Another delayed post… but interesting all the same. I hope they are helpful to someone and of nothing else, a wonderful record of times when the kids and I had fun learning about something new and just a bit unique.

While 2014 has not had us digging deep into the dinosaur world like we have, we did find the time to learn all about this Australian herbivore. The Minmi is named after a water body in Australia and is one of the most complete sets of fossils. Things like stomach content, skin texture and all sorts of fine details are saved in the fossils. It is believed that this dinosaur was often washed to sea and preserved as it was definitely a 4 legged land mammal.

Emanuel found this dinosaur most interesting due to its many armored plates and its obvious herbivore nature. We had a great discussion about where Australia is and how this was NOT a large armored dinosaur. Now we did have a rather interesting video by La Trobe University. Australian Dinosaur – Minmi.

And the links were actually plentiful on this dinosaur:

• EnchantedLearning HERE
• Australian Museum HERE
• Age of Dinosaurs HERE
• Find the Best has a great picture HERE
• Dinosaur of the Week HERE
• KidsDinos.com HERE
• The National Dinosaur Museum has a lengthy article HERE
• Wiki has their article HERE
• We got our picture off of deviantArt by hyphenatedsuperhero HERE
• We FOUND this dinosaur in a library book – The Big Book of Dinosaurs by DK.

A taste of my own… if you start it finish it philosophy. Waaaaay delayed!!! Well, it keeps you humble. Enjoy!

Edit: For a video that is current check out this video to hear how this dinosaur got its name. Thanks to the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

I must admit our 2013-2014 school year has been light on the dinosaurs. It just seems like learning to read and external forces have held us at bay… but no longer! We are planning to go up to AT LEAST 2 a week if not back to our original 5. This means LOTS of hunting for mommy for those more obscure dinosaurs. But first… the Pachyrhinosaurus.

This Cretaceous period herbivore was found in what is now Alberta and Alaska. Believed to have moved in herds, it was a rather unintelligent dinosaur with less hearing and scent capabilities. Being a plant eater its teeth were constantly worn down and replaced and included cheek teeth. Without brow or nasal bones this 4 legged dinosaur had a rather unique look. Definitely a traditional plant eater though!

Our video today was from the documentary March of the Dinosaurs. (part 5) All thanks to Clubpenguindino.

And now for our links. Sadly we are finding less links now that we are going more obscure but they ARE helpful nonetheless.

• Walking With Dinosaurs site (BBC) HERE
• Dinosaurs.about.com HERE
• Walking With Wikis HERE
• Animal Planet HERE
• Wiki HERE
• And our colouring page found on Caw. HERE

Look at how ambitious we were x number of years ago!!!! 

Our new year has us at one dinosaur per week… I am sure we will soon up that but for now Trinity and Emanuel are a dino a day. Our next dinosaur is a North American herbivore. The Parasaurolophus. Found in the Cretaceous period it had a distinctive crest and could run on either two or four legs. Found in Alberta, Utah and New Mexico there is still debate as to what its crest was used for… sound, smell, mating… one of the amazing things about paleontology is that there isn’t always a clear answer.

We had a Clash of the Dinosaurs video to watch… they really do use some amazing puppeteering. Thanks to Itsdre9x9.

And now for our list of links:

• EnchantedLearning HERE
• Jurassic Park Wiki HERE
• The Dino Directory HERE
• Science Kids HERE
• The Big Zoo HERE
• International Business Times special about the most complete Parasaurolophus discovered HERE
• Dinosaurs.about.com HERE
• Wiki HERE
• Our colouring page from Kidopo HERE