This must-have first book on dinosaurs and other ancient creatures is filled with beautiful illustrations and storybook text on every page, perfect for early readers who want to know more about the life that once roamed our planet. The Bedtime Book of Dinosaurs and other Prehistoric Life includes the earliest life that appeared in the ocean, to the giant dinosaurs, and the wonderfully weird mammals that followed them. Children aged 3-5 can discover a huge variety of organisms that are shown within the three chapters, which cover the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic eras. With old favorites, such as Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops, as well as new discoveries, including Yi and Changmiania, there is something for every young fan of the primeval world.Inside the pages of this exciting dinosaur book, you’ll find:- An introduction to the essential information about each prehistoric species in a friendly, accessible way.- Beautiful and accurate illustrations combined with introductory reference text about a wide variety of dinosaurs and other ancient plants and animals.- Engaging text for young children that can be read aloud – perfect for parents, carers, and children to enjoy at bedtime. - A one-hit introduction to prehistoric life, featuring more than 100 animals - an essential addition to every 3–5 year old’s library.This exciting dinosaur guide helps to develop an early understanding of the prehistoric world for little ones and clearly explains the key features of each animal or plant, as well as how to say their names. A timeless gift book, this is a must-have for parents, carers, and educators who want to introduce core dinosaur knowledge at a young age in a fun and engaging way.

Bramatherium perimense (1845) Climacoceras africanus (1936) Giraffokeryx punnjabiensis (1910) Palaeotragus primaevus (1861) Sivatherium giganteum (1836) Shansitherium fuguensis (1935) Reticulated...

All large land animals native to North America went extinct roughly ten-thousand year ago. There is a great debate as to why they went extinct, but generally it's believed to have various environmental disruptions. This poster print features fine art illustrations of some species of extinct mammals of North America Species featured: AMERICAN LION (Panthera leo atrox) ANCIENT BISON (Bison antiquus) COLUMBIA MAMMOTH (Mammuthus columbi) DIRE WOLF (Canis Dirus) HAGERMAN HORSE (Equus simplicidens) JEFFERSON’S GROUND SLOTH (Megalonyx jeffersonii) MASTODON (Mammut americanum) SABER-TOOTH CAT (Smilodon californicus) SHORT-FACED BEAR (Arctodus simus) WESTERN CAMEL (Camelops sp) The unframed print is 10" x 12" (25.4cm x 30.5cm) and printed on sturdy, water color block style paper. Print is signed on the back, but can be signed on the front by the artist on request. All images are scientifically accurate and expertly drawn by wildlife artist Roger Hall, who has been working in the field for over 20 years for such noted organizations as National Geographic, Scholastic Books, Sunset Magazine and World Wildlife Fund.

