New DinoToyBlog entries

[BlueKrono]

That's a good question. I always wondered why a desert bird would have so much insulation. Astoundingly, emus do just fine without heated enclosures even in Minnesota winters where it often gets down to -30F, as long as they can huddle together. But if I were an emu in its natural habitat I would feel like I was wearing a winter coat year round. It doesn't get hot in the Outback, does it?

[Derek.McManus]

The mini Schleich Kentrosaurus

http://dinotoyblog.com/2017/03/03/kentrosaurusmini-by-schleich/

I am a big fan of these Schliech minis I think that they make great and relatively inexpensive gifts!

[Lanthanotus]

That's a good question. I always wondered why a desert bird would have so much insulation. Astoundingly, emus do just fine without heated enclosures even in Minnesota winters where it often gets down to -30F, as long as they can huddle together. But if I were an emu in its natural habitat I would feel like I was wearing a winter coat year round. It doesn't get hot in the Outback, does it?

In my opinion, the view of feathers also being able to insulate versus excessive heat is somewhat misleading. Feathers aswell as fur insulate a body against heat loss, but they do not protect a body from overheating due to excessive heat from outside. If they would, why do mammals in hot areas boast no thick furry coat? Because they would overheat, simple as that. You do not need to look for the biggest land dwelling animals as elephants or rhinos, but also mammals with way less mass in the same environment do no boast a coat with the insulating capabilities as their more nothern or southern counterparts do (big cats, wolf/dog species, ungulates, rodents).

So why are there no naked or sparsely feathered birds?

First of all, birds have a higher metabolism than mammals and a higher body temperature, making them less vulnerable against ambient temperatures that mean major stress for a lot of other animals. Second, most birds are small in terms of mass, so they require insulation as their environment does not only provide scorching heat in daytime, but also comparably cool nights. Third, as other animals, individuals may adapt to certain conditions of their environment. Have a look at this emu



vs this one



The first is an emu as you can spot it in Australia's centre, with a comparably short, shaggy feather coat that allows the wings to be seen, legs are long and thin. The second picture shows an emu as you can see it here in German zoos. Well, the emus there may also be fed better (though from what I've seen from the internal fat bodies of Australian road killed emus, emus are well fed even in the most bleak desert), but they also have shorter and thicker legs and a thicker and longer coat that hides the wings more or less completly.

And last but not least fourth, there are sparsely feathered birds, even if that may be disguised somewhat. Emus aren't as thickly coated as they may seem as are all ratites (compared to other birds), but one can see it best in ostriches, have a look here



The long neck and head are almost naked aswell as the muscular legs and parts of the underbelly.

.... so while I definetly will add Doug's wonderfull new T. rex to my collection, I personally highly doubt, that the real animal was as thickly coated as it is shown there - at least if its enviroment was as warm as predicted. And to come back to the main course of this thread, nice review on that Utharaptor, but it is definetly another Schleich figure I'll pass without regrets.

[Neosodon]

I have almost no clue what most feathered therapods looked like but I'm almost positive they did not look like the feathers on Shleich's Utahraptor. Yutyrannus had shaggy feathers and ostriches and emu's have shaggy feathers so some people assume all therapods had long thick feathers. But, just like birds I think many therapods had more narrow streamline feathers too.

[suspsy]

My review of the Wild Safari Pteranodon:
http://dinotoyblog.com/2017/03/07/pteranodon-wild-safari-by-safari-ltd/

[stargatedalek]

Large mammals are a bad comparison for dinosaurs. Every single species of large naked mammal that we have is descended from semi-aquatic ones. Mammoths developed their fur for a second time, elephants didn't loose it in the heat (they lost it the ocean).

In addition to metabolism, pennaceous more complex feathers disperse blood very differently than fur does. Ratites themselves are potentially a bad example for theropods because we know similarly sized dromaeosaurs (namely Changyuraptor and Zhenyuanlong) had pennaceous feathers instead of the fibrous ones of ratites.

They also weren't high-speed runners like ratites are, which probably relates to why small ratites show similar adaptations to larger relatives but large storks and flamingos don't.

[suspsy]

The new Schleich Brachiosaurus:
http://dinotoyblog.com/2017/03/09/brachiosaurus-conquering-the-earth-by-schleich/

[Cloud the Dinosaur King]

The new Schleich Brachiosaurus:
http://dinotoyblog.com/2017/03/09/brachiosaurus-conquering-the-earth-by-schleich/

I am going to check this out as well as the other new Schleich figures. I might be picking one up.

[suspsy]

Allosaurus from an unknown company:
http://dinotoyblog.com/2017/03/11/allosaurus-unknown-company/

[suspsy]

The first 2017 CollectA review, Einiosaurus!
http://dinotoyblog.com/2017/03/13/einiosaurus-collecta/

[Doug Watson]

Large mammals are a bad comparison for dinosaurs. Every single species of large naked mammal that we have is descended from semi-aquatic ones. Mammoths developed their fur for a second time, elephants didn't loose it in the heat (they lost it the ocean).

