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How Jurassic Park changed film-making and our view of dinosaurs

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/travis-holland-299087">Travis Holland</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/charles-sturt-university-849">Charles Sturt University</a> In June 1993, director Steven Spielberg released a film that unleashed a wave of technological change in film-making and simultaneously helped to revive popular interest in dinosaurs. Jurassic Park, based on Michael Crichton’s novel, spawned five blockbuster sequels as well as a multitude of spin-off games, toys, novels, and multiple animated television shows. It features a theme park housing de-extincted dinosaurs that break out of their confines and cause havoc. Underpinning the plot is clever genetic engineering that has allowed the Park’s scientists to assume they could control all aspects of the dinosaurs’ development, including their sex, much to their later horror when it becomes apparent such control was never possible. The film franchise has taken an average of over $1 billion dollars at the box office, <a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/box-office/jurassic-world-dominion-box-office-billion-1235380452/">according to Variety</a>. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QWBKEmWWL38?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>From puppets to CGI</h2> According to industry legend and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20102096/?ref_=ttep_ep6">multiple documentaries</a>, Spielberg had planned to use only practical effects, including stop-motion Velociraptors and an animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex. However, well into the filming schedule, he was convinced to also include wholly digital dinosaurs after viewing test footage produced by staff at special effects house Industrial Light & Magic. In <a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477325308/">a critical history</a> of Industrial Light & Magic, Julie Turnock observes that the film “relied on a canny mix of large-scale mechanical effects cut together with a few digitally generated shots”. After its success, ILM embraced digital composition technology more fully and integrated it into many later films. As it stands, Jurassic Park features about 50 shots of digital-only prehistoric creatures, including the first full-body scene of a dinosaur – the sauropod Brachiosaurus - flocking Gallimumus, and the T. rex chasing a Jeep. Industrial Light & Magic <a href="https://www.ilm.com/vfx/jurassic-park/">now claims on their website</a> that “Suddenly, directors could imagine making films in which realistic animals, fantasy creatures, even digital people could perform without restraint.” Nowadays, films and television productions are replete with photoreal computer-generated animals and people and the next revolution in screen production has them projected live behind actors on a series of large screens known as “<a href="https://theasc.com/articles/the-mandalorian">the volume</a>”. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BPUEqvfQuHY?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>Palaeontologists aren’t extinct</h2> Shortly after seeing their first dinosaur, on-screen palaeontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill) suggests to his palaeobotanist partner Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) that the de-extinction success of Jurassic Park might make their profession redundant. Their colleague Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) responds, “Don’t you mean extinct?” But far from extinction, palaeontology and associated sciences have seen an extensive rebound in public interest in the thirty years since Jurassic Park was released. In 1975, palaeontologist Robert Bakker <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/24949774.pdf?casa_token=s5us3t_9TrQAAAAA:hxfVrmS11FACTHHYosZSqQMLDJRWJZTE3a4ggr7kIFauNoIvT8WjUJaZ5hxrKkFNqMcn3-68yiuLlH1tWU7k4o--xCDBpQwYPv4tXjF8KTIU8kpHo0vS">popularised the term “dinosaur renaissance”</a> to describe a spate of developing research findings which argued the creatures were endothermic (warm-blooded), active, and related to the birds rather than cold-blooded, slow and wholly extinct as had been the public perception for much of the previous century. This renaissance lasted from about the 1960s into the 1980s and Jurassic Park reflected many of these new orthodoxies. Bakker himself consulted for the film and was referenced by the character Tim Murphy. A Bakker lookalike also appeared in the sequel The Lost World, further reinforcing its role in reflecting these new perspectives. But the film also arrived at the dawn of yet another new age of dinosaur discoveries