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Maiasaur Juvenile
Cost: $400
(+ shipping)
Description:
Maiasaura is one of the most famous of the duck-billed dinosaurs
because it proved to many scientists that dinosaurs had nests,
nesting grounds and took care of their young. It was a
medium-sized member of the duck-billed hadrosaur family, which
included Parasaurolophus and Lambeosaurus. More than 200
specimens of this dinosaur have been discovered, making it one
of the best known. What is especially interesting is that many
babies and young adults have been found. Jack Horner's discovery
of Maiasaura set the world of paleontology on fire and also
rekindled public interest in dinosaurs. Until its discovery,
most scientists thought that dinosaurs laid their eggs, left
them on their own to hatch and then let the babies fend for
themselves. The nests Horner discovered seem to clearly show
evidence of babies that remained in the nest for some time and
would have been cared for by adults. Apart from the spectacular
nature of its discovery, and the number of specimens, Maiasaura
was a fairly typical, mid-sized hadrosaus . It had no real
crest, but it did have a small spike-like crest in front of its
eyes.
Age: Cretaceous
Discovered: Montana
Size: 14"x 7" x 5"
Item#: maiasaur-skull-s-107-va
Mosasaur Skull
Description:
Mosasaurs were the largest lizards that ever evolved and
attained lengths of almost 60 feet with a skull 6 foot long! The
mosasaur was a powerful swimmer who spent its entire life in the
sea. Mosasaurs had long and powerful bodies whose tails and
limbs were adapted for swimming. They probably swam by moving
their long body in a snake-like way, also using their finned
tail to propel them forwards. They steered with small, webbed
feet. Mosasaurs had long heads, strong and flexible necks and
hydrofoil-like limbs. Their large jaws had stabbing teeth and
had a hinge in the mid-lower jaw similar to modern day
constrictor snakes. This enabled them to swallow huge prey. What
is even more amazing about these creatures is that they had
curved teeth on the ROOF of their mouth just before their
throat! Any prey still attempting to escape their massive jaws
would be firmly held by these teeth just prior to being
swallowed whole. The teeth in the jaws of the mosasaur were
deeply lodged into the jaw-bone. This tells us that there was
huge power in the bite to necessitate such well-anchored teeth.
It’s believed that the bite force of the mosasaur was AT LEAST
equal to that of a Tyrannosaurus rex!
Discovered: Kansas, USA
Age: Cretaceous
Mosasaur Skull
Cost: $1050
(+ shipping)
Size: (Scale 1:1) 10"H x 22" L x 8"W
Item#: mosasaur-skull-s052-va
Prosaurolophis Skull (Plaque)
Cost: $600
(+ shipping)
Description:
Prosaurolophus was an early member of the duck-billed dinosaur
family. It was very similar to Saurolophus and probably
represents an evolutionary step in that dinosaur's history. Like
the other duck-billed dinosaurs, it had hind legs much longer
than its front legs, which means it could walk and stand on two
legs. It also had hundreds of teeth packed closely together to
form what is called a dental battery that was used to grind
tough plant fiber into mushy pulp. There is some fossil evidence
to suggest that Prosaurolophus could have grown to a size of
almost 50 feet long. Its crest was shorter than that of
Saurolophus, and it had a smaller bill.
Age: Cretaceous
Discovered: Canada
Size: (Scale 1:1)
Item#: prosaurolophis-skull-s-40-va
Protoceratops Skull
Cost: $480
(+ shipping)
Description:
This is the first ancestor of the famous ceratopsian family to
look like the later, more famous members such as Triceratops. It
was much smaller that its more famous relatives, but it was a
very successful design that lasted many millions of years.
Protoceratops didn't have horns to protect itself, just its
sharp beak to bite with. It is a fairly common fossil, one of
the few dinosaurs for which a complete growth history can be
seen in fossils ranging from infant to adult. Like other
ceratopsian family members each individual shows a difference in
the size and shape of its frill. Protoceratops frills were not
solid and did not grow overly large. Some scientists believe
that the frills may have been brightly colored for display,
either to intimidate attackers or for courtship. There are some
of this species that show a small horn on the snout. This is
thought to be a gender differentiation. One of the most famous
fossils ever found is of a Velociraptor and a Protoceratops
locked in battle. They were both killed in the midst of a fight.
