosaurus rex. A, Muscles, after Lipkin and Carpenter 2008. C, Arm movement, after Carpenter and Smith 2001.
[email protected]
Tyrannosaurus rex, built for power, not speed Our PT editor, Mike Fredericks asked me to write about Tyrannosaurus rex for this issue. While I had originally planned to write about the 2013 means the leg muscles were huge! Even the calf muscles were huge. pterosaur symposium (it was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), I was unable to The problem with talking about muscles in dinosaurs is that relatively it’s go. I happened to have been in the Washington, DC, area on my trip and vis- guesswork. Since there are no living dinosaurs (other than birds that lack a ited the Smithsonian Institution. My paleontologist friend Mike Brett- long tail), determining which muscles attach to which skeletal element is Surman told me that the Dinosaur Hall will soon be shut down and would difficult at best. But it can be, to a large degree, extrapolated from bone texbe gutted for a new exhibit. He then showed me the ture, shape, and the use of living animals. Dinosaur Hall. The Smithsonian had a skeleton of Figure 3. Ilia of Tyrannosaurus (A-C) and With that said, the tail also had huge muscles. “Stan” the T. rex, and after looking it over, I noticed Allosaurus (D). A-C, Tyrannosaurus rex, after As I recently wrote, the ventral edge of the several interesting things about it and Tyrannosaurus pubis peduncle (lower expanded part) is the Osborn 1906. A, Anterior. B, Posterior. C, rex in general and address them here. attachment for tail muscles that attached to Dorsal. D, Allosaurus, after Paul 1996. the caudal chevrons. However, I believe that It has been argued that T. rex was a runner, a slow since the pubic peduncle is not only expandwalker, a hunter, and a scavenger. What does the skeleed but also slightly concave, it was also the ton tell us? One of the major skeletal morphologies of attachment area for the tail muscles (possibly Tyrannosaurus and tyrannosaurids, for that matter, is attaching to the caudal transverse processthe small front arms. What people misunderstand about es)? But I may be wrong about that. (See Tyrannosaurus is that its arms, though small, are largFigure 4). The pubic peduncle is also tilted er than those of its predecessors. Albertosaurus, up toward the tail. If you draw a straight line Tarbosaurus, and Gorgosaurus all have smaller arms from that angle, you’ll find out how massive (Figure 1). The humeri in those tyrannosaurids are one the tail was. fourth the size of the femurs, whereas in Tyrannosaurus it is one third the size of the femur. Ken Carpenter et al. (2001, 2008) have shown that the arms of Tyrannosaurus, though short, were muscular and could lift up to 600 lbs. They imagine that the use of the front arms was to hold prey (Figure 2). Moving to the pelvis and looking dorsally at the pelvis, we see that the ilia are not only curved toward each other but also are nearly touching one another. No other theropod has this to such a degree. There is barely a hit of sacral ribs and sacral neural spines (Figure Figure 1. Humerus versus femurs in tyrannosaurids. A, Albertosaurus sarcophagus (A. arctunguis), after Parks 1928. B, Tarbosaurus efremovi, after Rozhdestvensky 1974. C, Gorgosaurus libratus, after Lambe 1917. C, Tyrannosaurus rex, after Osborn 1916.
The front edge of the pubic peduncle is not only tilted downward, but also lies lower than the knee. This position gives the body a lower edge, which is lower than some depict. In other theropods, the knee was either at the lower edge of the pubic peduncle or just below it. In Tyrannosaurus rex the knee was above the pubic peduncle. This position may be caused by the femur being shorter than that in other theropods, rather than the pubis growing longer or the front portion dipping downward. The deeper pubis with shorter femur would be a hindrance in running, but with its massive leg and tail muscles, that stance would help give it more power. Why would it need so much muscle mass, which is more than that of any other theropod? The answer may be attributable to what it fought, Triceratops. The front legs of Triceratops were also massive, and they may have played a sort of tug of war with each other. The position of the gastralia needs also to be addressed. As I wrote before, the typical depiction of the gastralia in front of the pubis is to have them curving upward, which, I believe, is incorrect. Intestines, stomach, muscles, and so forth rested upon the front of the pubis. The gastralia would have been in a straight line up to the sternum. But let me make this point clear: this does not mean the gastralia did not move up and down either from breathing (with the gastralia moving slightly up and down) or from eating (which would expand the stomach and gastralia down). This feature would give the animal a wider profile, not the sleek image that is usually depicted.
3). In other large theropods, the ilia are separated by sacral ribs, and the sacral neural spines are easily visible. What pushed the ilia together are its massive leg muscles. The posterior lower edges of the ilia are expanded, as well as the muscle from the fourth trochanter (part of the posterior upper edge of the femur that sticks out from the femur). The femoral head itself stuck out from the ilia by at least two feet. This jutting out would push the muscle mass out just beyond the femur and along with the inset ilia; this 20
In conclusion, I believe Tyrannosaurus rex had massive leg muscles, massive tail muscles, and a lower and thicker body line; it was a jogger or slow walker, not a runner (Figure 6). In my opinion any depiction of a Tyrannosaurus rex with its knee below the lower edge of the pubis is incorrect. Also, I believe that any depiction of a thinner body outline in front of the pelvis is incorrect, and any depiction of a thin tail is also incorrect. This is contrary to typical depictions of Tyrannosaurus rex. Its body was priPrehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
marily a huge muscle mass. It wasn’t built for speed; it was built for power. As Dr. Thom Holtz says, “Tyrannosaurus rex just needs to be a little faster than its prey.”
Figure 4. Pelvis and muscles of Tyrannosaurus rex. A, Pelvis muscles showing possible muscles on the pubis peduncle, and tail muscles, modified from my previous Prehistoric Times article. B, Pelvis showing position of femur.
Figure 6. New reconstruction of Tyrannosaurus rex.
In regard to juvenile to adult Tyrannosaurus rex specimens versus Nanotyrannus. Simply put, I believe Nanotyrannus is a valid taxon (including “Jane”) and not a juvenile Tyrannosaurus. I also believe Stygivenator (Jordan theropod) is a valid taxon and not a baby Tyrannosaurus. I don’t believe Tyrannosaurus or large tyrannosaurids had feathers of any kind. There is skin evidence that
Figure 5. Skeleton of “Stan” showing position of gastralia and tail muscle outline. A, Typical slim depictions. B, Thick depiction.
Tyrannosaurus rex Holotype: CM 9380
tyrannosaurids had scales. Was it a scavenger or predator? Even though I believe T. rex was slow, that doesn’t mean I believe it was a scavenger. As many have speculated, I also believe it was an opportunistic hunter and was an active, though slower than many believe, powerful hunter. Since it had the most powerful jaws of any known terrestrial animal (which aren’t needed to be a scavenger), powerful neck muscles, strong arms, and extremely powerful legs and tail, just scavenging would be overkill. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Tyrannosaurus rex could drag a full-grown Triceratops or Anatotitan.
Don’t forget to check my websites: http://www.dinohunter.info and http://www.paleofile.com
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Camarasaurus caudals
Juvenile Apatosaurus
Jurassic Dinosaur Bones & Teeth, Minerals and Paleo Art (e)
[email protected] Stegosaurus, Apatosaurus and Diplodocus specimens available!
Diplodocus foot
Camptosaurus femur
Torvosaurus tooth
Apatosaurus caudal
Allosaurus tooth
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about 6 feet long, and the top predator. Sanctacaris is an arthropod relative of the Chelicerata line that includes spiders and horseshoe crabs. It was a bottom dweller; the verdigris color gives it a faux bronze look like a metal SRG collectable. A comparison of the Safari Ltd. Sidneyia is one of the largest Giganotosaurus and newer Concavenator arthropods found at Burgess By Randy Knol and at one time, before they
[email protected] put the Anomalocaris parts www.dinosaurcollector.150m.com together, considered the top predator. Naroia was a burrowing animal and common in Safari Ltd Carnegie Concavenator the Burgess; this trilobite lastFrom Safari Ltd. for 2013, come a figure of an ed into the Silurian. Early Cretaceous allosaurid from Spain discovTricrepicephalus was a wide ered in 2010. Until recently, the Weldon formaspread trilobite and is also tion in England provided almost all of the done in verdigris. The color European dinosaurs for the Early Cretaceous. This 1/25th scale figure is reconstructed with the look and feel of the schemes have an air brushed look. This lends itself to potential repaints. Carnegie Giganotosaurus. This is consistent with the close relationship While fauna from the Cambrian has been essayed by UHA, Cog, ROM and between the two carcharodontosaurid. Concavenator is distinct in having the Cadbury Yowies, this is the widest selection yet and most available. Safari Ltd Toobs are the most innovative two elongated vertebrae in front of the products for collectors. hips. England has produced some scrappy CollectA Deluxe Deinotherium fossils of an allosaurid with long spines Proboscideans were once much more named Becklespinax. The purpose of the diverse. They include living elephants and spines has produced speculation. It could several extinct families. Deinotherium is be a display device, a thermo regulator, a one of the extinct families. This is a large hump for fat storage like a camel or animal exceeding the size of the largest eleNew Safari Ltd Cambrian anchors for muscles. Carnegie has sculptphants. It looks like someone took the parts Life Toob ed it as a display device giving the animal of an elephant and reassembled them. The a rakish silhouette. The tail curves down trunk was shorter, and the downward curvto the left for balance enhancing playabiling tusks are attached to the lower jaw. ity but with care, it poses in a bipedal Body Reconstructions vary. The Bullyland stance. The skull is very narrow, tapering company produced a Deinotherium figure at the snout. The open jaws display teeth and retired it quickly, causing it to become and tongue in fine detail. The forearms a sought after collectable. The CollectA and claws are detailed with palms facing version has a reduced trunk and a longer in. The legs have slender avian proporbody. The figure has the lower slung body tions. The body darkens to gold above the more like a hippo, with a hump over the waterline and is shadowed with brown shoulders. This is a convincing reconstrucstripes. The fin is red with the flush tion and a tribute to prehistoric mammal colextending down the rest of the spine. This lectors and a must for Museum shops. has all the characteristics a successful CollectA Popular Carnegie Museum figure. It is attractive, Diplodocus is my Favorite CollectA figure accurate and well designed. for 2013. The documentary “Dinosaur Safari Ltd Cambrian Toob New Deluxe CollectA Revolution” originally was intended to preOne of the most noted exhibits at the Deinotherium sent an episode from the North American Smithsonian Natural History Museum is Jurassic featuring a Diplodocus. The scene the Burgess Shale fossils with dioramas was later relocated to Lourinhã Formation of portraying the Cambrian explosion. The Burgess Shale in British Columbia Canada preserves the soft body parts of Portugal but the Diplodocus CGI was retained for the similar reconstructed the first complex animals from 505 million years. Safari Ltd has produced Dinheirosaurus. The CollectA reflects the same look and style. The scale 8 figures from the Cambrian. Charniodiscus looks like a plant frond, and is compatible with the old Toyway figure and the 2011 CollectA it was a stationary filter feeder like a sea pen. It is from Ediacara Hills in Lourinhanosaurus. The rearing pose recalls the classic Battat model but Australia from the preceding Vendian period of the last of the Proterzoic but the tail position is more realistic. The figure can be posed to stand on all has close relatives at Burgess. The blue Vauxia are extinct sponges from the four feet making it very play friendly. There are pointed spines lining the back and very detailed skin with Cambrian to the Silurian. Ottoia is a New CollectA Diabloceratops & Diplodocus irregular tubercles. It has one of priapulid worm or a Penis worm. It the best paint schemes of any figgets the name from the shape. The ure I have seen. The underside family is rare today but a major cardarkens to green with blue highnivore in the Cambrian and one of lights shadowed with dark stripthe most common fossils in the ping. The throat is red with white Burgess. It burrowed in the sand, stripes. The small skull displays eating arthropods and scavenging. teeth in the front of the mouth. Anomalocaris is the best known This figure is a CollectA success. animal from the Burgess and has CollectA has done more to been previously produced by expand the range of the horned Cadbury, UHA, and ROM. It is the dinosaurs than any other company. largest animal in the Cambrian at
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Terror was published this year by Eagle This year they have added Diabloceratops, a Bullyland and Chap Mei Games and designed by Peter Hawes. It is a recent find from Utah. Diabloceratops is a Therizinosaurus figures Euro style board game similar to Trias and cetrosaurid. This is an odd animal with long Settlers of Catan. First, the artwork for the spikes over the frill like Einiosaurus. It has board, cards and the box is impressive. The a small nose horn and two upward curved brow horns. It displays the trade mark game itself is straightforward. There are CollectA frill over the hips. The coloring three periods, Triassic, Jurassic and recalls crests of the Torosaurus and Cretaceous, each having turns. Based on Triceratops. When it comes to horned your cards you migrate and expand your dinosaurs, CollectA has developed their disherds. There are four habitats; swamp, tinctive style. desert, mountains and forest. Scoring is Bullyland has changed owners several done at the end of each period based on the times the last few years as they have continareas where you have herds. The game has ued to give up market share. They changed from their Stuttgart style with great artwork, easy rules, minimal bookkeeping but unexciting playing the release in 2010 of Giganotosaurus and have moved production out of pieces. Euro games likes to use wooden counters as playing pieces, ugh. Germany. Therizinosaurus was released in 2011. It is a giant theropod Trias also used wooden pieces and it lessened the playing experience. from Asia. When I first saw it I had a flashTriassic Terror has wooden pieces but suppleTriassic back to the Chap Mei figure. It is a similar ments them with cheap vinyl figures, more Terror size with articulated arms with big claws. The ugh. There are two limited collectable Board production quality is high. Bullyland did not Pteranodon figures for Kickstarter supportGame embrace feathered dinosaurs quickly but they ers. I will be using it as part of the designed their Therizinosaurus convincingly. Smithsonian Summer Camp Dinosaurs and The body and tail are brown with white stripes Diorama camp with a few variants. The first and the head is beaked with a lighter muzzle. one we are using is Safari Ltd Good Luck The production quality is superior to Chap minis for the dinosaur herds. Second, each Mei; the colors are realistic instead of garish. herd will have an advantage in one of the The Stuttgart figures were some of the best environments, as in sauropods in deserts and museum replicas and the new Bullyland articceratopsians in swamps. This adds some eduulated figures are the best looking “Chap Mei cational value and engages the player more toys.” I would rather have more Stuttgartwith quality figures. I see an opportunity for designed figures. someone to develop a market niche for games I like dinosaur role-playing and board games that use collectable figures from established but there are not many good ones. Triassic companies as educational tools.