which Steve Brusatte, in his 2018 book <a href="https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781760780524/">The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs</a>, described as “the golden age of discovery”. Brusatte referred to the cohort of scientists making these newer discoveries as “men and women from many backgrounds who came of age in the era of Jurassic Park.” Among their findings are new understandings that many dinosaurs were feathered like their modern avian cousins. Elizabeth Jones recently chronicled the history of the field of “<a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300240122/ancient-dna/">ancient DNA</a>” science, noting the “Jurassic Park effect” playing out on this fascinating area of research: <blockquote> Even as scientists rejected the conclusions or the implications of the Jurassic Park narrative, they drew on the popularity of the book and movie to emphasise the importance of the technical enterprise in which they were engaged. </blockquote> And <a href="https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjes-2022-0131">a recent review</a> of the last 60 years of dinosaur research by celebrated palaeontologist Philip J. Currie suggested “public interest continues to be stimulated by a multibillion-dollar movie, media, and toy industry founded on our interest in dinosaurs.” <figure class="align-center zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530243/original/file-20230606-27-8gx3lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530243/original/file-20230606-27-8gx3lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530243/original/file-20230606-27-8gx3lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530243/original/file-20230606-27-8gx3lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530243/original/file-20230606-27-8gx3lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530243/original/file-20230606-27-8gx3lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530243/original/file-20230606-27-8gx3lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530243/original/file-20230606-27-8gx3lo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="" /></a><figcaption>A scene from Jurassic Park (1993) IMDB</figcaption></figure> <h2>The Jurassic Park legacy</h2> Dinosaurs have long featured in popular media such as films and television. The first animated dinosaur, Gertie, debuted as <a href="https://palaeomedia.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/2019/07/24/meet-gertie-the-dinosaurus/">part of a vaudeville performance in 1914</a>. Dinosaurs, including a fearsome Tyrannosaurus featured in Disney’s groundbreaking and famed 1940 film Fantasia. But it was Jurassic Park which truly presented them as believable living creatures for the first time. Though the science of the film has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/feb/08/jurassic-park-dinosaur-inaccuracies">been widely criticised</a> since its release, Jurassic Park succeeded in revolutionising film-making and reigniting a public fascination with dinosaurs even as palaeontology itself underwent a boom in new research efforts. In <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/457392/did-i-ever-tell-you-this-by-neill-sam/9780241648988">his recent memoir</a>, actor Sam Neill described the film’s visuals as “a perfect collision of coming-of-age computer generated imagery… with state of the art puppetry”. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fb5ELWi-ekk?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> The sequels sequels and spin-offs have continued to adapt to changing social expectations, featuring <a href="https://theconversation.com/toss-aside-those-high-heels-how-jurassic-worlds-claire-dearing-lights-a-path-for-women-in-action-films-182334">strong female</a> and <a href="https://www.pride.com/geek/2022/7/21/jurassic-world-camp-cretaceous-goes-out-queer-roar">queer characters</a>, and even <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/jurassic-world-dominion-dinosaur-feathers">feathered dinosaurs</a> in response to changing scientific understandings. Perhaps the next Jurassic film will feature a full-lipped <a href="https://www-science-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/content/article/t-rex-lips-new-study-suggests">Tyrannosaurus</a>?<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203147/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/travis-holland-299087">Travis Holland</a>, Senior Lecturer in Communication, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/charles-sturt-university-849">Charles Sturt University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-jurassic-park-changed-film-making-and-our-view-of-dinosaurs-203147">original article</a>. Images: Universal Pictures