Are you confusing elephant evolution with whale evolution? I am not aware of a direct ocean living ancestor of the elephant. They are distantly related to sea cows and manatees but they went from the land to the water and stayed there. From what I see mammoths and modern elephants evolved from mainly terrestrial ancestors. Plus modern elephants aren't naked just like us they still have hair it is only reduced in its length and density. If you want to see how hairy they are look at baby elephants. Most modern rhinoceros have less hair than elephants but they still retain some hair and also evolved from mainly terrestrial ancestors as far as I know.

P.S. Found this interesting paper on modern elephant hair from 2012 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0047018&type=printable

[suspsy]

The second of the new CollectA ceratopsians, Regaliceratops:
http://dinotoyblog.com/2017/03/15/regaliceratops-collecta/

[suspsy]

Jurassic World Hybrids Spinosaurus:
http://dinotoyblog.com/2017/03/17/spinosaurus-jurassic-world-hybrids-by-hasbro/

[Ezikot]

The first 2017 CollectA review, Einiosaurus!
http://dinotoyblog.com/2017/03/13/einiosaurus-collecta/

Thank you, i was waiting for this review.

I don't know if this is the right thread for asking, but I'd love to find in a review a brief "recap".
Something like:
Species: Pachyrhinosaurus Lakustai [i'd find really useful to know which exact species the figure it is supposed to be]
Dimensions: L 192 mm x H 60 mm [hip height]
Scale: 1:30
Year of production: 2014
Sculpted by: Doug Watson

And I'd like to read in a review something about the paleobiology, meaning something about the environment and, above all, a list of other species that lived alongside.
I know you can find those kind of infos here and there (mainly wikipedia), but finding a proven source is not that easy, while here on DTF there are a lot of good "scholars". I think it would be also really useful for those who look for ideas for their dioramas.   
 
Just suggestions, I'm really thankful to all the DTF reviewers.

[Halichoeres]

The first 2017 CollectA review, Einiosaurus!
http://dinotoyblog.com/2017/03/13/einiosaurus-collecta/

Thank you, i was waiting for this review.

I don't know if this is the right thread for asking, but I'd love to find in a review a brief "recap".
Something like:
Species: Pachyrhinosaurus Lakustai [i'd find really useful to know which exact species the figure it is supposed to be]
Dimensions: L 192 mm x H 60 mm [hip height]
Scale: 1:30
Year of production: 2014
Sculpted by: Doug Watson

And I'd like to read in a review something about the paleobiology, meaning something about the environment and, above all, a list of other species that lived alongside.
I know you can find those kind of infos here and there (mainly wikipedia), but finding a proven source is not that easy, while here on DTF there are a lot of good "scholars". I think it would be also really useful for those who look for ideas for their dioramas.   
 
Just suggestions, I'm really thankful to all the DTF reviewers.

That's a good idea.

[stargatedalek]

Perhaps a time span and list of known formations it's from. Less work for the reviewer/moderator and probably more relevant to someone seeking contemporaries.

[suspsy]

I already mention date of release and dimensions in all my reviews, and usually a few factoids about the subject that strike me as interesting.

[Ezikot]

Perhaps a time span and list of known formations it's from. Less work for the reviewer/moderator and probably more relevant to someone seeking contemporaries.

Yes, that could be helpful.
Don't forget, anyway, that you're really good at paleontology, while I'm still a newbie in that field.
So, to say, if I read that Einiosaurus is from the Two Medicine Formation, I find more new questions than answers on Wikipedia (i.e. is the stratigraphic chart presented by Horner et al. still valid? Is it complete or is it just an excerpt?)
I'd find easier if the reviewer had written a list of contemporaries. And, still thinking that this is a blog and a forum about dino toys and not (or just in part) about paleontology, something like "it lived in herds" or "there is a clear predator/prey relationship with ..." or "lived together, perhaps for mutual benefit, with..." [see Camptosaurus/Stegosaurus (hoping Planet dinosaur was right  )] would be helpful for dioramas or for those who like to display together animals that shared the same spatial-temporal window.
Add that the web is all about sources and trust, so, also if I love Wikipedia, I know how wrong sometimes it could be, while I trust much more on you and the majority of DTF reviewers.

I already mention date of release and dimensions in all my reviews, and usually a few factoids about the subject that strike me as interesting.

Suspy, I have something to say about your reply, but for now I have to quit - writing in English is still a pain for me  - I'll try to post something in the next few days.
I just want to be clear again: I don't want to teach anything to anyone. I've learned a lot of things from you and others DTF members, and, as I wrote, I'm really thankful to you and all DTF reviewers.

[BlueKrono]

Are the sculptors of any other toy figures known, other than Doug?

[suspsy]

Are the sculptors of any other toy figures known, other than Doug?

The name of the Korean artist who sculpts Papo's dinosaurs escapes me. CollectA has not released the name(s) of their sculptor(s). And it has not been confirmed who the sculptor of the Safari Diplodocus, Giganotosaurus, Kronosaurus, and Microraptor is.

I'll say this too: if reviewers wish to mention more about the animals they're writing about, that's awesome, but I'd hate to see the reviews become too generic by constantly listing off the same list of facts each time. Each of us has a different style and I think that benefits the DTB.