An unexpected find, etc...

I have found this fossil near my home. It didn't belong there in a geological sense. It is either an old coral or a rudist. The jury is still out.

A couple of illustrations form my book Wealden Pond

Another published article

I have received a copy of the "Življenje in tehnika", a Slovenian popular science magazine. The history of my published articles in "ŽIT" goes back to 1990. They have been publishing one or two of my articles every year since then. Of course, the subject is allways paleontology. Mainly about dinosaur natural history. Below is the first page of my article: "The News from the Mesozoic" (Berislav Kržič, 9/2014)

The largest theropod trackway in the world?

That Summer of 2011, I couldn't believe my own eyes. After finding some really huge single theropod footprints near Pula, measuring about a meter in length, I managed discovering even larger theropod tracks there. What's more, they were in a sequence: 5 large footprints in a row with regular spacing in between and the adequate pace angulation! There were a few of the prints of the same size and shape outside the trackway as well. Alas, all poorly preserved. Some large iguanodontoid footprints were near, too.
Here is a couple of photographs showing the trackway. I have posted two views for better understanding: from the starting point and from the finishing point. Footprints # 2 and #3 were collapsed in deep mud, while #5 is obviously an overtrack. No 4 is relatively best preserved.
Now hold your breath: the size of the footprint is some 115-125 cm in length, dwarfing any other similar find in the whole world! The footprints were rather broad, but they differ from the ornitischian ones by the relatively slender toes.

There is no way we can identify the exact track maker. However, it might have been one from the stock of the largest predatory dinosaurs of the mid-Cretaceous: a carcharodontosaurid or a spinosaurid. Anyhow, the theropod that left these enormous footprints must have been at least 18 meters long. Below is my restoration of the possible Pula environment with some of the possible track makers.

My article on the finds of giant theropod tracks in Pula was published in 2010 in "Vecernji list" (a major Croatian newspaper)  and in "Zivljenje in tehnika" (a major Slovenian popular science magazine) - "Po stopinjah dinozavrov v Istri" 3/62. I have yet to write the paper.

Notice: The fact that this post is dated April the 1st is just a coincidence. The photographs and the data are genuine and serious and have nothing to do with "April the fools' day".

Dinosaurs were messy ... (2)

If you were suspicious of my theropod tracks interpretation from the previous post, here is a photograph from the same outcrop showing a rather poorly preserved (possibly consisting of under prints) theropod trackway of the animal that had the same shape and size of the foot.

The tracks on the right don't have the distinctive features, so I couldn't figure out their makers (yet).

Dinosaurs were messy ...

... when leaving their tracks!

So, you have decided on finding your own dinosaur tracks? The ones nobody has noticed yet? Or at least nobody has  announced his/her finds publicly. You are expecting to find a nice trackway on a relatively flat rocky surface? Possibly three-toed nice and clear theropod footprints in a sequence? Yeah, right! Chances of finding a track like that are almost equal to finding a nicely preserved relatively complete and articulated fossil skeleton. 

Take a look at the muddy paths where humans and animals left their traces today or yesterday. Are these all well defined traces? Come back in a week and see what's left of them. Consider that dinosaurs left their tracks millions of years ago...

Here is my attempt of interpreting some (probable) theropod tracks from Pula, that are about 100 million years old. They were preserved during the low tide.

A theropod track from Pula

  

A theropod track from Pula

Here is an interesting shape of the large theropod footprint from Pula (Albian - early Cretaceous), I have found recently. At the first sight it looks like some giant bird's track. In fact it is the collapsed mud/sand impression that was probably partially washed away by the tide (the outcrop features the long low crested ripple marks). The possible second footprint is only barely visible in front and a bit to the right from the first one in the photograph. The length of the track is about 46 cm. The animal was probably some 6 to 6,5 meters long.

The same outcrop has preserved the small theropod prints; the giant pterosaur manus prints; small and medium sized pterosaur footprints; medium-sized sauropod tracks and huge iguanodontoid footprints.

Dinosaurs vs.people

No, I haven't suddenly turned creationist. Of course, the earliest hominids evolved some 60 million years after the dinosaurs went extinct (if we don't count the birds as dinosaurs). This is an illustration for my time travel science fiction novel years ago. The novel is still unfinished.

Funny looking dinosaurs in vintage comics Part 1

When one stumbles upon dinosaurs in old comic books it's impossible not to wonder how little did those authors know about the anatomy and life styles of prehistoric animals. It is true, that in the 40's, until the 80's little was known and published. However, still some excellent paleo artists were around, like Zdenek Burian and Charles Knight, to name just the most prominent two.

A classic comic book theme: Time travelling to go to hunt dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals

Here is how  Burne Hogarth depicts Tyrannosaurus (I presume that is what this is supposed to be).

 Burne Hogarth (December 25, 1911 – January 28, 1996) was an American cartoonist, illustrator, educator, author and theoretician... (Wiki)

The anatomy is all wrong: the neck too long; the head a tad too small; the arms too long; one finger too many on each arm; looks bloated; legs weak and plantigrade (should be digtigrade like in birds); tail too short, too thin and too flexible...

...on the other hand his elephant is not exactly correct either...

... when I look at it better, even the lion has some strange features...

 Don't get me wrong. I loved his final product: Tarzan comics.

Even in some more recent comics (from 90's) the dinosaurs are outdated. Pteranodon is not quite correct either.

Nathan Never is a black-and-white, science fiction Italian comic book, published monthly in Italy since 1991 by Sergio Bonelli Editore (Wiki)
Ankylosaur in the right lower corner is borrowed from Burian's Gorgosaurus vs. Scolosaurus painting. Pteranodon from another Burian's painting was also used as a reference. However, it is a pity, that these restorations were already outdated.

 

A dinosaur oriented blog

After a couple of weeks of posting on my first (experimental in a way) blog "Oberon Cartoons", dedicated to my interests, inspiration and my cartoons, I came to a conclusion that the blog was too diverse and that I have too much material to show.  Thus, I thought it would be only appropriate to start another blog which would deal mostly with the paleontology stuff. So here is the blog "A Mesozoic Mosaic".

You may wonder about my banner design.The dinosaurs and a few other Mesozoic reptiles (a pterosaur, a crock and a varanid lizard) are featured on the right side of the banner, while facing them from the left side are an African elephant Loxodonta africana male, a horse and a woman of average height. The featured prehistoric animals are all members of the Early Cretaceous Istrian ichnofauna I have been researching more than 3 years. Their looks are fictional, but probably not far from true. The size of some of the track makers is enormous even for dinosaur standards. The iguanodontoid tracks are currently the largest in the World.
The "BDW" logo is for "Beri's Dinosaur World". That was the name of my old and now extinct Geocities site I started in 1997. Geocities sank several years ago carrying with it thousands of interesting and vital sites into oblivion. I kept the logo and I am still using it for one old and neglected BDW site.