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RIGHT : Italian composition figures of prehistoric animals from the 1950s by Chialu are rare and this mammoth figure is one of the toughest to find in the set. It recently sold for over $500.00
ABOVE: A long time PT subscriber and well known prehistoric animal figure collector purchased these two beautiful Charles R Knight bronze statues earlier this year. He wishes to remain anonymous but said this about them. “The Triceratops (which cost over $3,000.00) is solid bronze and about 8” long. The Smilodon is enormous (a foot long & dated 1922). It's probably 4 times the mass of the Triceratops. Like most large bronzes, its a thick hollow-cast. If it was solid it would probably weigh 30 pounds. In fact, it’s so big I'm pretty sure this was intended as a museum model - one of those life restorations that they place on a stand in front of a fossil mount. Both Gilmore and Knight produced some of them. The largest model I've seen in person prior to this was the NF mammoth, which is huge, but this cat is probably twice its size. I read in the new Knight book that he usually sculpted a model prior to painting and probably used this prior to painting his La Brea art and other work.” RIGHT: Your PT editor was very happy to add this super rare prehistoric bobcat figure sculpted by William Otto to my collection. There were 14 figures that made up this set of metals based upon animal remains found in the La Brea tarpits. The set was sold in the giftshops of the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History and the Page Museum at La Brea in the 1960s and 1970s. The figures are hard to find but this one is the rarest. In over twenty years of collecting, I’ve only seen one other.
ABOVE: I showed an incomplete version of this last issue and wanted to now show the complete card with clear plastic bubble that was missing.
LEFT: Sinclair Gasoline metal souvenir paperweight. Reads "Sinclair” on one side and “On Land, Sea and Air" on the other. 4" long and weighs 15 oz. This is a very old dinosaur collectible that your PT editor is still seeking. RIGHT:
Beautiful vintage souvenir of a bone china Iguanodon glued to petrified wood. Sticker reads: “Petrified Forest Arizona” LEFT: Rubbery soft plastic figures that stand about 3.5” tall. They appear to be Neanderthals that lived in warm weather. Manufacturer unknown.
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What’s New
in review
By Mike Fredericks
While at the Wonderfest Convention in Kentucky, the owner of Kaibutsuya, a model store from Japan that carries PT for sale, handed me the head only of a new 12” sabertoothed cat resin kit that they are planning to produce and sell. It looks fantastic but I don’t know any more about it, yet. If interested you can contact Hiroto Tsubouchi by email and tell him I sent you:
[email protected] Coahuilaceratops magnacuerna (meaning "Coahuila horn face") is a genus of chasmosaurine ceratopsian which lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now southern Coahuila in northern Mexico. It is known from a partial skeleton of an adult which includes several skull elements. Another specimen may represent a juvenile Coahuilaceratops. All specimens of Coahuilaceratops were My drawing of CollectA’s Deinotherium recently collected from a single location in the Cerro del Pueblo Formation, dating around 72 million years ago. Although they are incomplete, Coahuilaceratops is thought to have had some of the largest horns of any dinosaur currently known, rivaling those of larger Chasmosaurines like Triceratops and Torosaurus. Its horns are estimated to have been up to 4 feet long.
bighorn sheep backing up on its hind legs before head-butting another sheep for dominance. (I don’t know if that is what Cliff had in mind but he should like that idea because that would mean you would need to buy two of this model to complete the fight scene.) It could also be portraying a defensive stance to scare off a predator. I doubt if very many theropods would want to tangle with those huge horns. Cliff always performs thorough research on his sculpting projects and this latest kit seems to appear exactly as the animal was described. New saber-toothed cat resin Cliff has put quite a bit of exhaustive kit from Japan detail into the skin of his Coahuilaceratops giving it a nice look that will paint up nicely. The completed kit is approximately nine inches long. I know that many modelers reading this are looking for new types of prehistoric animals to build so here is your chance; a newly discovered ceratopian dinosaur with some of the longest horns known. Pretty cool. See his ad on the facing page for his contact information.
My drawing of Safari Ltd’s new Concavenator
Only one resin kit for review this time (I can remember when a issue of PT would have four pages of resin dino kit reviews) but I do have some great dinosaur toy figures for review. From our good friends at CollectA, we received the latest for the first half of 2013, starting with their rearing up Diplodocus. It stands almost a foot tall with striped camouflage and a scuted tail and back. Also new is Diabloceratops. This dinosaur from Utah had huge, curving horns on the top of its frill. Last, and in my opinion best is C o l l e c t A’s My drawing Deinotherium. of Wild Safari’s This is a beautinew Diabloceratops ful representation of this ancient elephant mostly known from Europe that was one of the largest elephants known - really nice! Anthony Beeson and CollectA have done it again!
Utah paleoartist/sculptor Cliff Green loves ceratopian dinosaurs and has sculpted most of those known to science. So, of course when a new genus from Mexico was recently described, Cliff was among the first to recreate what it most likely looked Safari Ltd’s Cambrian Life Toob and Cliff Green’s new Coahuilaceratops magnacuerna like now you can own a copy of it. C l i f f ’s 1/20th The great folks at Safari Ltd were kind enough scale seven to send their 2013 figures too. I especially love the piece resin Cambrian Life Toob with eight ancient sea creamodel includes a small tures. These proto-animals represent some of the first living things on the rocky base that the planet and are fascinating. Also really well done is Safari Ltd’s 1:25 scale dinosaur is rearing up theropod dinosaur Concavenator with its interesting fin-like protrusion on on. It reminds me of a its back. Safari Ltd is really staying up-to-date with this newly discovered dinosaur from Spain. Exciting and nicely done new figures from Wild Safari include their version of Diabloceratops, the famous snake-necked marine reptile Elasmosaurus, Gastornis, the European terror bird, the duck-billed Gryposaurus you saw in Safari’s ad in the last issue and the flying Dimorphodon as seen in Safari’s ad in this issue. All are highly recommended. We thank good friend of PT Dean Walker, who’s DeJankins Company sent us the new Favorite Dinosaur collection from Japan. There are 13 including two versions of Tyrannosaurus rex and DeJankins has them all in stock. DeJankins has really good prices and gives really good customer service. More of a review on them next issue. See DeJankin’s ad on page 27. 34
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www.g-fan.com Godzilla Fans! Subscribe Today!
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Megalodon © Alberto Gennari
albertogennari68.blogspot.it
READER ART Sinotyrannus kazuoensis, Kileskus aristotocus, Proceratosaurus bradleyi, Guanlong wucaii © Fabio Pastori
© Bob Eggleton
Triceratops © Davide Bonadonna Styracosaurus © Angie Rodrigues Dacentrurus © Ivan Gromicho
Iguanodons © Angie Rodrigues 36
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Styxosaurus family © Jacek Major Camarasaurus © Ivan Gromicho Argentinosaurs © Jacek Major
R E A D E R A R T
Mezosaurus © Jacek Major
Balaur bondoc © Fabio Pastori
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Postosuchus
Postosuchus wasn’t foolish enough to fall for that. It continued biting down and at any sign of life twisted its head violently from side to side thrashing the amphibian’s body about in an attempt to break the creature’s neck. After several long minutes and no sign of life, the Postosuchus opened its mouth and allowed the dead creature to drop to the ground. It then placed one large foot on its victim, repositioned its jaws, bit and heaved backward and ripped away a large chunk of flesh. This it tossed down its mouth with a snap-flick of its head.
© Douglas Henderson
Monarch of the Triassic By Phil Hore
[email protected]
For millennia they had ruled the world. Since the first insects scuttled onto land, the amphibians had been close behind. They had grown large and fearsome with jaws full of needle-like teeth and bodies powerful enough to wrestle even the largest prey into submission. That had been then, though. Today was a new world filled with new creatures. No longer requiring a source of water to breed and with eggs tough enough to survive the arid conditions of the Triassic, reptiles now skittered and crawled about. Many were small enough to fall prey to the crocodilelike amphibians called temnospondyls (Greek ‘cut-vertebra’), but not all of them.
Wolfing down its meal, the reptile didn’t notice a group of newcomers moving toward the water’s edge to investigate. The sound of the fight had first caught their attention, but it was now the scent of fresh blood that was keeping them there. These predators were much smaller than Postosuchus, and although they had fast bodies and mouths full of sharp teeth, the idea they could get any food away from the feeding predator was laughable. The future would belong to the descendants of Coelophysis, but for today and the near future there was only one monarch of the Triassic, and it would gladly devour any of the dinosaurs sharing its world. Although we like to think of dinosaurs like T. rex as the rulers of the Mesozoic, this wasn’t always the case. In the oceans swam creatures far larger and more ferocious than they, and during the Triassic, carnivorous dinosaurs rarely grew larger than a kangaroo. It was to their close cousins, and one of the only archosaur groups to survive the great extinction at the end of the Cretaceous, that we look toward for top predator of the age. Modern crocodiles are part of a long lineage of reptiles that, at various times, have dominated the ecosystems in which they lived. Australia once had crocs capable of climbing trees (drop crocs); there were ocean-swimming crocs (Thalattosuchia); and the bizarre crocodilians found in the Sahara by Paul Sereno and his team (Duck-croc, Rat-croc, Boar-croc, and © Betty Reid Martin
Charging out of the dense fern forest lining the edge of the creek, a Postosuchus (post-uh-SOO-kuss) launched itself at the large amphibian Archosaurs © John Sibbick www.johnsibbick.com
heading upstream, catching the temnospondyl in its enormous jaws. Although its victim thrashed about attempting to escape, the rauisuchian just clamped down even harder to make its sharp teeth puncture the reptile-like skin of the amphibian with ease and to hold it in place. Soon its victim’s struggles grew weaker and then ceased altogether, though the 38
© Tan Ngo
Pancake-croc) that need to be seen to be believed. In the Triassic there were numerous crocodile and pseudocrocodile groups, from the very crocodilelooking phytosaurs and crocodylomorphs, to the herbivorous aetosaurs (‘eagle-lizards’), and the enormous rauisuchids like Postosuchus. Named after the first location where it was found (Post Quarry, Garza, Texas), Postosuchus was a member of the rauisuchians, a group of large reptilian predators with a pillarlike stance similar (though Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
not identical) to that of dinosaurs. The common perception is that these were a United States–based group, but rauisuchians have been found across the planet, and most were far larger than Postosuchus. Germany’s Teratosaurus was found in 1860 and was misidentified as a dinosaur, a herbivore, and even the ancestor of all theropods. Polonosuchus was uncovered in new fossil-bearing rocks in Poland during the mid-2000s, and this exposure is helping expand our knowledge of the Triassic. In 1938 Prestosuchus was uncovered in Brazil and is known from some nicely preserved specimens. Saurosuchus was a whopping 23 to 30 feet long and was discovered in Argentina (and possibly Arizona) though there’s possibly an even larger species from the same place. Fasolasuchus was well over 30 feet, making it the largest land predator to ever walk the Earth if you don’t count the very largest theropod dinosaurs, and some of these it may have given a run for their money. An apex predator, seeing Postosuchus, would have been like seeing a tyrannosaur in the Cretaceous or swimming with a Great White today. At 13 feet long and 700 pounds, these powerful carnivores had elongated bodies, armored skin, and crocodile-like heads. Two species are known, P. kirkpatricki and P. alisonae, with the former found in Texas and the latter in North Carolina. The size of Postosuchus has led to one small mystery: just how did it move? The size and weight (and especially that large head) on all rauisuchians indicate that they may have been quadrupeds, distributing their weight © Kevin Hedgpeth
© Frederik Spindler www.frederik-spindler.de © Samuel Pickens
over all four limbs. Their small arms (at least half the length of their rear legs), however, indicate the beasts could occasionally walk on two. Perhaps like a cat or bear, the predator alternated, walking and running on four legs, but during an attack it could rear up and use its “hands” to control and kill its prey. This would make it facultative bipedal.