Movies

AI may have solved a debate on whether a dinoprint was from a herbivore or meat eater

An international team of researchers has, for the first time, used AI to analyse the tracks of dinosaurs, and the AI has come out on top – beating trained palaeontologists at their own game. “In extreme examples of theropod and ornithopod footprints, their footprint shapes are easy to tell apart -theropod with long, narrow toes and ornithopods with short, dumpy toes. But it is the tracks that are in-between these shapes that are not so clear cut in terms of who made them,” one of the researchers, University of Queensland palaeontologist Dr Anthony Romilio, told Cosmos. “We wanted to see if AI could learn these differences and, if so, then could be tested in distinguishing more challenging three-toed footprints.” Theropods are meat eating dinosaurs, while ornithopods are plant eating, and getting this analysis wrong can alter the data which shows diversity and abundance of dinosaurs in the area, or could even change what we think are the behaviours of certain dinos. One set of dinosaur prints in particular had been a struggle for the researchers to analyse. Large footprints at the Dinosaur Stampede National monument in Queensland had divided Romilio and his colleagues. The mysterious tracks were thought to be left during the mid-Cretaceous Period, around 93 million years ago, and could have been from either a meat eating theropod or a plant eating ornithopod. “I consider them footprints of a plant-eater while my colleagues share the much wider consensus that they are theropod tracks.” <div class="advert ad-in-content"> <div id="adn-00000000001fc2ca" style="display: none;"></div> </div> So, an AI called a Convolutional Neutral Network, was brought in to be a deciding factor. “We were pretty stuck, so thank god for modern technology,” says <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jens-Lallensack" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr Jens Lallensack</a>, lead author from Liverpool John Moores University in the UK. “In our research team of three, one person was pro-meat-eater, one person was undecided, and one was pro-plant-eater. <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p224866-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> <form class="wpcf7-form mailchimp-ext-0.5.62 spai-bg-prepared init" action="/history/dinosaur-ai-theropod-ornithopods/#wpcf7-f6-p224866-o1" method="post" novalidate="novalidate" data-status="init"> <input class="wpcf7-form-control wpcf7-text referer-page" name="referer-page" type="hidden" value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" data-value="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/" aria-invalid="false" /> </form> </div> </div> “So – to really check our science – we decided to go to five experts for clarification, plus use AI.” The AI was given nearly 1,500 already known tracks to learn which dinosaurs were which. The tracks were simple line drawings to make it easier for the AI to analyse. <div class="advert ad-in-content"> <div id="adn-00000000001fc2ca" style="display: none;"></div> </div> Then they began testing. Firstly, 36 new tracks were given to a team of experts, the AI and the researchers. “Each of us had to sort these into the categories of footprints left by meat-eaters and those by plant-eaters,” says Romilio. “In this the ai was the clear winner with 90% correctly identified. Me and one of my colleagues came next with ~75% correct.” Then, they went for the crown jewel – the Dinosaur Stampede National monument tracks. When the AI analysed this it came back with a pretty strong result that they’re plant eating ornithopod tracks. It’s not entirely sure though, the data suggests that there’s a 1 in 5,000,000 chance it could be a theropod instead. <div class="advert ad-in-content"> <div id="adn-00000000001fc2ca" style="display: none;"></div> </div> This is still early days for using AI in this way. In the future. the researchers are hoping for funding for a FrogID style app which anyone could use to analyse dinosaur tracks. “Our hope is to develop an app so anyone can take a photo on their smartphone, use the app and it will tell you what type of dinosaur track it is,” says Romilio. “It will also be useful for drone work survey for dinosaur tracksites, collecting and analysing image data and identifying fossil footprints remotely.” The paper has been published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2022.0588" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Royal Society Interface</a>.  <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=224866&title=AI+may+have+solved+a+debate+on+whether+a+dinoprint+was+from+a+herbivore+or+meat+eater" width="1" height="1" />  <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/dinosaur-ai-theropod-ornithopods/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on Cosmos Magazine and was written by Jacinta Bowler. Image: Getty Images </div>

