Dinosaur Elements
Jaws, Femurs, Feet, Brains, and More! Great teaching tools that kids love!
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Albertosaur
Age: Cretaceous
Discovered: Alberta, Canada
Notes:
Albertosaurus was the grandfather of T. rex. This dinosaur
looked like a smaller, less muscular version of Tyrannosaurus.
As an early member of the tyrannosaur family, Albertosaurus was
the final design for the large meat-eating dinosaurs. It only
had two fingers on its hands, which were at the end of short
arms. It had long legs and it a wide skull with lots of power in
its bite. Albertosaurus is considered by many scientists to be
the best known of the tyrannosaurs. A number of nearly complete
skeletons, two adults and a juvenile, have been found. There are
two recognized species and several in dispute. It is sometimes
referenced as a transitory animal, a creature on its way to
evolving into T. rex, but it appears that it was extremely
successful and longer lived than the Tyrannosaurus genus.
Apatosaur Femur (leg bone)
Age: Upper Jurassic
Discovered: Hell Creek Formation of Montana.
Size: 59in/1.5m
Cost: $700
(+ shipping)
Notes:
Apatosaurus is one of the most famous of the giant Jurassic
plant-eaters. It was a huge, long-necked dinosaur, longer than
two school buses and weighing as much as 7 elephants! If you
look at older dinosaur books, you might not find Apatasaurus,
but you will see Brontosaurus. This was the name that was used
for this dinosaur when the wrong head was mistakenly put on its
body! For years an Apatasaurus body stood with the head of
Camarasaurus on the end of its neck. This was named Brontosaurus
and was one of the most popular dinosaurs for many years.
Apatosaurus is a fairly typical member of the Diplodocid family
- long neck, pillar like legs, long tapering tail and enormous
size. It had, like the other family members, peg-like teeth in a
head that seemed very small for such a large creature. Compared
to Diplodocus, Apatosaurus has a shorter, thicker neck and a
larger, heavier body. There is much speculation about how much
these creatures needed to eat and how such a small head could
ingest enough food to fuel such a large body. Some scientists
have stated that these huge, small-headed creatures would have
needed to eat every waking moment in order to provide enough
food to keep such a large body alive. Apatosaurus seemed to have
every adaptation needed for continuous eating, including having
nostrils on the top of its head, so breathing would not
interfere with eating. In order to facilitate the processing of
food, which it could not chew with its teeth, Apatosaurus
probably swallowed stones that it kept in a gizzard similar to
that found in a chicken. The tough plant fibers would spend time
in the gizzard stewing and being ground up by the stones.
Item#: dino-apatosaur-femur-m20-va
Argentinosaurus
Age: Late Cretaceous
Discovered: Argentina
Notes:
Argentinosaurus may have been the biggest dinosaur ever. Like
some of the other really huge dinosaurs, such as Ultrasauros ,
very little of Argentinosaurus has been found, so it is hard to
tell exactly what it may have looked like. The only thing that
is certain is that it was a huge, long-necked plant eater.
Argentinosaurus was discovered by a retired oil worker and was
formally described in 1993. The few bones include hipbones,
backbones, and a tibia (lower leg bone). One vertebra was over
four feet (1.3 m) tall and the tibia was 58 inches (155 cm)
long. A number of prominent scientists have stated that this
member of the South American titanosaur family was the largest
dinosaur that ever lived.
Argentinosaurus Vertebra(with stand)
Size: 72 in / 183 cm; 52/132; 20;51
Cost: $4450
(+ shipping)
Notes: Crate available for $200 including handling
Item#: argentinosaurus-vertebra-stand-a116v-va
Camarasaurus Ungual(w/ stand)
Cost: $95
(+ shipping)
Notes: Includes stand.
Camarasaurus was a very heavily built member of
the long-necked sauropod family of Jurassic dinosaurs. It is
very well known by scientists and recently a family of these
large creatures was discovered in the Western U.S. Camarasaurus
is also a part of one of paleontology's big mistakes when its
head was put on the body of Apatasaurus and called Brontosaurus.
Compared to some of the other sauropods, Camarasaurus had a
relatively short neck and tail. It also had a large head
compared to other sauropods, but the head was almost hollow. The
skull openings for the nose and eyes were very large. This is
the most common North American sauropod found, with more than
ten fairly complete skeletons unearthed to date. At least four
species have been identified within this genus. Camarasaurus
gets its name from the hollow spaces in its neck vertebrae.