© Douglas Henderson
This is speculation, but the front limbs end in small, five-fingered hands with only one digit containing a large claw. This indicates they may have used their forward limbs for locomotion and grasping prey, and we see a similar system on the marsupial lion Thylacoleo. The rear legs of Postosuchus were pillarlike, similar to those found on
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dinosaurs. The hip, however, was oriented differently, meaning both are not closely related. Instead, this stance is a case of convergent evolution and appeared separately in both. The 55 cm skull of Postosuchus was huge and contained large olfactory sensors. The teeth were large, with some reaching over 3 inches, wickedly curved and serrated. The top jaw had more teeth than the lower jaw (34 compared to 30), and these didn’t so much grow underneath and replace the older tooth (like crocs) but grew up and absorbed the older tooth.
one of the hottest times the planet has ever known, but the massive deserts were within the interior of the continent. The coastal regions on the other hand would have been green and lashed by unimaginable monsoons, driven by the heat pouring out of the heart of Pangaea clashing with cool air from the ocean. The latest species deserves a special mention here. P. alisonae was uncovered in North Carolina © Wade Carmen
© Philip Brownlow
philbrownlow.co.uk
Postosuchus just didn’t look like a dinosaur; parts of its pelvis were similar to those of early theropods (causing a certain amount of confusion) though no theropod had the large crocodile-like armor plates (called osteoderms, or scutes) the rauisuchians had. Originally Postosuchus was thought to be a crocodile when first unearthed in 1922 by Ermine Cowles Case, only to be redescribed by Case later as a Coelophysis. It took more discoveries, including several from Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park, to change this view. For some time, many of these remains were considered a phytosaur.
and is one of the most remarkable finds ever. Not only did paleontologists find a Postosuchus, but inside the predator’s stomach were the remains of not one but four victims—an aetosaur, a dicynodont, a cynodont (Plinthogomphodon), and what looks to be a temnospondyl. If this weren’t enough, another skeleton was discovered lying underneath the Postosuchus. Dromicosuchus looked like a two-legged croc, and, even better, its head and neck were covered with bite marks, possibly from the rauisuchian lying on top. There cannot be many more interesting fossils than this in the world!
It wasn’t until 1980, when a dozen specimens were found near Post Town, Texas, that the truth was recognized. An articulated specimen was unearthed inside the Coelophysis quarry at Ghost Ranch, and for the first time scientists had the evidence they needed to start putting all these © Douglas Henderson bones together correctly. The Triassic was o n c e © Elliott Smith stalked by
There are some nicely done Postosuchus figures available including the Wild Safari
a monstrous crocodilel i k e predator as large as a dinosaur. These new fossils have helped clear up another mistake as well. Many of us have the idea that Postosuchus lived in a very dry environment. This is perhaps attributable to documentaries like “Walking with Dinosaurs,” which showed Postosuchus plodding across a barren landscape. Nothing could be further from the truth. Plant fossils found alongside Postosuchus reveal the local ecosystem was lush and wet, more rainforest than desert. The fact that fish and amphibians have been found with Postosuchus bite marks covering them, only highlights this fact. Much of the world was indeed hot and arid thanks to the enormous interior of Pangaea, the supercontinent that formed during the Triassic. This was 40
© Paul Passano
figure and the one included in Safari Ltd’s Prehistoric Crocodiles Toob. Other manufacturers include Ral Partha, Toyway (Walking With Dinosaurs), Imperial, Salvat, Lontic (a large and small) and QRF. There is also Bullyland’s Batrachotomus; most Postosuchus reconstructions are based on this related animal.
© Meg Bernstein
Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
Of Prehistoric (Sculpted) Creatures Great & Small: Pallenberg’s and Edwards’ Monsters of Bygone Ages
and hundreds (perhaps thousands!!) of individual lifesized prehistoric animal creations scattered around the globe. Although largely unheralded today, Pallenberg’s was the second such display and here I’ll delve into how it was formerly promoted by journalists when it was viewed as more of a novelty, if not sensation. Why do Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins’ timeless yet “antediluvian” creations still exhibited at Sydenham remain celebrated today, whereas Pallenberg’s seem mired in obscurity?
Carl Hagenbeck
By Allen A. Debus From photographs and other information that have come to my attention through the decades, I’ve long marveled about life-sized dinosaur models sculpted by Josef Pallenberg (1882Iguanodon statue on cover of 1911 1946) for Carl Scientific American. H a g e n b e c k ’s Tierpark in Stellingen, Germany (which opened in 1907). Certainly, lifesized prehistoric animal models are no longer novelties today. In fact, increasingly, the newer sculptures are jazzed-up animatronic, interactive types, (as opposed to static varieties cast in cold, heartless concrete). Unlike a century ago, paleosculptors and technicians have more materials with which to avail themselves, such as fiberglass, plastics and silicone rubber, than simply plaster or cement. Today, scientifically accurate dinosaur statues and models adorn both the hallways and exterior landscapes of numerous natural history museums, whereas those of yesteryear – built with varying degrees of accuracy - were often created as roadside “tourist traps” or perhaps for special temporary exhibitions. One may find life-sized dinosaur models at many locations around North and South America, Europe, Cuba, Asian countries, Australia, the African continent, and – where this unusual practice originated – southern England. A century ago, there was only one such dinosaur “park,” while now there are dozens
(As an aside, Pallenberg’s statuesque restorations weren’t the only new life-sized, in-the-flesh prehistoric animals created between 1854 and 1909. For instance, Hawkins evidently did complete some of his “Palaeozoic Museum” sculptures at least in clay during the 1868 – 1871 period before they were demolished. During the late 1800s Henry Ward sold an impressive fuzzy Woolly Mammoth recreation, a replica of which appeared at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. And a life-sized Stegosaurus restoration made from papier-mache’ was sculpted for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair Exposition, before its subsequent transfer to the Smithsonian. But indeed, Pallenberg’s primeval creations constituted the world’s second great outdoor dinosaur “park.”) According to Dr. Claus Hagenbeck (correspondence dated 7/10/1990), “…the dinosaurs, originally designed in concrete by Josef Pallenberg in 1909 … have been reshaped and covered with fiberglass in the 1960s.” A 1971 document enclosed with Hagenbeck’s letter indicated there were nine life-sized prehistoric animal sculptures represented at the “Dinosaurier Diplodocus, Allosaurus, Iguanodon, Tierpark.” These included Stegosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Teleosaurus, Pareiosaurus, Plesiosaurus
Pages from 1931 Milwaukee Sentinel
and Miolania. Another enclosed sheet stated how Pallenberg studied under professors Rober, Spatz and Jansen at the Dusseldorf Academy and then returned to the Zoological Gardens as a sculptor. Here Pallenberg created the animal sculptures of living animals at the entrance of the zoo. And he modeled dinosaurs too. His reputation thereafter carried to South America, where, in La Plata, a Nature Park was founded for which Pallenberg labored to produce life-size primeval sculptures made of copper. It is unfortunate that the ruling government then did not provide means for completion of this work. So where and how did the connection between extant animals and the considerably long-extinct possibly arise? The rather idiosyncratic decision Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
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to invest in life-sized dinosaur restorations rests with Carl Hagenbeck (1844 – 1913), the internationally renown wild life collector and trader who inaugurated the open-air zoological gardens at Stellingen, Germany. Carl Hagenbeck was intrigued by the pursuit of “unknown animals,” and in the autobiographical Beasts and Men (English ed. 1909) he concisely summed up efforts to track perhaps the strangest attraction of all – yes, dinosaurs still allegedly living in Central Africa (e.g. “Rhodesia”). He financed expeditions to “the great swamps” to capture a “huge monster, half elephant, half dragon… seemingly akin to the brontosaurus.” Inaugurating what has been dubbed the “Hagenbeck Dinosaur Controversy,” he added, “I am almost convinced that some such reptile must still be in existence.” Although Hagenbeck’s brief summary was “buried” within his book, the story caught on like wildfire, soon reaching the American Press by January 1910 where Professor W. D. Matthew and Dr. William Hornaday became commentators; the hoopla petered out by the spring of 1913. (For more on this episode see Dwight Smith and Gary S. Mangiacopra’s article “Carl Hagenbeck and the Rhodesian Dinosaurs,” Strange Magazine no. 5, 1990.) Were the natives stoking the fires of imagination to a certain degree?
Vernon Edwards' sculptures as printed in Shepstone's 1934 article.
Vernon Edwards' sculptures as printed in Shepstone's 1934 article.