Technology

Record-busting droughts are uncovering long-lost relics

As much of the Northern Hemisphere experiences record-breaking droughts, the drying up of lakes, rivers and other bodies of water has exposed more than just dirt and debris. In Spain, a prehistoric circle of stones dubbed “Spanish Stonehenge” has emerged in a drying dam in the central province of Caceres. Since it was first discovered in 1926 and was subsequently covered by floodwaters, the stones have only been visible four times. Elsewhere in Europe, 20 German WWII warships have been exposed, sunken in the Danube River near Serbia’s river port town of Prahovo. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/ww2-ships.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Twenty Nazi warships emerged as the Danue River continues to dry up. Image: Reuters (YouTube) The Nazi German ships were among hundreds that sailed up the Danube while retreating from Soviet forces in 1944, and still hamper traffic traversing the river when water levels are low. In late July, a previously submerged WWII bomb weighing a whopping 450kg was discovered in the River Po, as the country declared a state of emergency in areas around the lengthy river as a result of the low water levels. The ageing explosive was defused in a controlled explosion by military experts earlier this month near the village of Bogo Virgilio, but not before about 3,000 people were evacuated from the area, per <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/20/europes-drought-exposes-wwii-ships-bombs-and-prehistoric-stones" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Al Jazeera</a>. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/bomb1.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Military experts were deployed to detonate a 450kg bomb uncovered in Italy’s Polo River. Image: Global News (YouTube) Meanwhile, droughts in the US have exposed ancient footprints belonging to dinosaurs, as well as victims of suspected mob killings. In early July, the skeletal remains of a man who was shot in the head, stuffed in a barrel and tossed into Lake Mead, located outside the city of Las Vegas, were uncovered, with experts believing he would have died in the 1980s. <img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/09/dino-tracks.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Dinosaur tracks believed to be 113 million years old were found in a state park in Texas. Image: Texas Park and Wildlife Department The lake, along with the Hudson River, provides most of southern Nevada’s drinking water and has reached its lowest point since it was filled 90 years ago, as reported by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/priyashukla/2022/05/03/drought-reveals-homicide-victim-as-lake-mead-recedes/?sh=6d6c198f3943" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Forbes</a>. A discovery of Jurassic proportions was made at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas, after footprints believed to date back 113 million years were found. The tracks belong to the Arocanthosaurus, a bipedal dinosaur with three toes and a claw on each limb, per <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/science/dinosaur-tracks-texas-drought.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>. Others that were also uncovered belong to Sauroposeidon proteles, a 15-metre-long dinosaur with a long neck and small head. As the fierce weather continues, experts believe more of these kinds of finds will emerge. Images: Texas Park and Wildlife Department / Reuters (YouTube)

International Travel

66 million-year-old perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo found

Images: Courtesy Shoulin Animation & Getty Scientists are showing off a perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo fossil that was preparing to hatch from its egg, much like a modern-day chicken. The embryo fossil, nicknamed “Baby Yingliang,” was discovered in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province in southern China, and is believed to be at least 66 million years old. Researcher Dr. Fion Waisum Ma told the AFP News Agency that this discovery is “the best dinosaur embryo ever found in history.” According to a study, researchers at a Chinese mining company, Yinagliang Group, found the egg fossil more than 20 years ago, but put it in storage with other fossils for 10 years. <img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7846550/new-project.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/8b66ef36cdec4b21b7bfdff89ef98730" /> When construction began on the company’s natural history museum, the fossil storage was sorted, and museum staff pulled the dinosaur eggs from the collection for closer examination. That’s when they noticed some bones on the broken cross section of one of the eggs. Researchers say the egg belonged to a toothless theropod dinosaur, or oviraptorosaur. Ma and fellow colleagues found Baby Yingliang’s head below its body, with its feet on either side and back curled. This posture is familiar in modern birds but not previously seen in dinosaurs. Researchers believe the animal was on the verge of hatching, but it was likely preserved when it was buried by a sudden mudslide. Oviraptorosaurs, one of the closest relatives to the bird, evolved earlier from small, feathered dinosaurs. This group of dinosaurs was still blossoming and diversifying during the last few million years before an asteroid struck Earth about 66 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs. The baby dino measures about 27 centimetres long and is currently on display at the Yinglliang Stone Natural History Museum. Most likely a herbivore, it would have grown to be about three metres long if it lived to adulthood. “We were surprised to see this embryo beautifully preserved inside a dinosaur egg, lying in a bird-like posture. This posture had not been recognized in non-avian dinosaurs before,” Waisum Maof of the University of Birmingham, told CBS News. Despite fossilised dinosaur eggs having been found during the last 100 years, a well-preserved embryo is extremely rare, the researchers said in their study. Paleontologists have found them over the years only six times.