These would have made the neck lighter and easier for the
dinosaur to lift and move about. This dinosaur also had the
largest teeth among sauropods.
Item#: camarasaurus-ungual-stand-cl24-va
Camptosaur Hand
Age: Jurassic
Discovered:
Utah
Size: 6 1/2"
Note: First discovered in
1877, there have been more than 20 skulls and 12 skeletons found
to date of this dinosaur. This leads scientists to think of it
as a fairly common plant eater of the last part of the Jurassic
and the first part of the Cretaceous. It belongs to the same
family as Iguanodon, although it was an earlier dinosaur. There
is ongoing debate regarding the various specimens currently
attributed to the genus Camptosaurus. Some scientists believe
that a number of the species should be renamed after the type
specimen and that their differences are simply individual
variation. There have been a number of dinosaurs that were
originally classified as Camptosaurus, including an Allosaurus
species.
Cost: $95
Item#: dino-camptosaur-hand-c018-va
Dystylosaurus Dorsal (vertebra)
Age: Upper Jurassic
Discovered: Dry Mesa
Size: 43in/1.1m, 18inch centrum
Cost: $2600
(+ shipping)
Notes:
Dystylosaurus was a giant plant-eater that was probably very
similar to Brachiosaurus. It is known from one very large back
bone. Although this one bone can't tell us exactly what it
looked like, if it was like a brachiosaur it would have been
more than 70 feet (21 m) long and weighed more than 30 tons
(27,000 kilos). Like Brachiosaurus, it would have had front legs
longer than its back legs and its head would have been held high
off the ground. Although it is thought to most certainly belong
to the brachiosauridae, it is clearly different from
Brachiosaurus. It is believed likely that more of this
individual was collected and misidentified as the quarry in
which it was discovered has yielded a number of large sauropod
specimens.
Item#: dino-dystylosaurus-dorsal-vertebra-m17-va
Edmontosaurus Hadrosaur Duckbill
Age: Late Cretaceous
Note: Edmontosaurus was
possibly the largest of the duck-billed hadrosaurs. It was a
little bigger than a T. rex and was probably a food source for
the large meat-eater. It walked on all four legs much of the
time, but it could also stand easily on its hind legs, as they
were much larger than its front legs. Edmontosaurus had on
average over 500 teeth and some had over 1,000! These were all
jammed together in what is called a dental battery. This
dinosaur could really chew up the tough plants on which it fed.
Edmontosaurus was originally described as Anatosaurus; for many
years the species annectens was attributed to the genus
Anatosaurus. Now both Anatosaurus and Claosaurus are known as
Edmontosaurus. Hadrosaurs were among the most common herbivores
of the late Cretaceous. Like other hadrosaurs, it had a beak
that was covered with a horny sheath. Excellent mummified
specimens of these dinosaurs have been found, adding a great
deal to the knowledge of dinosaur skin and musculature. When
first discovered, many researchers thought these dinosaurs would
have lived in the water due to the shape of their heads and the
fact that one mummified specimen seemed to have webbing on its
front feet. Later research has shown, however, that these
creatures lived primarily on coastal plains, floodplains and
river deltas. Their dental structure also supports a more
terrestrial lifestyle, as was perfectly suited for plants that
were found in forests near water, and not those that were found
in the water. Another interesting Edmontosaurus feature is that
the skin seemed to consist, at least partly, of horny plates -
good defense against glancing bites and blows from predators.
Discovered:
Canada / Montana US
Iguanodon(footprint)
Note:
Iguanodon has become quite famous as a result of its starring
role in Dinosaur, but before that it helped people understand
what dinosaurs really looked like. It was one of the first
complete skeletons ever found. This allowed scientists who had
never seen a complete dinosaur, to figure out what it would have
looked like in life. In fact, the first time this common
dinosaur was found as just partial skeleton, scientists put its
thumb spike on its nose! This was only the second dinosaur to be
described, after Megalosaurus. Its teeth were discovered in the
early 1820's in England - these original fossils were
"rediscovered" in the British Museum in 1977. As nothing like it
had ever been described in scientific literature, the teeth of
this creature were a puzzle that an amateur paleontologist named
Gideon Mantell solved by comparing them to the teeth of living
animals. Mantell found that the teeth looked like those of a
modern iguana and named it Iguanodon. He speculated that it was
a huge extinct version of this modern reptile. It was in 1878 in
a coal mine in Belgium that 24 fairly complete and articulated
specimens were found. Although they were of a larger species,
they clearly showed what this creature looked like in life.