Surely this sort of thing – deceiving the gullible whenever possible with prehistorical tales - has happened before. (Also see my “The Truth IS Out there: On the trail of ‘living’ dinosaurs,” chapter 15, pp. 280-292, in Dinosaur Memories 2002.) So what may have been the incentive? Maybe when the proposition arose of casting life-sized dinosaurs within his zoo - perhaps substituting as a ‘consolation prize’ for those specimens allegedly persisting in Central Africa but which defied capture, Hagenbeck simply beckoned to Pallenberg, willing him to make them “live.” Or at least, ‘putting two & two’ conveniently together, that is my speculation. (I also wonder to what extent Arthur Conan Doyle may have known of this episode in natural history.) Given that the dinosaurier portion of the Tierpark was the second attempt to create such a curiosity involving life-sized, in-the-flesh dinosaur restorations, and the first in which each dino-creation appears more or less “modern” (recognizing that Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins’ then 55-year old creations were once fully considered “scientifically accurate” according to contemporary standards), shouldn’t 42
Pallenberg’s models have stirred quite a sensation? Why would so little generally be known about Tierpark’s paleo-denizens today, say, when compared to Hawkins’ monumental creations at Sydenham? Weren’t these models more celebrated in their day? With some help I was able to find a sampling of early journalistic reporting (published in English) concerning the park’s prehistoric denizens. Let’s see what two journalists then had to say about it. A “Mrs. C. R. Miller” composed an engaging story, “Monsters of Bygone Ages,” concerning Stellingen’s dinosaurs for Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly Newspaper (Dec. 11, 1913, pp. 563, 573). Playing up the cryptozoological “lost world-ish” angle by way of introduction, she finally got to the point: “While these models are interesting, the average person longs to see them in the open among the trees and grass.” She mentions that the “rather startling” models were sculpted from “plaster and burlap” (not concrete!), which of course wouldn’t weather well in such an environment. In addition to the listing of prehistoric specimens on display cited earlier, in a published photograph one spies an Ichthyosaurus swimming in a lake off to the right rearward side of the bipedal Iguanodon statue standing on shore. She also mentions a “Tryannosaurus” (sic) displayed in the act of devouring a smaller animal. But this description may instead correspond to an Allosaurus posed in a hunched over eating stance according to a Charles Knight painted restoration. And Mrs. Miller refers to a certain publication only recently circulated in the pages of The Strand Magazine, claiming “The visitor may wander at will among these models, which are set up in such apparently natural positions that for a time it seems that one is standing on the great plateau described by A. Conan Doyle in his ‘Lost World’.” Conan Doyle’s brilliant “Lost World” story had been serialized in The Strand from April to November, 1912. She states the models are intended to represent the Jurassic Period of 10 to 15 mya.) So if not a “Lost World” then perhaps the original “Jurassic Park”?) Yet (inconsistently) she states the Triceratops family represents the Cretaceous Period (i.e. from 7 to 10 mya). However, in his lead-in to the story, the editor pronounces Barnum Brown’s then recent discovery of Monoclonius as a creature thought ancestral to the Triceratops that lived a mere “three million years ago.” Obviously the geological time scale hadn’t yet been refined absolutely using radiometric data (and wouldn’t be for another two decades). However, the earliest article I’ve located concerning the dinosaur park appeared in a December 1910 issue of The Strand Magazine, titled “A Prehistoric Zoo” penned by Harold J. Shepstone. Shepstone (who carried the title of “F.R.G.S.” which I believe stands for Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society). Shepstone was a prolific journalist who wrote on a potpourri of topics for a variety of magazines. He also authored books with titles like Wild Beasts of Today (1931), Polar Adventures (1952), Cavalcade of Ships (1945), A Modern Utopia (1899), and The Gum Lands of New Zealand (1919), etc. And between 1910 and 1911 he also published two articles on Hagenbeck’s Tierpark, the first chronologically of which was his enlightening “A Prehistoric Zoo.” Here we learn things otherwise lost in the shuffle of time (and turmoil of 2 world wars). For instance, Shepstone states, “In all, some thirty have been erected, but more are to follow, until we have a complete prehistoric zoo.” Thirty is a greater number than Mrs. Miller accounted for in her article three years later. (Actually, she didn’t directly provide a ‘body count’ of exhibited statues.) Shepstone specifically mentions, for instance “curious fin-backed lizards” on shoreline view (possibly Dimetrodon dating from the Permian Period), “prehistoric crocodiles” (probably Teleosaurus), a “sloth, dodo and mammoth” and 12-foot long tortoises and toads made “in stone,” one of which may have been the Middle Triassic Mastodonosaurus a head of which was positioned breaking surface in the lake. He also states that the models have been cast in Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
cement (not plaster and burlap). Shepstone offers more complete documentation of how Pallenberg completed his work. “Fossil remains of many extinct beasts have been discovered, thus enabling man to reconstruct with marvelous accuracy the mighty beasts of bygone ages. Every care, too, has been taken to render the representations accurate. Before the sculptor commenced operations at the park he spent twelve months in preparatory work. He visited all the leading museums in Europe, including the one at South Kensington, consulted with leading naturalists, and made extensive drawings and sketches of the bones of those beasts which have been unearthed by the fossil-hunters. The American Museum of Natural History in New York rendered particularly valuable services in supplying drawings as well as measurements. Before work was actually commenced in the grounds models were built up in clay, casts taken of them and these were submitted to leading authorities for opinion. When it was found that they differed the models were remade and submitted again until they met with Josef Pallenberg the desired approval. In this way the prehistoric animals at Stellingen may be regarded as scientifically correct.” So it seems as if Pallenberg went about his business most professionally and exactingly, much as did Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins did half a century earlier. Prominently and foremost on show around the lake were the 25’ tall Iguanodon, then more correctly posed (relative to Hawkins’ models at Sydenham) as a biped, and a 66’ long Diplodocus, an 18’ tall “duplicate” of a skeleton exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History (not the 84’ long plaster specimen displayed in London). Shepstone also discussed Othniel Marsh’s precocious opinions of a Stegosaurus with a double row of plates that was a dinosaur “trying to become a mammal.” And Plesiosaurus was considered “half mammal and half fish.” Rather than a restricted “Jurassic Park” ambiance, it seems Pallenberg intended to distinctively convey a lifethrough-time portrayal of prominent life forms evolving from our planetary history beginning with the Late Paleozoic into the recent Glacial Period (although emphasizing Mesozoic ‘reptilian’ forms). “All around, peeping out amid the shrubs and trees, standing by the water’s edge and emerging from the lake itself, are wonderfully realistic and life-size models of those creatures that dwelt upon this globe from the days of the “thunder lizards” and beyond, down to the time of the mammoth, going back at least seven to ten million years.” There were also representations of Archaeopteryx and giant dragon flies placed upon boulders outside the Insect House Shepstone was truly impressed with the layout, concluding, “Altogether, it is a wonderful aggregation of prehistoric wild-life which Mr. Hagenbeck has constructed in his park. Then it is both valuable and instructive, as well as novel and picturesque. The animals have been so realistically conceived that one obtains, with a minimum of exercise and study, a faithful representation of those strange beasts, reptiles, and birds that dwelt upon this globe in the distant past.” Our next glimpse of the Tierpark came with Shepstone’s April 8, 1911 Scientific American article, “Monsters of Bygone Ages: some remarkable restorations of extinct animals.” This article generally repeats what was stated four months earlier in The Strand, yet we do learn a bit more about the park. Evidently, the Iguanodon was the first model sculpted by Pallenberg: Diplodocus came next. Also it is apparent that Shepstone conversed onsite Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
directly with Pallenberg concerning how he designed and constructed the models. For instance, it is stated, “He admitted to me that he had obtained a great deal of help from the authorities of the American Museum of Natural History…” Furthermore, Shepstone “noticed in his office drawings as well as measurements. I noticed in his office, too, copies of the Scientific American containing articles and illustrations on the subject.” Concerning those aforementioned finbacks, “These … have comparatively speaking small bodies and a curious erection down the center of their back like a frill. They are shown standing on the banks while a few are depicted swimming in the water.” And there is some clarification about the sculptures adorning the Insect House, as “…the outside wall of this structure is composed of artificial boulders built up in the form of steps. Upon these have been placed huge flying creatures of uncouth form, and specimens of extinct birds.” A photograph illustrating this article refers to a “Dactylosaurus” resting upon some boulders, although this is clearly the Pteranodon. It is reasonable to presume that the photos appearing in Shepstone’s articles were taken by him; several are credited to him in his 1934 article, to be mentioned shortly. Although Shepstone refers to thirty or so models displayed at the Tierpark, in photos published in the articles cited herein or in recent books, I’ve only seen photos of eleven genera represented as Pallenberg’s sculptures. These include: Allosaurus, Diplodocus, Pteranodon, a Triceratops ‘family’, Mastodonosaurus, Ceratosaurus biting into Stegosaurus, Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus, a ‘croc-like creature’ – possibly Teleosaurus, and the Iguanodon statue which has a ‘cameo’ in the Max Fleischer 1923 silent film, Evolution. But I’ve never seen photos of his Mammoth, “fin-backs,” or others rounding out the paleo-zoo ‘herd’ of two & a half-dozen witnessed by Shepstone. Two decades later Shepstone wrote another article concerning paleontology in which he relied on five photos of Pallenberg’s sculptures for illustration. This was a chapter titled “Big Game of Other Days” appearing in a book, Wild Life of Our World (Crossland and Parrish, eds., 1934). “Big Game” projects quite an ensemble of visually captivating paleosculpture! The chapter is basically about the history of ancient life with details concerning how fossils form and also how paleontologists find and reconstruct fossil vertebrates. (Unfortunately, even for its time it is fraught with technical errors.) Like many popularizers of his day, Shepstone was caught up in the “nature red in tooth & claw” aspect of prehistory, claiming “These ancient creatures were anything but a happy family and were continually at war.” Shepstone seems to have been preferential toward paleosculpture, as opposed to painted restorations, for in this chapter he also relied on eight miniature, three-dimensional restorations sculpted by Vernon Edwards – whom we’ll turn to now. The Wild Life of Our World volume has long been in our home. It was one of my father’s books, serving as my introduction to Pallenberg’s artistry. And for many years I was also very intrigued by Vernon Edwards’ sculptures, which were not credited to him in the book but instead to “Camerascopes-Mondiale.” Decades flew by before I was able to learn more about this latter organization, eventually realizing that the sculptures were Professor Edwards’ handiwork. Perhaps the best summary I’ve come across about these models appeared as a March 27, 1931 Press Release re-published in The Milwaukee Sentinel (4/5/1931, pp.14-15, 25), a story titled 43
“Lifelike models of extinct monsters of bygone ages.” Therein it states, “Scientists of the British Museum collaborate with a distinguished sculptor-scientist to reconstruct accurately many of the strange creatures which roamed the Earth in prehistoric times.” These featured dioramas were created by the head of the British Museum’s Geology Dept., Professor Vernon Edwards – who was the cited sculptor and a scientist. Edwards’ mini-paleozoo was among the first to be displayed inside a natural history museum.
Most of this article is about how Edwards went about his magnificent work. You must realize that during those pre-King Kong/Chicago World’s Fair days, prehistoric dioramas (both life-sized as in Pallenberg’s case, or in miniature form) remained a relatively rare commodity. Edwards instructed, “It is curious to note what a marvelous amount of information the Paleontologist is able to extract from a few ancient bones.” A great number of fossil clues afforded him with suitable if not often subtle information “…which led me to attempt the reconstruction of scenes showing the animals in their natural surroundings…” So many fossils and “…other wonders beyond computation go to make the strange story written in the pages of time for the scientist to read and for the artist to record.” Thereafter, as the article goes on to say, because “not everybody in Great Britain is able to make the journey to London to study (the models)… authorities have had photographic studies made of these scientific reconstructions of the huge beasts in their natural environment of prehistoric times. … photographic experts, Camerascopes, Ltd. … of London have photographed the series and mounted prints are supplied by them to schools, museums, scientific societies and individuals.” Nine photos of Edwards’ miniature prehistoric dioramas (five of which
44
featured Cenozoic genera) appear in the 1931 article, a menagerie including Arsinoitherium, Megatherium (w/ paleo-indian), Phenacodus, Uintatherium, Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, Machairodus, Triceratops and Ceratosaurus. Edwards’ dinosaur dioramas were also later highlighted in a 1934 book by William E. Swinton, The Dinosaurs: A Short History of a Great Group of Extinct Reptiles, including several not seen in the 1931 Milwaukee Sentinel. Additional genera shown in Swinton’s splendid book included time-honored types such as armored “Scolosaurus,” Polacanthus, Scelidosaurus, Plateosaurus, Styracosaurus and tree-hugging Hypsilophodon. In his day, Vernon Edwards was quite an accomplished & prolific sculptor.
Pallenberg's Allosaurus (left) and "Dactyl" (right), from 1911 Scientific American
So why was Pallenberg lost in time relative to Hawkins, and the Stellingen models less known or celebrated today than those at Sydenham? I’m not providing a satisfying answer here. We are reading PT, which is printed in English and news of the German park was probably mostly documented in German. In fact, there are probably more such articles buried in the periodical stacks (including those printed in German or other foreign languages; I simply worked here with materials that were readily accessible). A mild cultural gap. But also, I am not certain to what extent the park was impacted by two world wars. Also, I am interested to know what became of Professor Edwards prehistoric animal sculptures. And so this story shall continue, when information & time permits. (With thanks to Gary Williams, David Goldman and Karl Debus for facilitating copies of 3 of the aforementioned articles.)
Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
C re t a c eo u s Classifieds Free to subscribers but must be updated each issue FOR SALE: adorable Postcards and Watercolor Paintings of Dinosaurs and other Prehistoric Faunas www.etsy.com/shop/Dinorawrs Wanted: Copy of underwater variant rules for Saurian Safari that was published in Wargames Illustrated. Randy Knol
[email protected] We have DinoStoreus skulls and models in need of repair for sale. Look at the back cover of just about any issue of Prehistoric Times magazine and the sample images on that page and you will see the wonderful skeletal and fleshed-out dinosaur models by DinoStoreus. We have been a distributor for many years and have a few dozen DinoStoreus models that need repairs ranging from a missing tooth to a broken jaw. If you like a small challenge or have built model kits before and want to save some money, then you would have no problem repairing these models to complete your collection. Just about every skull and model on this list is available. Just give us a call 304-2822306 or email
[email protected] to check on availability. Each skull or model is only $25 each compared with $50+ retail. FOR SALE: Tamiya Diorama models: Chasmosaurus, Triceratops, Parasaurolophus, Velociraptors Pack of Six, Mesozoic Creatures, and Brachiosaurus. ITC Modelcraft skeleton kits of Tyrannosaurus, Brontosaurus, and Stegosaurus. Weta Collectibles mint in their original boxes: V-rex vs Kong, Venatosaurus Attack, Skull Island Natives, Kong's Last Stand (Empire State Building) and more. From Sideshow Dinosauria: Carnotaurus, Styracosaurus, Deinosuchus vs Parasaurolophus, T.rex vs Triceratops(no boxes on these) From Gentle Giant: Luke Skywalker on Tauntaun By X-Plus: ALIEN these last two are mint in their original boxes. All are made of resin. Please email Pat at:
[email protected] Attention Museums and collectors – Five original lamps designed by and made for Zdenek Burian's art studio for sale, contact me, Jiri Hochman for photograph, details and prices. Zdenek Burian post cards, posters, coffee cups and copyrights of Burian images for sale. Also looking for a producer/sponsor for: a Zdenek Burian exhibition in the USA/Canada etc ZB Great Monograph for sale in the USA/Canada etc production of copies of ZB original paintings for sale a completely new book (the best of) Zdenek Burian – Action Illustration - website: www.zdenekburian.com or contact
[email protected] For Sale: My book, Lens to the Natural World: Reflections on Dinosaurs, Galaxies, and God by Ken Olson (Foreword by Jack Horner, endorsed by Kevin Padian of the National Center for Science Education). Celebrating the wonders of nature, this is a work of “science & religion & philosophy & literature,” and navigates a middle way between the vocal extremists on the issue of evolution. I have been a Research Associate in Paleontology at The Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, MT for 24 years. List price is $26; add just $2 to ship in the lower 48 states. Send check or USPS money order to: Ken Olson, 1009 W. Blvd, Lewistown, MT 59457. For Sale: Horizon 1/19 scale vinyl Jurassic Park Brachiosaur kit. Original box and parts still in poly bag. $125 plus shipping. Dave Colton –
[email protected] For Sale: Tamiya 1/35 Scale Brachiosaurus diorama sealed new in original box. $75 plus $15 shipping. MO to Gregory Flanagan 268 7th St Brooklyn, NY 11215 Wanted: Jurassic Park 3 Re-Ak Attack Dilophosaurus in original green color. Must still be in package and in good condition. Negotiable. Contact Adam at
[email protected]. Wanted: I am interested in any playvisions animal figures but especially the African Forest Buffalo, Chital (Axis Deer) and Dhole. I am also looking for Jeols Bushpig, Safari Vanishing Wild Gemsbok (adult and calf), and ELC Kob. I would be interested in almost any mammal figures, prehistoric and modern. Please email me at
[email protected], you can call at 801 597 8875 or write to Keith Brown, 3032 S 5990 W, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84128 For Sale : Complete set of Battat dinosaurs for sale, as a set.
Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
I also have one of the few JP full size raptor promotional pieces. This piece is unreal. I'm also downsizing a very large collection of various pieces amassed over 20 years of collecting. I have many unique and extremely hard to find dinosaurs and mammals that are no longer in production. Most of these are sets, all are in mint condition and never used other than for display. Call and or e-mail for more information on what's available.
[email protected] 513-737-6695 Wanted: Safari Ltd "dinosaur mountain" retail counter display. Replica collector looking for 1-3 of these large plastic racks to display ever-growing collection. Are you a museum, gift shop, or fellow collector with an extra one to get rid of? Contact Justin at
[email protected] For Sale or trade: I offer all the large J H Miller prehistoric animals/dinosaurs, caveman, cavewoman and cave. I have many SRG, both large and small, including the caveman, a complete set of Linde dinos, complete set of Battat (Boston Museum) dinos, Castagna dinos, Alva Bronto, Marx, Chialu, Starlux and more. Call Jim Van Dyke 616-669-3897
[email protected] WANTED: Max Salas 1/35 Entelodon and Andrewsarchus. Needed for my collection. Will buy or trade. Contact Ron at
[email protected]. WANTED: RAY HARRYHAUSEN & STOP-MOTION RELATED 'ZINES Colossa #1 (1993) / Hollywood Horror Classics #4 (1996) Cinemagram #1 (1964) / Cinefantastique #2 (Mimeo - Apr 1967) Mystification #6 (1965) / Animals Magazine (Aug 1969) - British Wonder #2 (Summer 1989) / Box Office Vol. 90 #16 (Feb 6 1967) Spectre #18 (Mar/Apr 1968) / Photon #1, 7, 13 (1963, 1965, 1967) Vampire's Crypt #8 (Dec 1963) / Amazing Screen Horrors #6 (1966) Just Imagine #4 (1977) - British / Cosmos Aventuras #9 (May 1964) Ray Harryhausen Journal (1973) / Animation Journal #4 (May 1965) Stop-Motion Monsters of Filmland #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9 Japanese (1990’s) King Kong: Unauthorized Jewish Fractals in Philopatry (1996) Contact: Scott McRae (
[email protected]) Wanted: PT issues 1-22 & later back issues no longer available through PT, Marx dinos in metallic green, Pom Poms candy boxes w/ Aurora Prehistoric Scenes art on them, SRG metal Dinychthys fish, Chialu dinos (Italian composition), NF Neoform dinos, La Brea (Wm Otto) standing cave bear, peccary & horse plus T. rex, Smithsonian metal prehistoric animals, Messmore & Damon 1933 Chicago World’s Fair metal figs., and Starlux Cephalaspis (jawless-fish) to complete my Starlux set! For Trade/Sale: vintage dinosaurs of most manufacturers. I’ve got a ton of old dinosaur figures for sale. I’m always buying pre-1970s dino collectibles --Please contact Mike Fredericks 145 Bayline Cir, Folsom, Ca 95630-8077, (916) 985-7986
[email protected] WANTED: Prehistoric Times issues 79, 81, 83, and 84. Also looking for any books, magazines, and/or DVDs on whale evolution/extinct whales/dolphins, ancient marine reptiles, elephant evolution/extinct elephants, and shark evolution/extinct sharks. Will pay by money order only. Also looking for any information on fossils in Alabama, Mississippi, and the rest of the southeastern US. Please call 205-269-7054. Wanted: any ice age animals for sale or trade that were recently available in PT, in a set of six. Interested in the whole set. Please be reasonable. Contact Gregory Ortiz at
[email protected] or phone at 714.679.6285 FOR SALE: Invicta Tyrannosaurus, Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, woolly mammoth, Glyptodon, Dimetrodon, Blue Whale, painted Liopleurodon, and painted Plesiosaurus. Bullyland 1993 Parasaurolophus. Dinotales Series 1 Triceratops skeleton and Tyrannosaurus. Carnegie Collection Beipiaosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Spinosaurus, and Cryolophosaurus. Wild Safari Scutosaurus, Mosasaurus, Kentrosaurus, Allosaurus, Rhamphorhynchus, Coelacanth, and Field Museum Anatotitan. All new 2011 Safari LTD figures are available too. Wanted: Battat Ceratosaurus, Diplodocus, Tyrannosaurus, Maiasaura, and Parasaurolophus - Andrew
[email protected] For Sale: 3/4'” cloisonne lapel pin that states: REUNITE GONDWANALAND and depicts Pangea and Laurasia united in one huge continent. Only a limited number are available. $8 includes the pin and postage. Contact Lynne Dickman, (406) 728-5221,
[email protected] Wanted: Hobby Trading Post (Nu-Card) DINOSAURS cards (B&W, post-card size) #'s 7, 13, 15, 28. I will gladly purchase these but I also have many duplicate cards available for trade. I would prefer "nice" condition cards (e.g., VG+ to Mint) without major creasing or other significant defects. Please contact me (Mike Riley) at:
[email protected] or at 303-566-1267 (weekdays, 7:00 am to 4:00 pm, MDT). MODELERS: PT build up writer, Sean Kotz, now has a
national hobby column on line at the Examiner. I am committed to bringing paleo models, sculptors and kits to the forefront on a regular basis, as well as all other forms of modeling from plastic kits to rocket ships. Go to www.examiner.com and search for "Model Building Examiner" or my name and bookmark or subscribe. You can also search out the Facebook Fan page Playset Magazine Plastic heaven, America's best info on vintage playsets by Marx and others from the Atomic Era and Beyond. Battleground, Zorro, news, classifieds to buy, color glossy. Complete website listings too! www.playsetmagazine.com, email
[email protected], or call (719) 634-7430 J H Miller repaired - your broken and incomplete vintage J H Miller plastic figures -expertly repaired. Ask for Nick Lamanec (484) 274-0315 FOR SALE: Looking for awesome paleontology-themed Tshirts? Visit www.cafepress.com/dannysdinosaurs! Featuring clever dinosaurian designs on everything from shirts to coffee mugs to bumper stickers, www.cafepress.com/dannysdinosaurs is a great place for all your dinosaur apparel needs. TOP DOLLAR PAID for prehistoric animal postcards including diorama scenes, statues, fossils, museum displays, etc. I also would like to purchase prehistoric animal museum or excavation site brochures and posters. If you have vintage dinosaur or prehistoric animal books or photographs from the 1900's up to 1980 please let me know since I also collect these. I have lots of paper ephemera such as this for trade if that is preferable. Please contact Stephen Hubbell (253) 851-7036 or email me at
[email protected]. search4dinosaurs.com is always looking to add new artists. If you are looking to promote your work this is the perfect place to do so. Each image on the site is viewed by hundreds’s and sometimes thousands of visitors each week. Many artists receive commission work from publishers after being seen here.There is no charge, just e-mail 6 or more examples of your art work and I’ll create the gallery page. I only show full body examples of Mesozoic creatures, several in one scene is fine. Level of expertise must match that of the work already being shown on the site. Images should be at least 600 x 400 pixel jpg or gifs, larger is better. For more information
[email protected] PALEOSCENE - Supplying fossils and museum quality fossil replicas at very affordable prices. Our replicas are carefully made from molds of the original fossil specimens.Each cast is meticulously hand painted to give a natural and realistic appearance closely matching the original fossil. Our replicas include many unusual and famous specimens, including Archaeopteryx, Seymouria, pterosaurs and other prehistoric reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, invertebrates (including trilobites), and a variety of dinosaur and pre-dinosaur tracks (will help artists get those feet and footprints right!). "Please visit our website at http://paleo.cc/paleoscene.htm or call 281-290-6751 or write to Glen Kuban, PaleoScene, 11702 Littlefield Ct, Tomball, TX 77377, Email:
[email protected]. PALEODIRECT.COM Your direct source for the finest and rarest fossil specimens along with tools and weapons of primitive man. With several thousand pages of fossils and primitive man artifacts displayed online, PaleoDirect.com is truly one of the largest online paleontological suppliers across the globe. Categories include a BROAD DIVERSITY of both INVERTEBRATE and VERTEBRATE fossils. We also specialize in genuine TOOLS and WEAPONS of PRIMITIVE HUMANS from the Lower PALEOLITHIC through the NEOLITHIC Periods up to and including the Iron Age. PALEO DIRECT, Inc. is a full-time, professional supplier and a member of the American Association of Paleontological Suppliers.We acquire specimens direct from the source regions of the world through exclusive affiliations with the diggers and their management as well as conduct several of our own international collecting expeditions each year. Furthermore, many of our rare specimens are prepared in-house by our own conservation facilities and staff. This explains our consistently better quality fossils than is usually found in the marketplace. In addition to what is shown on the site, an even greater inventory of specimens are either yet to be listed or in various states of preparation. Please contact us if you have interest in an item that is not shown. New material from around the world is constantly being added. If you wish to be added to our email list for when new specimens are updated to the website, please email or call us and let us know. PALEO DIRECT, INC. P. O. Box 160305 Altamonte Springs, FL 32716-0305 (407) 774-1063 www.PaleoDirect.com
[email protected] Supplying museums, educational facilities and discriminating collectors around the world.
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tastic events in the film (SEE! The man-eating Cyclops! SEE! The battle between the Cyclops and the dragon! SEE! Sinbad fight a living skeleton!). That easily became my choice for our Saturday movie the following weekend. We were dropped off on Saturday to catch a matinee showing of “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.” During intermission I called my mom to let her know that after the second feature we were going to watch “Seventh Voyage” again. Then, I begged my parents to let me see it two more times on Sunday. When given a choice of films the following weekend, my brothers and I rejected the new features we hadn’t seen in favor of viewing “Sinbad” a few more times. “Seventh Voyage” was the first film I ever saw as a child in which I became conscious of the importance of a film’s musical score. Bernard Herrmann’s Arabian Nights symphony for Sinbad still holds up as one of his finest scores. I personally rate it with not only the finest film scores in history but feel that it holds its own amongst classical music of that genre, including Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade.” Even at nine I knew enough about credits to figure out who was responsible for the Sinbad film’s magical beasts: Ray Harryhausen. From the moment I saw those awesome pixilations I began to seek out Harryhausen’s past work and anticipate each new stop-motion adventure with an enthusiasm I could barely control. I read all I could about the man and his work in Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine featuring articles written by Ray’s teenage pal Forrest J. Ackerman (Ray’s other friend from his teen years was Ray Bradbury. In 1953 Harryhausen brought Bradbury’s dinosaur from the short story “The Fog Horn” to life in the movie “The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms”).
Art and article © William Stout We often live in a bittersweet, yin and yang existence. On what should be one of the happiest days of my life (the official release date of my new book, “Legends of the Blues” which may seem unrelated to Prehistoric Times but one could consider many of the entries in my blues book to be dinosaurs…), I got hit with the devastating news of the passing of my friend and cinematic hero, the great Ray Harryhausen. For me (and a lot of other impressionable youths in 1958), my enchantment with the work of master stopmotion animator and special effects man Ray Harryhausen all began with experiencing “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.” I was nine years old. Upon its release I saw the film a magical seven times in two weeks. I couldn’t get enough of it — the visual splendor, the color, the magnificent Bernard Herrmann score, the wonderful cast…but I was especially awestruck by the film’s unique monsters. I come from a movie nut family. Together we consumed an average of six features per week (three double bills) at the drive-in. Then, on Saturday (and sometimes Sunday, too), my brothers and I would be dropped off by our parents at the Reseda Theater (or another local “walk-in”) to see another double bill or two. I had seen (and kept and drooled over) a full color section in the Sunday newspaper’s comics section announcing the advent of “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.” It was well-illustrated with pictures highlighting all of the fan46
I had to see each of Ray’s new films on opening day. Little did I suspect that one day Ray and I would become friends, eventually embarking together upon a dream project ignited by the supernatural spark of “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.” “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad” was not the first Harryhausen movie I ever saw. I recall being scared witless in the back seat of our Ford as I watched “Earth vs. Flying Saucers” at the Reseda drive-in in 1956. It was explained to me by my father that this was science fiction. He emphasized the “science” part of “science fiction”, however, impressing upon my young mind that the science part of it meant that this invasion of earth by flying saucers could indeed happen — a fact that might probably come to pass in the near future. Assuming it was just a matter of weeks, I began to plot and prepare for the inevitable while watching the movie. Ray’s first feature, “Mighty Joe Young”, may have been my first exposure to the sure and steady artistry of Mr. Harryhausen. After the dramatic success of the 1933 “King Kong” on the 50s TV package program the Million Dollar Movie (one film would be selected to be shown twice a day weekdays and then three times each on Saturday and Sunday), I can’t imagine that the Million Dollar Movie wouldn’t have shown “Mighty Joe Young” shortly thereafter. My Terra Nova Press book of drawings entitled ‘Tribute to Ray Harryhausen’ contained my graphic interpretations of every creature Ray Harryhausen ever animated for feature films.
Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
Here is a list of Ray’s amazing legacy of feature films: Mighty Joe Young (1949) The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953) It Came From Beneath The Sea (1955) The Animal World (1955/56) Earth vs. Flying Saucers (1956) 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958) The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960) Mysterious Island (1961) Jason and The Argonauts (1963) First Men In The Moon (1964) One Million B. C. (1966) The Valley of Gwangi (1969) The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) Sinbad and The Eye of The Tiger (1977) Clash of The Titans (1981) Ray and I eventually met through mutual friends. We found we had a lot in common, including a passion for “King Kong” (we both attended the 50th Anniversary recreation of the premiere of “King Kong” at Graumann’s Chinese Theater, as well as the VIP party afterwards with Fay Wray) and a keen admiration for the work of the pioneer visualizer of prehistoric life, Charles R. Knight, and for the French animalier sculptor Antoine Louis Barye. One of my favorite Harryhausen moments happened when Ray was a guest at one of our meetings of the Dinosaur Society of Los Angeles. This was an informal club of dinosaur enthusiasts formed and organized by dinosaur sculptress (she sculpted other subjects as well) Sylvia Czerkas. We met roughly every two months. When a visiting paleontologist happened to be in the Los Angeles area, he was invited to be our guest for the evening. Harryhausen was in town; he graciously consented to be our guest. Don Glut had brought a collection of George Meliès silent fantasy films to show all of us. Ray was sitting behind me with his friend and fellow stop-motion wizard Jim Danforth. As we viewed Meliès’ turn of the century short films I couldn’t help but be both amused (and astounded) to hear the then reigning kings of cinematic special effects wizardry both comment on the 1900era films we were seeing with, “How did he do that?!”
process in the most positive fashion and spirit possible. I got together with Ray and asked for a list of all the creatures he ever wanted to animate but that for some reason or another (usually budget) he never got a chance to bring to life. I then wrote a screenplay incorporating all of these creatures (and a few more) into ‘The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad – Return to Colossa.’ We’ve been looking for that elusive studio green light ever since. When that happens, perhaps a new generation of nine-year-olds will be inspired to wander down their own Harryhausen-influenced path of fantastic creativity. Until then, I’ll have to content myself with Ray’s rich cinematic legacy. By the way, if it’s not too late, grab the limited edition of Twilight Time‘s blu-ray version of “Mysterious Island.” It’s an absolute revelation! The color and transfer of this film are so breathtaking, it’s almost like seeing it for the first time. I pray that someday the rest of Harryhausen’s oeuvre receives the same lovingly detailed restoration. The day of the announcement of Ray’s passing, my work schedule went out the window. Instead, I settled in front of my home screen and watched Ray’s films for the rest of the day, reliving the thrills, joy, laughs, beauty and tears — especially the tears on that day — of the worlds created by the late, great fantasy film legend, that Talos-sized giant of a man: Mr. Ray Harryhausen.
Artist Jim Boydston with life sized Deinonychus made from new and recycled material. Please check out the web site to see more models, murals, and flatwork.
Ray never lost his humility nor his childlike enthusiasm for life. We were both guests at Louisville’s WonderFest convention one year. When I arrived in the convention hotel’s lobby, I was greeted by Ray. “Bill!” he exclaimed, like a little kid who had just been given the keys to the candy shop. “You’ve got to see my room — it’s HUGE!” Ray Harryhausen has probably inspired more young people to get into film than any other single person in ‘The Business.’ Most of the guys I know (and I know a lot of ‘em!) who work in special effects or special make-up effects, or in the science fiction/fantasy/horror film genres idolize Ray. Robert Rodriguez’ “Spy Kids 2” is virtually a feature length tribute to Ray and his work. It was my dear friend Richard Jones (Richard produced a wonderful documentary on the life and work of Ray Harryhausen) who suggested that Ray and I should collaborate on a sequel to “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.” We intended the film to be a capper to Ray’s career. Ray had retired, so we weren’t expecting him to go back and animate again. Instead, our plan was to hand the animation of each creature off to an acolyte of Ray and his work, using the best people in the business. Ray would be the overall Special Effects Supervisor. This would allow each team to create a stirring homage to Harryhausen. We were also sure that each artist would try to outdo the others in their attempts to honor Ray, making for a competitive creative Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
www.dinojimboydston.com 47
“The World that T. Rex Knew” By Jason R. Abdale
[email protected]
Hell Creek). There were also nine species of conifers, including one that resembled the Bald Cypress (early Hell Creek), one species of metasequoia, and the Monkey Puzzle Tree, which is still alive today. Angiosperms were much more widespread, consisting of 172 species. Flowering trees consisted of palms (early Hell Creek), barberries, laurels (including cinnamon fossils!), magnolias, and sycamores.
Tyrannosaurus rex Tyrannosaurus rex © Jason Abdale lived in western North America from 68 to 65.5 All invertebrate fossils found in the Hell Creek Formation are of MYA. Ten million years mollusks, such as clams, oysters, and freshwater snails, which one earlier, there was great would expect to find in a marsh or estuary-type environment. diversity and abundance There are a few ammonite fossils as well, but these were probably of life, but afterwards, washed ashore with the tide. Many plant fossils show signs of the dinosaurs underwent being eaten by bugs, but no insect fossils have been found yet. a mysterious decline. Based upon fish fossils, we can determine that rivers were preThis could be traced to a sent here. Some of the freshwater fish were rather large, indicating sudden increase in tecthat some of these rivers were wide and deep. Three species of tonic activity, causing sturgeon, two species of paddlefish, and a gar have been identified. massive earthquakes and Other species include varieties of bowfin, with at least one growvolcanic eruptions. Sea ing to large size. Other fish fossils have been found in rocks levels dropped and more deposited in saltwater. Many of these fish lived in shallow brackof Earth’s crust was pushed upwards. Because of this, hot, humid jungles were replaced by temperate forests, and coastal areas receded further inland. ish water, where saltwater mixed with freshwater. All saltwater fish measure no larger than three feet long. These include sharks, rays, needlefish, and The Western Interior Sea, which had split bonefish. Many amphibian fossils, mostly North America in half for millions of years, salamanders, have been found here, indicatTyrannosaur pair attack Alamosaurus © Jason Abdale was slowly shrinking. By the time that T. rex ing a wet environment. Other amphibian fosappeared, all that was left was a trianglesils include “jungle toads”. These amphibians shaped gulf jutting upwards from Mexico. likely existed along the shores of rivers or The area that would become known as the ponds, or were found in the thick moistureHell Creek Formation, where a majority of T. laden underbrush of forests. rex fossils have been found, is located at the northern point of this triangle. Reptiles consisted of many species of turtles, some of them very large, indicating a Based upon the sediment deposits and foslush swampy environment (early Hell Creek). sils found here, the early part of the Hell The largest was Basilemys, or “King Turtle”, Creek Formation was a coastal tropical which grew as big as the giant tortoises found swamp or jungle, but by the late deposits of on the Galapagos Islands. Other reptiles the Hell Creek Formation at the very end of included various species of lizards, such as the Cretaceous Period, the landscape had changed to a temtegus, skinks, and xenosaurids, many of which are found perate forest as sea levels fell, global temperatures became today only in hot humid jungles (early Hell Creek). One cooler, and the climate became more seasonal. In general, species called Palaeosaniwa, which measured ten feet long, the landscape can be described as an estuary or bay-like was the largest lizard species ever found in North America, environment fringed by woods. Geologic deposits depict and was possibly venomous. Alligator and crocodile fossils rugged highlands at the foot of the Rocky Mountains slowhave also been found. Also, one snake vertebra was discovly leveling to a flat floodplain. Rivers flowed out of the ered in 1825, possibly from a boa constrictor. No snake fosmountains, eventually leading to a shallow, brackish water sils have been found in Hell Creek since. bay located at the northern tip of the gulf. In the beginning, Hell Creek Formation vegetation consisted of 50% ferns, 25% conifers, and 25% flowering plants (both trees and regular flowers). In the last two million years of the Formation, it was almost entirely flowering plants. Gymnosperms consisted of one species of gingko and one species of cycad, both of which were uncommon and found in low-lying tropical environs (early
Although other animal groups were evolving and diversifying, the dinosaurs were slowly disappearing, until by the end of the Cretaceous, there was only a handful of species left in North America. In the 1990s, paleontologists conducted a dinosaur “census” of the Hell Creek Formation. Most fossils belong to Triceratops. Tyrannosaurus comprises just 4% of the dinosaurs found here. So far, only one species of bird has been found in the Hell Creek Formation, known only from two foot bones. It belonged to a group called Enantiornithes, the most abundant group of birds that lived during the Mesozoic Era, and were an intermediate group between the primitive birds that appeared earlier and the advanced birds of modern times. Like the primitive birds that came before, most of them still had teeth and clawed fingers on their wings. All enantiornithine birds went extinct at the end of the Mesozoic. Mammals are the most diverse group of vertebrates within the Hell Creek Formation, with thirty species identified so far, almost all of them being marsupials. The largest mammal discovered here was Didelphodon. The size of a wolverine, it was one of the largest mammals to live during the Mesozoic. It looked like a large ferret or weasel, measuring three feet long, and was probably a fierce predator. However, most mammals were tiny rat-like creatures.
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Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
PALEONEWS
Helicoprion © Ray Troll
By Tracy Ford Helicoprion, that weird prehistoric shark with its teeth in 'whorl' has, after 114 years, finally been figured out. It was first described from Russia by Karpinsky, (1899). Its remains has mainly consisted of complete or partial tooth whorls, and have been found in Russia, Australia, Mexico, Japan, California, Texas, Idaho, and Nevada. It lived during the PermoCarboniferous times. Since no complete specimen had been found, the position of the tooth-whorl was controversial. Was it on the snout, upper jaw, lower jaw, or even a dorsal fin spine? Tapanila et al. (2013) performed a CT scan on a tooth whorl and it showed that the tooth whorl was a singular element, that occupied the entire length of the lower jaw. Also, it was not a 'shark', but a Euchondrocephalian, which include modern chimaera and ratfish. Years ago I was at the Utah Field House and they had a Helicoprion tooth whorl on display. I noticed that in between the whorls was small denticles (scales), that to me, indicated the whorl was completely incased in skin, much like Ray Troll has shown. Thanks to Ray Troll, Tapanila, L., Pruitt, J., Pradel, A., Wilga, C. D., Ramsay, J. B., Schlander, R., and Didier, D. A., 2013, Jaws for a spiral-tooth whorl: CT images reveal novel adaptation and phylogeny in fossil Helicoprion: Biology Letters, Published online, 4pp
Spinosaurs did not feed like crocodilians. A Aurornis xui new paper by Cuff and Rayfield (2013) compared Baryonyx and a long snouted Spinosaurus cf. S. aegyptiacus (which I illustrated in a PT years ago), and three extant crocodilians; Indian gharial (Gavialis ganecticus, the slender-snouted African crocodile (Mecistops cataphractus, previously referred to Crocodilis), and the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). They scaled the crocodilians to the size of the spinosaurs and they found out that the studied spinosaurs had some advantage in dorsoventral bending (mainly in Baryonyx), but both were poorly equipped to resist mediolateral and torsional loads, which is different from the scaled up crocodilians. Their conclusion is spinosaurs were not primarily piscivores, and feed on small animals, capturing them in their rosette of teeth, and while holding their prey in their snout, shook their heads dorsoventrally (i.e. up and down, not side to side). What this reminds me of is slamming the prey to the ground, and when it caught fish they did so by lifting their head straight up.