International Travel

Australia’s oldest dinosaur was a peaceful vegetarian, not a fierce predator

Ipswich, about 40 kilometres west of Brisbane, seems an unlikely place to find dinosaur fossils. Yet the area has produced the oldest evidence of dinosaurs in Australia. A fresh look at these fossils now reveals they aren’t what they first seemed, and it’s prompting us to reconsider how the story of Australia’s dinosaurs began. In research <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2021.1984447">published</a> today in Historical Biology, we reanalyse a sequence of 220-million-year-old tracks from the Ipswich Coal Measures, thought to have belonged to a carnivorous dinosaur. We show they actually belonged to an early sauropodomorph — a distant relative of the plant-eating sauropods that roamed the planet much later, during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. This is the first time fossil evidence of early sauropodomorphs has been found in Australia. <h2>Subterranean dinosaur tracks</h2> The Ipswich area was once the principal source of coal for Queensland. Its suburbs including Ebbw Vale, New Chum and Swanbank were dotted with underground mines during the late 1800s and the first half of the twentieth century. These mining operations involved the creation of deep shafts and tunnels, from which miners could access deposits of coal sandwiched between other layers of rock. Some tunnels would descend hundreds of metres below the surface. The coal would be removed from the seam by hand, and pillars were left in its place to support the ceiling of the resulting underground “room”. It was difficult and dangerous work. In 1964, miners working at the Rhondda colliery in New Chum made a startling discovery. As they removed the coal from a seam they were following 213 metres below the surface, a series of giant, three-toed tracks became exposed in the ceiling of the mine shaft. For the miners, it was as if a dinosaur had just walked over their heads. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427699/original/file-20211021-16-1f6x0w5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427699/original/file-20211021-16-1f6x0w5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /></a> These tracks remain the oldest-known dinosaur fossils in the entire continent. They’d been made by a dinosaur walking across a layer of swampy vegetation, which would be extracted as coal 220 million years later. Buried under fine silt and mud, they’d been preserved as natural casts. It had been assumed some type of predatory dinosaur made the tracks. The only problem was the footprints were reportedly about 40–46 centimetres long. This would suggest the track-maker was just under 2m high at the hips. This isn’t necessarily large for a theropod such as Allosaurus fragillis, which was about this size. Tyrannosaurus rex was even bigger, with a hip height of about 3.2m. But the tracks found in Ipswich were created during the Late Triassic about 220 million years ago — 65 million years before Allosaurus and 150 million years before T. rex. And fossil evidence from around the world indicates theropods of a larger size didn’t appear until the start of the Early Jurrasic Period, 200 million years ago. Was something unusual afoot in Australia during the Late Triassic? As part of a broader review of Australian dinosaur tracks, we decided to take a closer look at the Rhondda colliery tracks. The mine has long been closed, so the original tracks are no longer accessible, but archival photographs and a plaster cast are held at the Queensland Museum. <h2>Dispelling the myth of the ‘Triassic terror’</h2> Using the photos and cast, we created a 3D digital model of the track to allow a more detailed comparison with other dinosaur tracks from around the world. Our study revealed two important things. First, the footprints were not as big as initially reported. Excluding drag marks and other unrelated surface features, they are close to 32–34cm long (not 40–46cm as previously documented). Second, the shape of the footprints and the sequence in which they were made is more consistent with early sauropodomorphs. Sauropodomorphs were the distant relatives of the lumbering sauropods of the Late Jurassic and subsequent Cretaceous Period. The towering Triassic terror of the Ipswich Coal Measures was no more. In its place was a peaceful plant-eater. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/427698/original/file-20211021-24-ztn4dr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Australia's oldest dinosaur, reconstructed based on a fossilised tracks founnd in 220 million year old rocks from Ipswich." />The remains of early sauropodomorph dinosaurs have been found in Upper Triassic rocks, aged between 220 million and 200 million years, in continental Europe, Argentina, Brazil and South Africa. And by the start of the Jurassic, 200 million years ago, they had achieved a near global distribution, with fossils in North America, China and Antarctica. This isn’t surprising, given the continents at the time were still connected in a single landmass called Pangaea. Our new interpretation of the Rhondda colliery tracks shows early sauropodomorphs lived in Australia, too, and that Australia’s first dinosaurs were friendlier than we thought. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/steven-w-salisbury-3400">Steven W. Salisbury</a>, PhD; Senior Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805">The University of Queensland</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/anthony-romilio-131227">Anthony Romilio</a>, PhD, Independent Researcher, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805">The University of Queensland</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-oldest-dinosaur-was-a-peaceful-vegetarian-not-a-fierce-predator-170275">original article</a>. Image: Anthony Romilio