Since we've already looked at everything that's more important, let us now turn to the Cenozoic mammals of the wonderful Private Lives of Animals book on extinct beasties. And where better to begin than with a ground sloth with hair so wonderfully painted, you'll want to reach through the screen and run your fingers through it? (Just watch out for fleas and dandruff.) As you will already be well aware, it's obligatory to restore Megatherium standing upright against a tree, with its hands gripping the branches; even the model in Crystal Palace Park is posed like this. Still, it makes sense to give an impression of the animal's massive size, and it is considered a likely feeding habit, as far as I'm aware. Although it's a very straightforward illustration of the animal in its environment (with a minimal background to make room for the text), this might just be one of my favourite illustrations in the book for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. It's probably that aforementioned beautifully textured fur, or the curling, gnarly, realistic quality of the tree. It looks like it could've been drawn from life, all the more because it isn't photo-realistic. If it wasn't painted by Burian, it's certainly worthy of him. Following the format of the rest of the book, Megatherium's 'profile' is followed by a page of illustrations depicting its behaviour, contemporaries and relatives, living and extinct. Here begins the trend of illustrations depicting a group of humans throwing things at some unfortunate soon-to-be-extinct animal. Another illustration depicts two Megatherium under attack from a pack of 'wild dogs', and having watched documentary footage of wolves taking on buffalo, I really don't fancy the dogs' chances too much (no matter what the text says). A sandy-coloured Smilodon might seem eye-rollingly inevitable in a book like this, but at least the illustrator's done a fantastic job of it - this would make a wonderful book cover or poster. As well as obviously being very exciting, the pose helps emphasise the animal's hugely powerful and muscular forelimbs. The faces (especially of the individual in the background) are well-observed and very convincing, although they may be a little too like living big cats in areas like the placement of the eyes. The text is, of course, weird. Vampire Smilodon! You may have been hoping to see some depictions of speculative Smilodon social behaviour - perhaps a mother with a litter of cubs, or a handful of animals chillin' in the feline fashion. Well get out of here, hippy! Private Lives is all about the bloody violence - it's what the kids want. Note that this page features one of the few illustrations of hominids in which they are on the losing side (in this case, thanks to Machairodus rather than Smilodon). The depiction of the tussle with the mega-elk is particularly awesome. What other huge mammalian predator generally springs to mind when one imagines a pop culture 'Ice Age' setting? Giant cave bears, of course. This is a perfectly serviceable illustration (and look! Babies!), but does little to hint at the horror that will unfold on the following page. Neanderthals versus Bears: the Fire and the Fury. Once again, we have a scene of hominds ganging up to hit some poor furry thing with sticks, but in this case, the furry thing ain't gonna take it lying down. As bats scatter everywhere in panic, a gigantic bear prepares to do its bit to ensure that only one Homo species will make it into the Holocene*. Wonderful, savage, highly evocative and action-packed stuff - gotta love it. Carrying on down the 'Ice Age' checklist, we come to The Mammoth. Presumably the woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius. A fine enough painting, but there's something a little strange about it - I think it might be the trunk (and a perspective issue). Two of the additional mammoth illustrations aren't terribly exciting, with the animals depicted in a rather indifferent fashion, hanging out in the far distance. This all changes, of course, when there's terrible violence involved. This painterly evocation of the BRUTALITY OF MAN looks like something out of an unusually violent Ladybird book, and I mean that in the best possible way. Like the bears v Neanderthals scene, it's very busy and full of energy. I believe the mammoth is meant to have fallen into a trap, but it almost looks like it's struggling amid a raging tempest. And now...oh boy. It's time for the evolution of MAN. Although at least we're treated to one of the few illustrations that is definitely by Burian (confirmed by the signature); as usual, his depiction of Homo erectus is quite distressingly lifelike. It's not quite up to the quality of the work in Life before Man, but this illustration of (presumably) 'Java Man' is suitably uncanny in its not-quite-human qualities - like looking into the eyes of a gorilla or orang-utan in the zoo, only worse. Here the always florid text (translated from the original Italian, although apparently other translations are similar in tone) veers into alarmingly racist territory. In fact, it implies that the different 'races' of modern humans are effectively different species, or at least subspecies, which makes about as much sense as voting Conservative on the basis of Theresa May's promises. (There you go, that's my "irrelevant, intrusive political mithering" taken care of for this post.) And finally...it's the 'ascent of man'. Happily, we are here given a glimpse into the 'private lives' of Neanderthals, beyond tormenting bears with torches; a charming illustration depicts a family group, while the text mentions their advanced culture and tool-making skills. Of course, it was the "descendants of Cro-Magnon man", rather than the Neanderthals, who went on to become "masters of the Earth" (nothing like a bit of 1970s hubris!). The text implies that the illustration at the bottom left depicts Cro-Magnons, but I rather fancy the original intent was to show a stage in the progress of their descendants - given that horses weren't domesticated until many thousands of years later. As for the astronaut - bless. *I'm aware that this depends on your view of the taxonomy. It's a joke, damn it.

Basilosaurus was a prehistoric whale from the Late Eocene, about 40 to 35 million years ago. Basilosaurus was extremely long for a whale, because of its elongated verterbrae. It has been described as the closest a whale came to a snake. Basilosaurus was 18-21 metres long, and its back limbs, being 0.6 metres long, were of no use in locomotion.[1] Its large, conical teeth were probably used for eating smaller whales, sea cows, and turtles. A skeleton recovered in Egypt contained fishbones and the

[This post was originally published on March 24, 2011] Giant bunnies are not scary. MGM learned that the hard way with the 1972 schlock film Night of the Lepus. No amount of fake blood or artificial saliva could turn those rabbits into real monsters, and the brief moments when actors in bunny suits attacked their […]

Too many meta-analyses of extinctions of giant kangaroos or huge sloths usedata that are poor or poorly understood, warn Gilbert J. Price and colleagues.