www.trollart.com
ble crocodyliform tooth crown. This is the second reported incidence of a fossil crocodyliform tooth found in direct contact of prey bone. The Kaiparowits Formation has a high diversity of crocodiliforms and indicates direct interaction between crocodiliforms and juvenile dinosaurs. Boyd, C. A., Drumheller, S. K., and Gates, T. A., 2013, Crocodyliform feeding traces on juvenle ornithischian dinosaurs from the Upper Creaceous (Campanian) Kaiparowits Formation, Utah: Public Library of Science (PLOS), One, v. 8, n. 2, 8 pp
More feathered theropods, or birds? From China. Two new feathered theropods, a troodontid Eosinopteryx brevipenna (Godefroit, et al., 2013) and a basal avalian Aurornis xui (Godefroit, et al., 2013), both from Tiaojishan Formation, Middle -Late Jurassic, and both from Yaolugou, Liaoning Province, China. The former has traces of feathers, the latter does not. Aurornis is toted as being a precursor of not only Archaeopteryx and birds in general. However, the age of Aurornis has been questioned, and even though the person it was bought from stated it was from Tiaojishan Formation, the matrix indicates it was actually from the Early Cretaceous, Yixian Formation. Another interesting suggestion from the Aurornis article is the suggestion that Balaur (the double killer clawed Romanian dromaeosaur) was actually a flightless bird. Godefroit, P., Demuynck, H., Dyke, G., Hu, D., Escuillie, F., and Claeys, P., 2013, Reduced plumage and flight ablity of a new Jurassic paravian theropod from China: Nature Communications, published online, 6pp. (Eosinopteryx brevipenna)
Euoplocephalus tutus, the Late Cretaceous ankylosaur, wasn't the exclusive Campanian ankylosaur. A new paper by Arbour and Currie, (2013) showed there was a diversity of Campanian/Early Maastrichtian ankylosaurs. Euoplocephalus tutus is from the Dinosaur Park Formation, as is Scolosaurus cutleri (though mainly from the Two Medicine Formation of Montana), and also Dyoplosaurus acutosquameus. Anodontosaurus lambei is known only from the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta. This research also shows that ankylosaurs were restricted to specific ages. Arbour, V. M., and Currie, P. J., 2013, Euoplocephalus tutus and the diversity of ankylosaurid dinosaurs in the Late Cretaceous of Alberta, Canada, and Montana, U.S.A: Public Library of Science (PLOS), One, v. 8, n. 5, 39 pp ankylosaurs were restricted to specific ages.
Cuff, A. R., and Rayfield, E. J., 2013, Feeding mechanics in spinosaurid theropods and extant crocodilians: Public Library of Science (PLOS), One, v.8, n. 5, 11 pp.
More proof of dinosaur eating crocodyliforms. A new paper by Boyd (et al., 2013) described juvenile 'hypsilophodontid' dinosaurs from the Kaiparowits Formation, Campanian, Upper Cretaceous, Utah. They found bite marks on a left scapula, and a right femur, along with a partial probaPrehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
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The PT Interview:
Ricardo Delgado While this is the twentieth anniversary of the first Jurassic Park film, good friend of PT, artist Ricardo Delgado did not work on the first film, so we asked him for an interview outlining his work on the second sequel. The interview went in many directions totally unrelated to JP3 or dinosaurs, so much has been left out but here is the pertinent stuff, mostly - editor Prehistoric Times: Hi, Ricardo. I’d like this to be a little more serious interview than the last one. Ricardo Delgado: I think you’ll find that to be quite impossible, Mr. Bond. PT: Alright, Miss Moneypenny, what are you up to these days? RD: A little over two hundred pounds, give or take a few. My triglycerides came back high last check up, so I’ve gotta pump up the salads and tone down the Chili Burgers. Tommy’s is the deal, down here in LA. In-NOut, as well. No onions, though. PT: Now turn your head and cough and please tell me which projects you have been working on? RD: Nothing I can talk about for fear that no one would care, but I will say that I was working on the Paramount Lot a few months ago (What the heck kind of name is April O’Neil, anyway?) and discovered that the stages where they built the sets I helped design for “Star Trek- Deep Space Nine” twenty years ago were also used to shoot “The Man Who Knew Too Much”, “Vertig” and “Rear Window.” Talk about a step down. PT: That’s cool! RD: On the Universal lot, where I spent about five years of my early career, Stage 1 was where they shot the Paris Opera House scenes for the silent version, the iconic version, of “Phantom of the Opera,” but they built them into the walls of the stage itself, so nearly a hundred years later I’m standing on that stage while working on some really silly show called “SeaQuest.” I had more fun looking up at the opera stuff along the stage walls than the show I was on at the time. PT: Awesome. As this is the twenty year anniversary of the first Jurassic Park movie, I wanted to talk to you about work you did on the third JP movie... RD: Rokay. PT: ‘Rokay?’
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RD: I was answering you in Scooby Doo. PT: So instead of doing the whole ‘when did you start and when did you wrap up’ kind of questions, just give me impressions of the show and your participation. RD: I worked mostly on the Spinosaur stuff on the picture. The plane crash, the various chases through the forest and some aspects of the ‘big fight’. If all of you out there just mentally corrected on my Spinosaur grammar, that’s what they called it on the show, and even knowing that stuff like the anatomy of the head was wrong and issues like that which are always rife when you work on a Hollywood film, you’re usually not getting paid to correct highly-paid screenwriters who don’t know diddly about dinos, and even when you are getting paid to correct them, they don’t care. In fact, some of the members of the art department were calling it a Baryonx at one point. We were not working from a script, we were working from a treatment, a very shortened version of a script that is then usually developed into a shooting script. It’s about ten to twenty pages long and just describes what happens in the story from scene to scene, without dialogue. Speaking of the other members of the Art Department, JP3 was really blessed. Crash McCreery worked out of Winston Studios, but I worked with David Lowery, Rodolfo Dammagio and Jack Johnson on the picture, all tremendous artists. PT: So how did you get your assignment to work on the Spinosaur stuff? RD: From the Production Designer, in this case a very nice man named Ed Verreaux. He was the guy who hired me. Of course, Joe Johnston and he conferred, but Ed was the one who brought me on, and who I generally reported to. We were working on the Universal Lot, but not on the Amblin’ compound, which is within the lot. Anyway, I was asked to explore different ideas for the set where the “Baryonx” was to meet the crew in the plane wreck after they crashed on Isla Whatever Island. That was one of the questions that we in the art department had, which island was the picture set on/in? I’ve seen the film a few times now and I still keep forgetting to check. Anyway, I was watching this episode of Jonny Quest, the one with the Robot SpyPT: Let’s stick to the subject, please. RD: Sure. So Joe Johnston handed me a small bust of the Spinosaur that Stan Winston Studios had done, and even though it was not strictly scientifically accurate, it was beautiful! As I started to develop sketches to show Ed and Joe, I was really inspired by Doug Henderson’s stuff. I mean, to this day, with all due respect to my fellow artists, Henderson stands above everyone else. When I close my eyes and think about what it must have been like back then, I think of Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
Doug Henderson. On Disney’s Dinosaur, I told him that I’d swap an original of his for whatever he wanted, and he asked for a VHS copy of Howard Hawk’s The Thing from Another World, which is a really cool picture, no matter what Pete Von Sholly thinks. PT: You know Pete is a good friend of ours here, who, like you, has done a number of our front covers. RD: Yeah, Pete likes the picture but hates the monster. He’s kinda right, but the story’s so good it does not matter to me. Tough to argue with the Petester because he’s an Encyclopedia of Monsters, which is different than Don Glut, who’s an Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. Anyway I hunted down the VHS and I have a Henderson original to show for it. I’m looking at it right now. Technically, that’s not a Jurassic Park 3 story, but oh, well. PT: Can we see it? RD: Nope, cuz you didn’t let me finish my Jonny Quest story! So, this Spinosaur bust is just wonderful, a resin cast with a brown and faux-bronze with a gold patina, and as I draw, I slowly but consciously cover the sculpture with stray sheets of paper on my desk, knowing I was plotting the theft of a minute but very important piece of a multi-million dollar film, but I knew what the heck I was doing, Muahahahahaha! PT: So it’s sitting on your desk in your studio, alongside the Henderson original you’re never gonna show us? RD: Nope. A few weeks later Johnston came by and said, “Hey Ricardo, do you remember if I lent you the Spinosaur head?” and I reluctantly said, “Yeah, Joe, it’s right here,” and pulled it out from amid the strategic rubble that was my desk and gave it back to him. PT: Busted! I think the law calls that petty theft in California. RD: I know a few pool halls here in LA that would call it a missed opportunity. But it was such a cool thing to be part of that franchise, if even from a meager perspective. It’s been a decade now, so I think I’m safe in revealing a few things about the story that were in development at that point but did not make it into the finished film. At a certain point, there was going to be much more of an encounter between the military forces in the story and the dinosaurs.
wasn’t working on that part of the picture. In the end though, the prospect of having our military firing on dinosaurs must have been looked at in the context of how that audience would have reacted to that, or rather how poorly they would have reacted to that. There was a thought of possibly having a water-based creature in the story, and again my memory has faded a bit under the weight of long lunches and California rolls, but I think that when it was discovered that the Mosasaurs were not actually dinos, that angle was dropped. I did a drawing of baby Mosasaurs in a tank that impressed no one and should be taken with a grain of salt. PT: Well, that sounds cool. RD: Maybe they were setting up a big Mosasaur at the end of the story. I dunno. It never really went that far. PT: Maybe they were setting up another big fight! This one between the Spinosaurus and a Tylosaur?! RD: Okay, put your toys away, Mike. Or better yet, give them to me. I don’t think they ever put that much thought into something like that. But I do think that it would have been a more significant picture if the guy from “Fargo” that played the dad had died in that picture. It would have made the story more poignant. Just my opinion. PT: It makes me sad to discover you have such a low opinion of William H. Macy. Did you know he likes to do woodworking? How do you like him now? Is there anything in JP3 that we could look at and see your work? RD: When I watch the picture today I see the Spino trying to thrust her head; we all know Jurassic Park dinos are female; through a grove of trees at the cast, and it reminds me of some of my sketches. Some of the Pteranodon behavior seemed rooted in my doodles as well. I dunno. Some of my fight gags seemed to have been pretty much ignored, but that whole fight in general seemed to have been truncated, either as a cost-cutting or screen time measure, which is too bad. I think the audience was braced for a more involving, more dramatic fight and it was all too brief, at least for me. I also hated it when Indy’s son swung around on vines like Tarzan with the monkeys, it took me right out of the movie. It was totally embarrassing. And the idea that he’d even dare try to put on Indy’s hat at the end of the filmPT: That’s notRD: I know.
PT: That’s what I’m talking ‘bout! Go on! RD: To what extent and how this mixed into the story I can’t be specific, since I Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
PT: Silly Question. Are there any aspects of the films that disappoint you?
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RD: Yeah. I never saw raptors run flat-out, as in cheetah-style. And I think the color schemes of the dinos have always been on the less-than-colorful side, especially if you think about the bird connection. So I colored up a few schemes for the Spino, and they were met with polite nods of appreciation and nothing more. All the creature stuff was handled funneled through Stan Winston’s group. Everybody makes a big deal about the dinosaur sound effects, and I think they are effective for the main dinos, but the combination of animal sounds to create a dinosaur sound effect goes back to Kong, and it would have been nice to have heard more ambient dinosaur calls and bellows in the films, as if there were other stories on the island that were taking place at the same time. Sometimes I walk our dog and there’s a small amphitheater-like park in our neighborhood, and when the time of day is right there are so many different species of birds chirping, cawing, squawking, hissing and
singing at each other that it’s a symphonic experience, just beautiful, and I think that’s how the Mesozoic must have sounded like, and that to me is how Jurassic Park should sound, with the dinosaurs all around you on those islands. PT: What’s your dog’s name?
RD: My daughter Rebeca named him Kwe-li, which means serenity in Swahili, but in his case it should mean ‘Small, strange dog that runs head-first into back door screen’, or ‘He who barks at rabbits foraging in front of the house in the middle of the night and wakes everybody up’. He barked at the breeze the other night.
Finally, a guide to all the amazing model kits shown in Prehistoric Times over its twenty year history!
PT: Sounds like our little dogs, but I was hoping you had named yours after something from the Mesozoic. So which one of the three Jurassic Park films is your favorite?
• Softcover format with 302 pages with 1000+ glossy color photos • The first catalog of high-end of sculptures collectible dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals
RD: I like all of ‘em, but the best Jurassic Park film is Alfred
• Authoritative history of commercial dinosaur figures • Hundreds of entries by studio and artist name
Hitchcock’s The Birds.
• Thousands of items listed by size, scale, year and country of origin
PT: I get what you’re saying. I’m not going to get much more out of you on JP3, am I? How’s your “Age of Reptiles” coming along?