It is interesting to note that the species name, andrewsii, is
for Roy Chapman Andrews. Mr. Andrews was a very adventurous
fossil hunter; the movie character Indiana Jones is based on
Andrews exploits.
Age: late Triassic
Discovered: Mongolia, China
Item#: protoceratops-skull-aa306s-va
Pterodaustro Guintazui Skull Sculpture
Cost: $370
(+ shipping)
Description:
Pterodaustro is a pterosaur, or flying reptile, and a member of
the Pterodaustridae family. Like all pterosaurs, Pterodaustro
was not a dinosaur. Pterodaustro had a wingspan of 52 inches.
Pterodaustro was discovered in 1970 by José Bonaparte in the
Lagarcito Formation in the San Luis province of Patagonia,
Argentina. Pterodaustro is dubbed the "flamingo pterosaur" for
its unique dentition. This filter feeder had roughly 500
bristle-like teeth on either side of is lower jaw to sieve small
organisms out of the water. Its upper jaw contained a series of
short blunt teeth, enabling the pterosaur to chop its catch into
smaller pieces. Pterodaustro lived 125 million years ago, during
the Cretaceous Period.
Age: Lower creatceous
Discovered: Argentina
Size: (Scale 1:1) 12.2in/31cm
Item#: pterodaustro-skull-mg11-va
Sinraptor Skull Sculpture
Cost: $180
(+ shipping)
Description:
This was a large, fast meat-eater from China. Sinraptor was
similar in looks to Allosaurus and may have been distantly
related. It was a little lighter and may have been faster than
its North American cousin. Some of its teeth were found in the
remains of a large sauropod, so scientists theorize that it fed
upon them. Two species have been assigned to this genus, the
second being S. hepingensis, which was slightly larger than the
type specimen. Some scientists consider Sinraptor to be an
important basal genus as it may have given rise to the later
Cretaceous predators such as Giganotosaurus and
Carcharodontosaurus.
Age: Jurassic
Discovered: NW China
Size: (Scale 1:9) 4in/10cm
Item#: sinraptor-skull-mg07-va
Suchimimus Skull Sculpture
Cost: $220
(+ shipping)
Description:
Suchomimus was very similar to Spinosaurus, but it didn't have
the tall sail on its back. Along with its cousin, Suchomimus ate
mostly fish, which it caught with its long, thin snout full of
sharp, cone-shaped teeth. It was discovered in 1998 and has
given scientists a much clearer picture of what this fish-eating
family of dinosaurs, which also includes Baryonyx. The discovery
of Suchomimus has helped both scientists and the general public
understands the rich diversity of life that lived in Africa
millions of years ago. It has also provided scientist with
valuable clues about the migration of the spinosaurs from Europe
into Africa. Although it did not have nearly as prominent a sail
as Spinosaurus, Suchomimus did have sacral vertebrae that
supported a two-foot (.7 m) sail on its back. Some scientists
are questioning whether this dinosaur is a unique genus or if it
might be a species of Baryonyx.
Discovered: North Africa
Size: (Scale) 9in/232mm
Item#: suchimimus-skull-mg16-va
Tropeognathus Skull Plaque
Description:
The Tropeognathus is a very interesting pterosaur. About the
size of a hang glider, it was a mid-sized Cretaceous
Ornithocheirid (Ore-nih-thoh-kye-rid) Pterosaur, which soared
over the Brazilian seas like a gigantic seagull. At the end of
its two-foot long bill, Tropeognathus possessed a pair of keels,
one on the upper jaw and one on the lower. These keels probably
acted as stabilizers when Tropeognathus dipped its bill into the
water to grab fish while in flight. The keels allowed the bill
to cut smoothly through the water, preventing Tropeognathus from
losing its balance, falling into the water, soaking itself, and,
unable to become airborne again, leaving it an easy target for
marine predators. Like its distant relative, the better-known
Pteranodon (Tare-an-oh-dawn), Tropeognathus sported a crest at
the back of its skull, but this crest was very small, probably
not much more than a bony lump on the back of the head. One very
interesting recently discovered fact about pterosaurs is that
they possessed a highly sophisticated physiological flight
apparatus. CAT scans of Pterosaur braincases reveal that their
skulls contained huge brain lobes and tiny inner ear canals.