Cost: $132
(+ shipping)
Notes: Large dinosaur footprint
Item#: iguanodon-footprint-wdp502-va
Parasaurolophus Walkeri(dentary / left jaw)
Age: Cretaceous
Cost: $160
(+ shipping)
Notes:
Parasaurolophus was a very unique looking dinosaur. It had a
very prominent crest atop its head that was almost six feet in
length. This hollow tube was probably used to make sounds that
may have allowed it to call to others in its herd. It was one of
the largest plant-eaters of the Cretaceous Period.
Parasaurolophus would have walked primarily on all four legs,
but it could have stood on its hind legs to feed or defend
itself and used its long tail for balance. It had a fairly long
neck that would have allowed it to find food on the ground or in
trees. It was a member of family of dinosaurs we refer to as
duckbills, meaning it had a hard beak in the front of its mouth
and hundreds of teeth in the back for chewing tough plant
material. These types of plant-eaters were most likely easy prey
for the large predators of this time, so it probably found
safety in numbers. The long tube that makes up the crest is
connected to the nostrils and the back of the throat of this
dinosaur. It may have been able to make very loud sounds that
could have been heard for miles.
Item#: parasaurolophus-dentary-s039-va
Segisaurus(footprint)
Description:
Segisaurus is an Early Jurassic meat-eater that seemed adapted
for life in a dry, sandy environment. Though all early dinosaur
predators had evolved to be quicker than the animals they
replaced, scientists believe Segisaurus has features that made
it extra fast. The North American landscape where Segisaurus
lived was very arid and sandy. This little dinosaur seemed to
have features that would have made it well adapted to squatting
down and sitting out a sandstorm. With only post-cranial
remains, the exact look of this dinosaur is unknown.
Cost: $95
(+ shipping)
Notes: Small dinosaur footprint
Item#: segisaurus-footprint-wdp503-va
Stegosaurus
Age: Jurassic
Discovered: Utah
Note: Easily one of the
best known of all the dinosaurs, Stegosaurus is recognized the
world over. The unique plates along its back, its small head and
spiked tail make it a peculiar and unique dinosaur. This
plant-eater evolved to find its food in the low-growing plants
of the late Jurassic. The long fearsome spikes on its tail would
have made a powerful weapon against predators. Stegosaurus is
often called the dumbest dinosaur because of its incredibly
small brain. In fact, most scientists believe that its brain was
too small to control such a large creature and that it used an
auxiliary "brain" located above its rear legs to help control
its movements. This was not actually a brain, but a bundle of
nerves that helped relay information from its real brain. Most
fascinating to people are the plates along its back. There has
been a great deal of debate about their use and arrangement. The
plates were up to 2-feet tall and 2-feet wide (.6 m). The most
prevalent theory is that they were used for cooling or heating
the animal. A more recent theory, however, suggests that they
could have been used as a display during courtship and that they
may have been brightly colored. It is also possible that they
could move up and down, perhaps to intimidate predators. The
spikes on its tail are also the subjects of some controversy.
For years every model of Stegosaurus showed it with the spikes
sticking up into the air. It is only since the 1990's that it
has become accepted that these spikes stuck out horizontal to
the ground, which would have been a potent defensive weapon when
swung at a hunter. Stegosaurus would have lived in family groups
and possibly herds, moving slowly through forests while eating
the low-growing plants. Its front legs were considerably shorter
than its hind legs, making it adapted to nibbling the plants
closest to the ground. Stegosaurus is the namesake for a large
family of dinosaurs whose members were found all over the world.
Stegosaurus Tail Spike (left)
Age: Jurassic
Discovered: Utah
Size: 20 in / 51 cm
Cost: $95
(+ shipping)
Item#: dino-stegosaurus-spike-replica-m01-va
Supersaurus (scapula)
Age: Upper Jurassic
Discovered: Hell Creek Formation of Montana.
Size: 8ft/2.5m
Cost: $2600
(+ shipping)
Notes:
Supersaurus was definitely one of the largest plant eaters of
all time, and probably the largest member of the family that
included Diplodocus. At just under 100 feet long, it was as long
as three school buses! Its neck alone was 40 feet long.
Supersaurus is known from only a few bones, but these bones are
enormous. The first bone found, a scapulacoracoid (shoulder
bone) was over eight feet (2.4 m) long. James Jensen, one of
North America's most prolific dinosaur hunters, discovered this
creature in 1973 and excavated it in 1979. The bones are so
large that some are still unprepared. Bones that were originally
assigned to Ultrasauros have now been identified as being from
Supersaurus.