Since we've already looked at everything that's more important, let us now turn to the Cenozoic mammals of the wonderful Private Lives of Animals book on extinct beasties. And where better to begin than with a ground sloth with hair so wonderfully painted, you'll want to reach through the screen and run your fingers through it? (Just watch out for fleas and dandruff.) As you will already be well aware, it's obligatory to restore Megatherium standing upright against a tree, with its hands gripping the branches; even the model in Crystal Palace Park is posed like this. Still, it makes sense to give an impression of the animal's massive size, and it is considered a likely feeding habit, as far as I'm aware. Although it's a very straightforward illustration of the animal in its environment (with a minimal background to make room for the text), this might just be one of my favourite illustrations in the book for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. It's probably that aforementioned beautifully textured fur, or the curling, gnarly, realistic quality of the tree. It looks like it could've been drawn from life, all the more because it isn't photo-realistic. If it wasn't painted by Burian, it's certainly worthy of him. Following the format of the rest of the book, Megatherium's 'profile' is followed by a page of illustrations depicting its behaviour, contemporaries and relatives, living and extinct. Here begins the trend of illustrations depicting a group of humans throwing things at some unfortunate soon-to-be-extinct animal. Another illustration depicts two Megatherium under attack from a pack of 'wild dogs', and having watched documentary footage of wolves taking on buffalo, I really don't fancy the dogs' chances too much (no matter what the text says). A sandy-coloured Smilodon might seem eye-rollingly inevitable in a book like this, but at least the illustrator's done a fantastic job of it - this would make a wonderful book cover or poster. As well as obviously being very exciting, the pose helps emphasise the animal's hugely powerful and muscular forelimbs. The faces (especially of the individual in the background) are well-observed and very convincing, although they may be a little too like living big cats in areas like the placement of the eyes. The text is, of course, weird. Vampire Smilodon! You may have been hoping to see some depictions of speculative Smilodon social behaviour - perhaps a mother with a litter of cubs, or a handful of animals chillin' in the feline fashion. Well get out of here, hippy! Private Lives is all about the bloody violence - it's what the kids want. Note that this page features one of the few illustrations of hominids in which they are on the losing side (in this case, thanks to Machairodus rather than Smilodon). The depiction of the tussle with the mega-elk is particularly awesome. What other huge mammalian predator generally springs to mind when one imagines a pop culture 'Ice Age' setting? Giant cave bears, of course. This is a perfectly serviceable illustration (and look! Babies!), but does little to hint at the horror that will unfold on the following page. Neanderthals versus Bears: the Fire and the Fury. Once again, we have a scene of hominds ganging up to hit some poor furry thing with sticks, but in this case, the furry thing ain't gonna take it lying down. As bats scatter everywhere in panic, a gigantic bear prepares to do its bit to ensure that only one Homo species will make it into the Holocene*. Wonderful, savage, highly evocative and action-packed stuff - gotta love it. Carrying on down the 'Ice Age' checklist, we come to The Mammoth. Presumably the woolly mammoth, Mammuthus primigenius. A fine enough painting, but there's something a little strange about it - I think it might be the trunk (and a perspective issue). Two of the additional mammoth illustrations aren't terribly exciting, with the animals depicted in a rather indifferent fashion, hanging out in the far distance. This all changes, of course, when there's terrible violence involved. This painterly evocation of the BRUTALITY OF MAN looks like something out of an unusually violent Ladybird book, and I mean that in the best possible way. Like the bears v Neanderthals scene, it's very busy and full of energy. I believe the mammoth is meant to have fallen into a trap, but it almost looks like it's struggling amid a raging tempest. And now...oh boy. It's time for the evolution of MAN. Although at least we're treated to one of the few illustrations that is definitely by Burian (confirmed by the signature); as usual, his depiction of Homo erectus is quite distressingly lifelike. It's not quite up to the quality of the work in Life before Man, but this illustration of (presumably) 'Java Man' is suitably uncanny in its not-quite-human qualities - like looking into the eyes of a gorilla or orang-utan in the zoo, only worse. Here the always florid text (translated from the original Italian, although apparently other translations are similar in tone) veers into alarmingly racist territory. In fact, it implies that the different 'races' of modern humans are effectively different species, or at least subspecies, which makes about as much sense as voting Conservative on the basis of Theresa May's promises. (There you go, that's my "irrelevant, intrusive political mithering" taken care of for this post.) And finally...it's the 'ascent of man'. Happily, we are here given a glimpse into the 'private lives' of Neanderthals, beyond tormenting bears with torches; a charming illustration depicts a family group, while the text mentions their advanced culture and tool-making skills. Of course, it was the "descendants of Cro-Magnon man", rather than the Neanderthals, who went on to become "masters of the Earth" (nothing like a bit of 1970s hubris!). The text implies that the illustration at the bottom left depicts Cro-Magnons, but I rather fancy the original intent was to show a stage in the progress of their descendants - given that horses weren't domesticated until many thousands of years later. As for the astronaut - bless. *I'm aware that this depends on your view of the taxonomy. It's a joke, damn it.