This system, called the flocculus, was apparently capable of
linking brain activity with body movement, allowing the
Pterosaur to focus on searching for its prey on the ground or in
the water below while still keeping full aerodynamic control.
Complex muscle structures near the surface of the Pterosaur's
wings acted like sensory organs, collecting data on wind speed,
air temperature, wing tension and position, and other important
aerodynamic factors, and sending it all to the Pterosaur's brain
via the flocculus. Then the brain could send information back
through the flocculus and to the wings, instructing changes on
wing tension, adapting the wings to alter flight speed or
direction in accordance to the surrounding conditions. This
system would have made the Pterosaurs far more efficient flyers
than any bird, bat, or man-made aircraft. So it looks like we
can't use the Pterosaur extinction theory of competitive
evolutionary pressure by birds any more.
Age: Cretaceous
Discovered: Brazil
Tyrannosaurs Rex "Harley" Crate
Cost: $275
(+ shipping)
Description:
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.
Size: 60x40x48 in (x36 skull only)
Item#: trex-harley-crate-s306cr-va
Tyrannosaurs Rex "Harley" Skull Base
Cost: $6100
(+ shipping)
Description: From 40 ft. carnosaur of Cretaceous North America
Item#: trex-skull-s309-va
Tyrannosaurs Rex "Harley" Fossil Skull
Cost: $6600
(+ shipping)
Description: Replica from the Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation
Size: 53x35x40 in. (Scale 1:1)
Item#: trex-harley-skull-s306-va
Tyrannosaurs Rex "Harley" Skull Base
Cost: $450
(+ shipping)
Description: Welded steel stand (Outside services)
Item#: trex-harley-skull-base-s306m-va
Uinthererium Skull
Cost: $800
(+ shipping)
Description:
The uintatherium was an enormous rhino-like mammal, but it is
not like the wooly rhino because they don't have any living
decedents. Also, despite their looks, they are definitely not
like a dinosaur. The uintatheriums were from the Eocene in North
America. The fully grown uintatheriums grew to about 13 feet
long (4 meters), and their weight was about 2.25 tons. The male
uintatheriums had sharp canine teeth that pointed towards the
ground. They had four thick legs with elephant like feet. As you
can see from the picture to the left and right, they grew three
pairs of bony horns on their head, and something you can't see
is that they had very small brains. Like the wooly rhino, the
uintatheriums were herbivores. The mainly lived in forests were
there were leaves and soft plants that they could eat.
Age: Eocene
Discovered: Colorado
Size: (Scale 1:1) 29x13/74x33cm
Item#: uinthererium-skull-s114-va
Velociraptor Mongoliensis Skull Sculpture
Cost: $220
(+ shipping)
Description:
Since the movie "Jurassic Park", Velociraptor has become the
most famous dinosaur, even more so than T. rex. What is
interesting is that it doesn't really look like the movie
dinosaur. Velociraptor is much smaller than in the film and it
has a longer, thinner snout. Still, pound for pound,
Velociraptor was a very effective killing machine! One of the
most unique aspects of Velociraptor is the "Killing Claw" it has
on each foot. Each inside toe has a large (about 5 inches)
hooked claw that is controlled by a strong tendon. This claw is
held upward when the animal is walking or running. However, when
it attacks, the tendon snaps tight and the claw snaps down with
great speed and force, slicing deeply into the victim. Not a
very pretty picture, but an effective way to inflict a serious
wound. Velociraptor was probably a pack hunter, which would have
allowed it to attack prey much larger than itself. It also had a
very large brain relative to its size - it was one of the
smartest dinosaurs. It was very light and very fast. Recent
thinking is that it was also very close to being birdlike, and
that it had feathers that it used both for display and
insulation. It had very strong arms and claws, which were
effective weapons by themselves. It had sharp, recurved teeth in
its long mouth. One of the most fascinating fossil discoveries
ever made is of a Velociraptor locked in mortal combat with a
Protoceratops. Both creatures probably died instantly in a
sandstorm and their bodies were buried with the claws of the
raptor in the body of the little ceratopsian, whose mouth was
firmly locked on the raptors leg.
Age: Late Cretaceous
Discovered: Flaming Cliffs, Mongolia China
Size: (Scale 1:1) 8.25-in/21cm
Item#:velociraptor-skull-sh15-va
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