Item#: dino-supersaurus-scapula-m19-va
Triceratops
Age: Cretaceous
Size: 5.2 in / 13.3 cm
Discovered: South Dakota
Notes: One of
the top three on everyone's favorite dinosaur list, Triceratops
is a very common dinosaur which lived at the very end of the Age
of Dinosaurs. It had a huge frilled head with horns over each
eye that could reach over 4 feet long. Triceratops had a third,
smaller horn on its nose. These would be fearsome weapons
against a predator. Triceratops is one of the most common
dinosaur fossils found. More than 50 skulls have been found.
Within the genus, at least 7 species have been identified. The
ceratopsian family is one of the most successful and varied of
the Late Cretaceous. Triceratops is the largest member of this
family, reaching the size of a school bus. Triceratops was a
herd animal; it is believed that large groups roamed North
America. Their large, horny beaks and long rows of teeth were
well designed for chewing the tough, low growing plants of the
Late Cretaceous. It was likely the main predator of these
animals was T. rex. A number of skeletons show bite and chew
marks that match the teeth of T. rex. Horns and frills seemed to
vary among individuals within the species. Some frills were very
broad, others narrow. The nasal horn shows the most variance
among individual specimens, no two being the same. The material
that covered its horns in life would have added significantly to
the length of the fossilized bone.
Triceratops(foot digit)
Size: 5.2 in / 13.3 cm
Cost: $95
(+ shipping)
Notes: Triceratops Horridus
Item#: triceratops-foot-digit-rf030-va
Tyrannosaurus Rex maxilla (upper jaw)
Age: Cretaceous
Discovered: Hell Creek Formation of Montana
Size: 30x24 in/76x61cm
Cost: $350
(+ shipping)
Notes:
Probably the most famous of all dinosaurs, T. rex was probably
the fiercest meat eater that ever lived. At more than 40 feet
tall, it was huge and had the most powerful head of any
dinosaur. It also had the biggest teeth of any dinosaur - teeth
that were not only sharp and cutting edged, but also thick and
strong, capable of crushing bones. After many millions of years
of evolution, nature arrived at T. rex, an almost perfect
killing machine. It was capable of running at great speed to
catch other dinosaurs (or anything it wanted to eat). It had
large feet to help it run quickly through the swampy environment
in which it lived, maybe as fast as 35 mph. Although it had very
short arms, they were very strong. But it didn't need its arms
to be an effective and efficient killer. It had enormous
strength in its jaws; it could bite right through the frill of a
Triceratops or into the back of a hadrosaur. In fact, the only
thing that a T. rex had to fear was another T. rex. Most of the
scars and wounds found on fossil bones of these great creatures
seem to come from others of its kind. T. rex is very well known,
with more than 30 individual specimens having been found. Less
than half of these had any significant amount of the fossil, but
it still gives us a very good picture of these creatures.
Item#: dino-t-rex-maxilla-upper-jaw-s031-va
Tyrannosaurus Rex (foot)
Size: 46in/117cm (from top of middle toe to claw)
Cost: $600
(+ shipping)
Note: Stand not included.
Item#: dino-foot-t-rex-c030-va
T-Rex(brain)
Discovered: South Dakota U.S.
Size: 9in/23cm
Cost: $95
(+ shipping)
Item#: dino-brain-t-rex-m02-va
Ultrasaurus Dorsal
Age: Upper Jurassic
Discovered: Dry Mesa
Notes: This
may be the largest dinosaur ever. The only problem is that so
little of Ultrasauros has been found it is hard to determine
exactly what it may have looked like. The only thing that is
certain is that it was a huge plant-eater and was related to
Brachiosaurus. In fact, it may even be a really large
Brachiosaurus. This dinosaur has been through several
descriptions since its discovery. Ultrasaurus, Supersaurus and
Brachiosaurus have all been used to describe the remains - two
bones, a vertebra and a scapulacoracoid. This last bone is
almost 9 feet (2.7 m) long. There are enough subtle differences
between similar bones in Brachivosaurus to keep the debate going
as to whether it should be a Brachiosaurus species.
Ultrasaurus Dorsal (vertebra)
Size: height 49in/1.3 m
Cost: $1600
(+ shipping)
Notes: Add $100 for stand.
Item#: dino-ultrasaurus-dorsal-vertebra-m18-va