Family & Pets

Why you should visit the Australian Age of Dinosaur Museum

Anne Sinclair, 68, was born in England but spent most of her youth in Darwin, Northern Territory. Now in a position to travel and explore the world, Anne looks forward to sharing her personal experience and encourages others to step out and have fun. How do you fathom, when we suggest inviting you back some 95 million years and then inviting you to build up some deep emotional knowledge or images of dinosaurs? Dinosaurs which were actually roaming our great nation of Australia. We can invite you to Queensland, and the opportunity to view this spectacular find of real life, dinosaur’s fossils. Can you really grasp this concept of fossils being 95 million years old – and grasp these outstanding creatures shaping the earthly plains – roaming through the wondrous rain forests and woody lands, which may have then existed? Well, to take you back to this moment in time and in a much more comfortable setting, we invite you to Winton in Queensland – where these seemingly impossible dreams, have actually come true. This <a href="http://www.australianageofdinosaurs.com/page/29/australian-age-of-dinosaurs-%7C-the-museum" target="_blank">Australian Age of Dinosaur Museum</a> is now home to the most productive fossil preparation laboratory in the Southern Hemisphere. How totally exciting is it, to be even sharing the same space as these wondrous fossils. And, the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum have topped it off with the discovery of not one, but two new dinosaur species, to date. Bravo Australia! We can read that dinosaurs digs can find fossils something like 243 million years old – so, I figure this would then classify our Australian find dating back some 95 million years – as being babies, in the scheme of things! The Dinosaur Stampede, at Lark Quarry Conservation Park, 110 kilometres south of Winton, holds footprints of dinosaurs, which inspired the stampede in Stephen Spielberg’s movie “Jurassic Park”. Not only are we now on the world stage with our outstanding fossil find, but we have influenced the artistic world as well. The laboratory at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum is absolutely gob-smacking. You can actually stand next to the giant hip, or thigh, so many of their fossil finds – all clearly labelled – of creatures of immeasurable power and their deeply significant roles in the formation and settlement of this globe. These laboratory staff are most friendly, sharing their experiences. The main office have work rosters and would most certainly welcome any enquiry, if you feel you might like to chip away at history’s creations. All this, and much more, is situated in Winton where the town is known for big smiles, friendly hospitality, affordable accommodation, caravan parks and some great food outlets. The Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum is situated just 24 kilometres south east of Winton – clearly signed too. You may need to check the road conditions, just in case it’s been raining heavily in the locality. Other than this – it’s all good gravel roads. But wait, there is more… The overwhelmingly spectacular views from the top of this mesa like formation (locally known as jump-up) - is for a serious photo snapping time. This is the moment in time where you can stand quietly, look across the vast terrain and I guarantee (with a little bit of imagination) you can visualise the different varieties of dinosaurs just meandering, pursuing or feeding – it’s just so awe-inspiring and in many ways, quite surreal. The whole area reeks of historical facts and information being that, part of our outback country lay under ancient inland seas – alive with marine reptiles, while prehistoric creatures roamed and shaped the land. I feel that the founder, David Elliot has been part of this natural selection with this ‘lucky’ find and most especially for this priceless gift to all Australians; joined no less, by the family who donated this particular parcel of land for continuing research. True Australian pride here in Winton. So, come to Winton and go bathing in this historical and wondrous dinosaur land where all measure of fossils and their history is shared with you. As you soak up this truly amazing find– you can easily feel ‘something a little bit surreal might just be unfolding before us all’. Have you ever visited the Australian Age of Dinosaur Museum? Written by Anne Sinclair. Hero image credit: <a href="http://www.australianageofdinosaurs.com/" target="_blank">Australian Age of Dinosaurs</a>