• Scientifically accurate, retro (outdated) and fictional/fantasy models
RD: As Indiana Jones said in the Well of the Souls, “I’m workin’ on it, I’m workin’ on it!” I’m on issue 3 of four and I’m thinking it’s gonna drop, as my kids like to say, sometime in 2014. I’ll post updates on my blog and keep PT in the loop. Also doing an eight page AOR story for Dark Horse Presents, so the series is healthy. The short story will hopefully be out before the end of the year, but no promises, it’s only eight pages, but they are packed with dinosaurian stuff.
• Sculpting tutorial by Sean Cooper, guest feature by Martin Garratt • Foreword by Mike Fredericks • Commentary by collectors, researchers and artists • Index by genus (over 200)
PT: Thanks for the interview, Ricardo.
• Artist/studio contact directory RD: Shut up.
• Bibliography Look for the Scale Model Dinosaurs calendar featuring 15 months with over a hundred comparative photos of different dinosaurs from various artists. Available from zazzle.com/dinosauriana
PT: No, you shut up, INFINITY! RD: Aw man.
Contact
[email protected] for book ordering details Or visit dinosauriana.com 52
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Mesozoic Media Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy by Mark P. Witton $35.00 Hardcover 306 pages Princeton University Press ISBN-10: 0691150613 ISBN-13: 978-0691150611 For 150 million years, the skies didn't belong to birds; they belonged to the pterosaurs. These flying reptiles shared the world with the dinosaurs down below until their extinction 65 million years ago. Some pterosaurs, such as the giant azhdarchids, were the largest flying animals of all time, with wingspans exceeding thirty feet and standing heights comparable to modern giraffes. This thoroughly illustrated book takes a new look at these astonishing creatures, featuring the latest findings on their anatomy, ecology, and extinction. “Pterosaurs” includes some 200 colorful and accurate illustrations, most by the author Mark Witton, and photos of rarely seen fossils. After decades of research, paleontologists have begun to understand how pterosaurs are related to other reptiles, how they functioned as living animals, and, despite dwarfing all other flying animals, how they managed to become airborne. Here you can explore the fossil evidence of pterosaur behavior and ecology, learn about the skeletal and soft-tissue anatomy of pterosaurs, and consider the latest theories about their mysterious origins. This one-of-a-kind book covers the discovery history, paleobiogeography, anatomy, and behaviors of more than 130 species of pterosaur, and also discusses their demise at the end of the Mesozoic. This very comprehensive coffee table book covers every known species and major group of pterosaurs. The author writes in a scientific manner but also for the general public, using terms like “gnarly skulls,” “candidates for the cover of rock music albums,” “most unfriendly pterosaur of all,” and “doing his best Clint Eastwood impression” when describing various pterosaurs. It also describes pterosaur anatomy, ecology, behaviors, diversity, and more. “Pterosaurs” encourages further study with 500 references to primary pterosaur literature.
University Press ISBN-10: 0253009308 ISBN13: 978-0253009302 The opening of an exhibit focused on "Jane," a beautifully preserved tyrannosaur collected by the Burpee Museum of Natural History, was the occasion for an international symposium on tyrannosaur paleobiology. This volume, drawn from the symposium, includes studies of the tyrannosaurids Chingkankousaurus fragilis and "Sir William" and the generic status of Nanotyrannus; theropod teeth, pedal proportions, brain size, and craniocervical function; soft tissue reconstruction, including that of "Jane"; paleopathology and tyrannosaurid claws; dating the "Jane" site; and tyrannosaur feeding and hunting strategies. Tyrannosaurid Paleobiology highlights the far ranging and vital state of current tyrannosaurid dinosaur research and discovery. Tyrannosaurus rex and its kin inspire researchers to ask fundamental questions about what the best known dinosaur was like as a living, breathing animal like how tyrannosaurs attacked and dismembered prey, the shapes and sizes of feet and brains, and what sorts of injuries individuals sustained and lived with. The book shows that all of this and much more goes into making a museum exhibit featuring tyrannosaurs. Indiana University Press’s “Life of the Past” series books are always packed with art, fossil photography and the latest info and this book is no exception (and also very timely for our featured dinosaur in this issue.) The long list of contributors to this book is a who’s who of paleontology.
Rhinoceros Giants: The Paleobiology of Indricotheres (Life of the Past) by Donald R. Prothero Hardcover $42.00 160 pages Indiana University Press ISBN-10: 0253008190 ISBN-13: 9780253008190 This book introduces the giant hornless rhinoceros, Indricotherium the largest mammals to ever walk the earth. These massive animals inhabited Asia and Eurasia for more than 14 million years, about 37 to 23 million years ago. They had skulls 6 feet long, stood 22 feet high at the shoulder, and were twice as heavy as the largest elephant ever recorded, tipping the scales at 44,100 pounds. Fortunately, the big brutes were vegetarians. Donald R. Prothero tells their story, from their discovery just a century ago to the latest research on how they lived and died. The book is easy to understand and truly is an “Everything you wanted to know about” type book. That’s a very different appearance than we are used to for Indricotherium on the front cover with those elephant-like ears and a trunk. Read the book to find out why.
My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs by Brian Switek Hardcover $26.00 272 pages, Publisher: Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN-10: 0374135061 ISBN-13: 9780374135065 What a perfect book for PT readers! Switek tells the reader all about dinosaurs in a way that all can understand and enjoy. First he covers his favorite dinosaur since he was a kid; Brontosaurus, or Apatosaurus as it is actually named and tells why the name changed and all about the skull controversy. He then moves onto the road discussing dinosaurs at different areas on the map and different museums. Through the book he covers how our ideas about dinosaurs have changed and continue to do so. He talks about dinosaurs in popular culture including inaccuracies in the Jurassic Park franchise. He covers dinosaur feathers, what dinosaur bones tell us and how the dinos most likely died. You can feel the author’s love of the subject matter throughout. This is possibly the best book I review this time for PT readers. You should buy this for your own enjoyment, regardless of the amount of dinosaur knowledge you already have. This would also make a great gift for a dino fan. The cover unfolds into a beautiful two-sided poster. I may read this book a second time.
Tyrannosaurid Paleobiology (Life of the Past) by J. Michael Parrish (Editor), Ralph E. Molnar (Editor), Philip J. Currie (Editor), Eva B. Koppelhus (Editor) Hardcover $60.00 312 pages Indiana
Megafauna: Giant Beasts of Pleistocene South America (Life of the Past) Richard A. Fariña (Author), Sergio F. Vizcaíno (Author),
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Gerry de De Iuliis (Author), Sebastián Tambusso (Illustrator) Hardcover $65.00 448 pages Indiana University Press ISBN-10: 0253002303 ISBN-13: 9780253002303 For much of the Cenozoic Era South America was an island continent in which the carnivores were all marsupials and the herbivores were primitive ungulates that evolved into forms functionally similar to unrelated animals found elsewhere in the world. Why did they all disappear? This book tells the story of spectacularly large mammals that roamed the pampas and jungles of South America more than 10,000 years ago. These great beasts lived during and just after the Pleistocene, the geological epoch marked by the great ice ages. “Megafauna” describes the history and way of life of these animals, their comings and goings, and what befell them at the beginning of the modern era and the arrival of humans. It places these giants within the context of the other mammals then alive, describing their paleobiology—how they walked; how much they weighed; their diets, behavior, biomechanics; and the interactions among them and with their environment. It also tells the stories of the scientists who contributed to our discovery and knowledge of these transcendent creatures and the environment they inhabited. The episode known as the Great American Biotic Interchange, perhaps the most important of all natural history "experiments," is also an important theme of the book, tracing the biotic events of both North and South America that led to the fauna and the ecosystems discussed in this book. Dinosaurs: A Concise Natural History - Second Edition David E. Fastovsky (Author), David B. Weishampel (Author) Trade Paperback $180.00 425 pages Cambridge University Press; ISBN-10: 1107010799 ISBN-13: 9781107010796 Updated with new material, “Dinosaurs” continues to make science interesting and understandable to non-science majors through its narrative of scientific concepts rather than endless facts. It now contains new material on pterosaurs, an expanded section on the evolution of the dinosaurs and new photographs to help students engage with geology, natural history and evolution. The authors ground the text in the language of modern evolutionary biology, phylogenetic systematics, and teach students to examine the paleontology of dinosaurs exactly as the professionals in the field do using these methods to reconstruct dinosaur relationships. The book truly covers every aspect of the science of dinosaurs and paleontology in an interesting way and even relates the past to the present in the ecology and natural history of today. Beautifully illustrated, this edition continues to be a great textbook for college students and also a complete study of these fascinating extinct animals of the Mesozoic. Pricey because it is a textbook, but the dozens of amazing illustrations by John Sibbick are worth the price alone. Pterosaur Trouble (Tales of Prehistoric Life) Daniel Loxton (Author, Illustrator), Jim WW Smith (Illustrator) Hardcover $16.95, 32 pages, Kids Can Press ISBN-10: 1554536324 ISBN-13: 978-1554536320 Much like in his previous book “Ankylosaur Attack,” the daily life of a dinosaur is told in word and photo-realistic artwork; this time a Quetzalcoatlus. Young children can follow the majestic pterosaur as he flies over the world of T. rex and Triceratops and encounters a pack of tiny but vicious dinosaurs called Saurornitholestes. The imagery is a nice blend of digital illustrations and landscape photography bringing the ensuing battle to life. “Pterosaur Trouble” is book two in the ‘Tales of Prehistoric Life series.’ The dramatic stories and colorful, realistic visuals will certainly be a hit with young dinosaur lovers and of course, the young at heart. Prehistoric Times No. 106 SUMMER 2013
Gorgo Blu-ray (1961/2013) Starring Bill Travers and William Sylvester, $19.95. When a volcanic eruption in the North Atlantic brings to the surface a 65 foot prehistoric monster, divers capture the creature and take him to London to become the star attraction at a circus. A scientist points out that the sailor’s “dinosaur” is only an infant, and that a full-grown specimen would be over 200 feet in height. Sure enough, Gorgo’s mom comes crashing ashore, reclaims her offspring and heads back to sea but not before destroying a large part of London. Bonus Features: "Ninth Wonder Of The World: The Making Of Gorgo" a new documentary by Daniel Griffith | Gorgo - Video Comic Book and Comic Book Cover Gallery | Extensive Lobby Card & Poster Gallery | Photo Gallery | Gorgo Toys & Collectibles Gallery | Production Notes | Original Theatrical Trailer | Pressbook Gallery | Star Ciné Cosmos - French-language "fumetto" (comic book) | Restoration Video Before & After. “Gorgo” was a personal favorite dinosaur movie of your PT editor’s as a child. Along with King Kong, Dinosaurus and any Ray Harryhausen film, I made a point of always watching it when I could. While it still brings back great memories for me, I have to say that it has lost a lot of its luster today however. I don’t want to insult any of you that still enjoy the film but I mean, come on, the rubbery suited monster looks pretty bad now and just the way the movie was filmed is so dated that I had to keep myself from laughing at many parts. (Even though Gorgo’s mom lumbers through the streets of London at an agonizingly slow pace, there always seems to be large groups of hapless victims below her as the buildings she runs into come crashing down. Did it not occur to Londoners to simply run away? You’d think they would have learned after survivng the blitz.) I don’t like to think I’m jaded but Gorgo just has not passed the test of time for me. I know I still love King Kong and all of Ray’s movies, but I may have to watch Dinosaurus again soon to see how it fares with me. The high definition is a nice restoration of Gorgo however and the many extras are fun, especially the Gorgo toys and models and the great poster collection shown. Predator Dinosaurs BBC DVD 2013 $19.95 I can’t say I had high expectations for this DVD but was pleasantly surprised. This is actually a very well done documentary with very accurate up-to-date scientific information; much of which I’m betting you did not know. The first half covers the epic battle between Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops. Using interesting fossils, fantastic CG animation and awesome mechanical models, we learn of the four ton biting power of T. rex (You’ll love watching the steel hydraulic rex skull attack a mini cooper car.) We also learn how Triceratops used its horns to defend itself. I’ll give you a clue; it certainly didn’t charge into T. rex. Shown are some T. rex bite wounds on Triceratops fossil bones that healed that help dispel any ideas of Tyrannosaurus being strictly a scavenger. The second half covers the sickle claw of Velociraptor and the tail club of Ankylosaurus. Again, great CG animation is included to cover some interesting new information. We learn that the raptor’s claw was used for stabbing (probably in the neck) and not slashing as Jurassic Park portrayed. We also see what a powerful bone breaking weapon Ankylosaurus’s tail was. World famous paleontologists on the DVD verify all of the information we learn. There is another BBC DVD with the same title as this one that is all about the “Predator X” marine reptile so don’t get the two mixed up if you plan to purchase this. Maybe I’ll review it in a future issue of PT. 55
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