Yes, Opie seems to think he’s a big lapdog, and he loves it when you stroke his feathers. Where is he off to now? It looks like he’s going to show you his favorite toy…Opie carries Teddy around everywhere. He’s gone through quite a few “surgeries” to poke the stuffing back in after Opie nibbled on him. Continue reading
Twig may be small, but he’s not nearly as teeny as most “educational” sources would have you believe. Continue reading
Pretty please with cherries on top?
Can’t fool her, she knows I brought some of those little dried fishy treats. Look at that face, she might even snuggle for some.
But please don’t Cassie. Down girl. Thank you. I don’t really want to smell like river mud at the moment.
Have a treat!
I’m sure you must be wondering what she is…
She is a small mammal from the middle of the Jurassic China, just a bit smaller than a modern platypus. She has a lot in common with platypus, such as a love for water, strong digging paws, a thick fur pelt, and probably even laid eggs like a platypus (though there’s no way to know for sure).
But she’s not actually related to platypus, beavers, or any modern mammal. She is from an extinct group of mammals called docodonta.
You can find out more about Cassie and her family here.
Making progress… Continue reading
Skittles is happy to see you! She wonders if you would please, pretty please, give her a treat. Can you resist those puppy-dog eyes?
She may be about the size of a golden retriever, but believe it or not, Skittles here is the great-great-great-great-grandmother of Stegosaurus!
It’s hard to imagine how long a time span the Jurassic period covers, but we can get a few hints when we see that a little critter like this had enough time to change and diversify into animals like the spike-tailed Stegosaurus, or the armored, club-tailed Ankylosaurus.
The Jurassic period started at the end of the Triassic period (big extinction event there, to separate the two), and lasted 56.3 million years until the beginning of the Cretaceous.
56.3 million years. Think about that. Humans have been around for about 2 million. Between us and the latest dinosaurs like T-rex? About 65 million years.
So that means Dinosaurs had their “golden age” in the Jurassic for almost as long as the nearest T-rex is to us. Pretty mindboggling.
And that’s not even thinking about the Triassic and Cretaceous periods yet…
Dinosaurs have been around for a looong time (especially if you count birds living today!).
Skittles is just happy to have a few moments to cuddle. 🙂 Completely oblivious to how long dinosaurs have been around. Or that she’s related to Steggy. 😛
Making progress… Continue reading
I’m sorry about that. You never know with critters…they can have the most predictable habits, but sometimes things turn out differently. He probably found a lizard or something in the brush and ran after it.
Picasso is a Dilophosaurus, a leopard-sized predator of Jurassic Arizona. He’s quite good at catching small, slippery snacks, so it might take Pete a while to find him in the brush.
While we wait, here is a Youtube clip that squashes a lot of misconceptions about Dilophosaurus. Enjoy! 🙂
Yes, Opie seems to think he’s a big lapdog, and he loves it when you stroke his feathers. Where is he off to now? It looks like he’s going to show you his favorite toy…Opie carries Teddy around everywhere. He’s gone through quite a few “surgeries” to poke the stuffing back in after Opie nibbled on him.
Oh! That’s Miss Kitty peaking around the corner. She’s a little shy after Opie tried playing a game of snatch with her. He’s just a big softie though, and he only wants to play. He’ll get a little droopy when Miss Kitty doesn’t understand. So he’ll curl up in his bed to snuggle with Teddy, and he’ll chirp happy chirps when he snuggles. He sounds a lot like this…
Speaking of soft and cuddly, those feathers are rather like those on an emu or kiwi. Looks a lot like fur, doesn’t it? 🙂
Making progress…
Getting along spiffily (is that a word?) on my little storybook, Dippy vs. Ball. Here’s what I have so far on one of the spreads. A handy little map so we can take a little stroll around Dippy’s hometown to meet the neighbors.
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