International Travel

Dinosaur potatoes

Okay, there are no dinosaurs in this potato bake. The vertical potato slices might look like a reptilian spine but the taste is classic dauphinoise – crispy on the top and creamy underneath. Serve with roast chicken or lamb and a big green salad, or even with just the salad. Delicious. Ingredients: <ul> <li>30 g unsalted butter, plus extra to grease the casserole dish</li> <li>2 anchovies</li> <li>330 ml thick (heavy) cream</li> <li>50 g freshly grated parmesan cheese</li> <li>2 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole</li> <li>1 bay leaf</li> <li>1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, plus extra to serve</li> <li>½ teaspoon sea salt</li> <li>½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper</li> <li>1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg</li> <li>6 medium potatoes, about 1 kg</li> </ul> Method: 1. Preheat the oven to 190°C and grease a small casserole dish, about 20 x 15 x 6 cm. 2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat and add the anchovies, stirring and squashing them until they almost melt into the butter. Add the cream, half the parmesan, the garlic, bay leaf, thyme, salt, pepper and nutmeg and bring to the boil, stirring. Remove from the heat and allow the flavours to infuse for 5 minutes, then discard the garlic cloves and bay leaf. 3. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 3 mm slices. Immediately drop them into the cream mixture and stir gently to ensure each slice is covered in cream. Using tongs, pick up stacks of potato slices and place them vertically in staggered rows in the casserole dish. Pour some or all of the sauce that remains in the saucepan into the casserole dish, ensuring that the tops of the potato slices protrude from the sauce by about 1.5 cm so they will brown. Cover the dish with foil, place on a baking tray in the oven and bake for 1 hour. 4. Remove the foil and scatter the top of the potatoes with the remaining parmesan. Bake until the potatoes are tender, with crisp tops where their dinosaur spines poke out of the cream. This should take about a further 30 minutes. 5. Serve immediately, sprinkled with additional thyme leaves. Tip: use waxy potatoes. <img width="227" height="214" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/36252/image__227x214.jpg" alt="Image_ (245)" style="float: right;"/> This is an edited extract from The Potato Cookbook by Dale Whybrow published by Hardie Grant Books RRP $24.99 and is available in stores nationally. Image credit: Ben Cole. Have you ordered your copy of the Over60 cookbook, The Way Mum Made It, yet? Featuring 175 delicious tried-and-true recipes from you, the Over60 community, and your favourites that have appeared on the Over60 website, <a href="https://shop.abc.net.au/products/way-mum-made-it-pbk" target="_blank">head to the abcshop.com.au to order your copy now</a>.