I know you felt it just like me; awash in the wonder of that first encounter with the herd of long-extinct dinosaurs wandering the open plain in Jurassic Park.

Discover a diverse selection of superb authentic fossils & minerals. Buy rare, beautiful pieces from a renowned fossil dealer, est. 1984. All price ranges.

Paleontologists say a prehistoric marsupial called "Didelphodon vorax" had the strongest bite force of any mammal that’s ever lived.

Figure 3 A series of six elasmotheres species from the Middle Miocene to the Late Pleistocene. They display an increase in skull size and development from a nasal horn to a frontal horn. These skulls are reconstructed based on AMNH 26531 (Tunggur in Inner Mongolia, Middle Miocene) for Hispanotherium tungurense, HMV 0979 (Houshan in Guanghe, Gansu, Late Miocene) for Iranotherium morgani, HMV 1411 (Guonigou in Dongxiang, Gansu, Late Miocene) for Parelasmotherium linxiaense, HMV 1449 (Guonigou in Dongxiang, Gansu, Late Miocene) for Ningxiatherium euryrhinus, V 18539 (Huaigou in Guanghe, Gansu, Late Miocene) for Sinotherium lagrelii, and NHM 12429 (Sarepta in Russia, Late Pleistocene) for Elasmotherium sibiricum. Although the modern Indian and Javan rhinos have a single horn on their noses, the extinct one-horned rhino Elasmotherium was a source for the legendary unicorn, because the latter had a very long horn on its forehead and lived with the prehistoric human beings who drew its images on cave paintings. Elasmothere rhinos first appeared in South Asia in the Early Miocene, but the origin of Elasmotherium has been unclear. All other elasmotheres have a weak or strong nasal horn, whereas Elasmotherium seems to lose the nasal horn of its ancestors and to get a huge frontal horn apparently abruptly. Here we report the first discovered skull of Sinotherium lagrelii from the Late Miocene red clays in the Linxia Basin, northwestern China. This skull has an enormous nasofrontal horn boss shifted posteriorly and a smaller frontal horn boss, which are connected to each other, indicating an intermediate stage for the single frontal horn of Elasmotherium. Morphological and phylogenetic analyses confirm that Sinotherium is a transitional taxon between Elasmotherium and other elasmotheres, positioned near the root of the giant unicorn clade and originated in a subarid steppe. The posteriorly shifted nasal horn has a more substantial support and the arched structure of the nasofrontal area is an adaptation for a huge horn. Keywords: Rhinocerotidae, elasmothere, Sinotherium, Late Miocene, Linxia Basin Habitat reconstruction the Linxia Basin during the Late Miocene. Art: ~sinammonite on http://sinammonite.deviantart.com under guidance of IVPP scholar Deng Tao Deng T, Wang S Q, Hou S K. A bizarre tandem-horned elasmothere rhino from the Late Miocene of northwestern China and origin of the true elasmothere. Chin Sci Bull. doi: 10.1007/s11434-012-5574-4 http://124.16.247.212/bitstream/311034/2181/1/Deng%20et%20al%20Sinotherium.pdf

The Columbian Mammoth was a hairless species of Mammoth that lived in and roamed through North America from the Late Pleistocene to around 8,000 years ago. The Columbian Mammoth was a species of mammoth, distinguishable for being hairless and thus resembling a larger version of modern elephants. Columbian Mammoths were apparently herd animals, due to which a Mammoth would react with panic when alone and separated from its herd. Though friendly herbivores to other animals whom they sensed meant t

Imagine that you are walking through a forest and see a great beast among the trees. It has a horse-like face, a big belly, short hoofed back legs and much longer arms with sharp claws on its “hands”. What you’re seeing is not a mythological creature or a hybrid monster, it’s an extinct chalicothere.