…And we are back to the dinosaurs while I sort out pictures for blog posts and proof others. Company, end of summer and back to full day school have slowed me a bit… but I promise to continue catching up! 

#3 on the Dinosaurs.about.com’s list of the top 10 weirdest dinosaurs is the VERY long necked dinosaur Tanystropheus. In fact, scientist believe that its neck is as long as it could be without the dinosaur completely defying physics!!! While not technically a dinosaur this archosaur was found in the Triassic period in Europe and the Middle East. It is actually thought that it would have used its head and neck much like a fishing line.

Our videos! First… Dinosaur Safari (Late Triassic) Clip #11: Tanystropheus by Kyle Hartman.

And the second, Tribute to Tanystropheus by ArchosaurKing.

And now our links:

• Dinosaurs.about.com HERE
• Jurassic Park Wikia HERE
• ReptileEvolution.com HERE
• BBC HERE
• The Big Zoo HERE
• The Pterosaur Heresies HERE
• Prehistoric Wildlife HERE
• Wiki HERE
• And our colouring page… it is off of deviantArt HERE thanks to the artist HyphenatedSuperHero HERE.

Let’s go way back to early dinosaurs and one of the first true herbivores… not only the first of the herbivores but one of the first to have the ability to reach food up on trees and high growths. From the Triassic period the Plateosaurus is the beginning of the giant dinosaurs. Heavy and sturdy limbed, its tail made up half of its length… definitely not an easy dinosaur to miss.

We chose this dinosaur out of a book we had on hand that Emanuel had unearthed.

From our book

So our videos are slightly different than our norm…

And…

Early dinosaurs have really spiked Emanuel’s interest. They just look so different, so ungainly in comparison to the ones that we have been reading about!  But anyway, now for the links… There is a dino fact file HERE to check out. Kidsdinos.com has a their usual helpful charts HERE. Interested in a longer article? Check out Animal Planet HERE. Emanuel thought the picture on the Prehistory page was a giggle HERE. For a terrific image of the difference in this dinosaur’s size in comparison to a human and a dog the Encyclopedia Britannica Kids have their page HERE. Check out EnchantedLearning and their page on this early dinosaur HERE. Someone called Cindy Thomas has a great page dedicated to this dinosaur HERE. Of course there is the Wiki page HERE. And finally, our colouring page HERE.

A VERY long neck dinosaur

When Ken and Emanuel work together they ALWAYS find me the most unusual dinosaurs! The Saltopus is no exception. This early Triassic period dinosaur was the size of a cat. Its name actually means hopping or jumping foot as it was rather tiny and thought to be able to make great jumps. Without the finding of a full skull a lot has had to be determined from partial skeletons and like (but later) dinosaurs as is best explained by this cute video.

Our second video is more of a short animation. Basically showing how it is THOUGHT the dinosaur may have moved. With its short front legs and 5 fingers… though the 4th and 5th finger were very short… it was built much like a miniature (and much lighter) Tyrannosaurus Rex. Emanuel really enjoyed the video. You have to go to Vimeo to see this one HERE.

Found in Scotland of all places, this dinosaur is even considered to be a PRE dinosaur by some scholars. It had light hollow bones and lots of teeth. As a carnivore it is unknown if it ate animals or mainly insects but it probably also scavenged off carcasses to supplement its diet. And now for our links… KidsDigDinos has a great drawing of our dino HERE. ReptileEvolution.com has a great image of the skeleton with the parts that are actually found bones indicated HERE. Natural History Museum has a great carnivore in action shot of the Saltopus HERE. The Free Resource has a great question and answer style HERE. KidsDinos.com has the usual awesome map and charts HERE. EnchantedLearning has a great blurb on their site HERE. Dinosaurs.about.com has a great article with some links to things related HERE. Of course our Wiki factual article HERE. And of course our print out… HERE.

So our little dinosaur is quite the interesting character. I hope our videos and links come in handy!!! 

Saltopus