Food & Wine

2-year-old dinosaur expert will make your day

An adorably clever two-year-old boy is melting hearts around the world after his mother shared a video of him reciting the (very difficult) names of dinosaurs on Facebook. Laura Hopkins of Scotland posted the sweet clip just a week ago, and it’s already received more than 16 million views. Watch above as little Noel identifies all his favourite prehistoric pals without making a single mistake. And don’t you just love him saying “thank you” every time his mother praises him for a correct answer? Too cute! Related links: <a href="/news/news/2016/09/angela-lansbury-performs-beauty-and-the-beast/">Angela Lansbury performs Beauty and the Beast</a> <a href="/news/news/2016/09/80-year-old-man-with-alzheimers-scores-record-deal/">80-year-old man with Alzheimer’s scores record deal</a> <a href="/news/news/2016/09/jools-oliver-hits-back-at-body-shamers/">Jools Oliver hits back at post-baby body shamers</a>

News

Dinosaur blocks traffic on Isle of Wight

Motorists on the Isle of Wight were faced with a Jurassic-inconvenience last Friday night when they discovered that a road in Godshill had been blocked by a triceratops. The 7.6 metre model (thankfully) dinosaur quickly became an internet celebrity, with motorists pulling over to take pictures of the odd sight and share it on social media. The replica dinosaur (nicknamed Godshilla) belongs to a man called Martin Simpson from Island Gems, and outlet that showcases a variety of fossils, minerals, gemstones and crystals. "It must have taken five hefty lads to move it," Mr Simpson said. "It's great people are talking about it, but I wouldn't want to encourage anybody to cause a hazard for traffic." A number of people posted pictures of the dinosaur, speculating that ultimately alcohol may have been involved in the decision to relocate the beast. "That priceless moment when you're driving home from work at 3 a.m. and the road is blocked by a 20ft Triceratops," Chris Hollingshead wrote on Facebook. "#godblessbeer." "Dinosaur found outside The Taverners pub in Godshill last night," another wrote. "Beer & high jinx clearly on the menu!" Related links: <a href="/news/news/2016/02/lucky-kangaroo-narrowly-avoids-car-collision/">Lucky kangaroo narrowly avoids car collision</a> <a href="/rumours-suggest-duchess-kate-middleton-is-pregnant/">Rumours suggest Duchess Kate Middleton is pregnant</a> <a href="/news/news/2016/02/croc-hunter-snares-second-biggest-crocodile-ever-caught-in-australia/">NT croc hunter snares second biggest crocodile ever caught in Australia</a>

News

Newly discovered moth is “a living dinosaur”

A newly discovered moth found on Kangaroo Island in South Australia is so primitive it has been described as a living dinosaur.The tiny “enigma” moth indicates an entire new family of primitive moths, prompting scientists to reconsider the insect’s family tree to better understand the world of moth and butterfly evolution.The results of DNA analysis of the enigma moth suggests that moth and butterfly evolution is much more complex than previously believed.CSIRO honorary fellow and moth specialist Ted Edwards said the results showed the enigma moth has retained many structural features associated with primitive moth species which lived 40 to 50 million years ago.“It's really quite remarkable because it means that that ancestral line has continued right through without changing a lot of its basic structures,” he told The Age.It’s estimated that Australia is home to around 22,000 species of moths and butterflies but only half have been named. It is the first time since the 1970s that a new family of primitive moths have been discovered.Image credit: The Age/Leigh HenninghamRelated links: <a href="http://oversixty.com.au/news/news/2015/03/tortoises-born-on-galapagos-island/" target="_blank">Tortoises born on Galapagos island for the first time in a century</a><a href="http://oversixty.com.au/news/news/2015/03/woodpecker-vs-baby-weasel/" target="_blank">Baby weasel hitches a ride from a woodpecker</a><a href="http://oversixty.com.au/news/news/2015/03/crocodile-steals-fish/" target="_blank">Video: A mammoth crocodile steals a fish off the line of shocked fisherman</a>

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Why you should visit the Australian Age of Dinosaur Museum

Dinosaur potatoes

2-year-old dinosaur expert will make your day

Dinosaur blocks traffic on Isle of Wight

Newly discovered moth is “a living dinosaur”

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