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What
is a dinosaur?
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There
are many definitions of what a dinosaur is. Dictionaries usually
define dinosaurs as "large land-based reptiles that lived
during the Mesozoic era 270- 65 million years ago", although
this could also include other large reptiles of the Early
Triassic, before dinosaurs. Anatomically, dinosaurs are referred
to as being "diapsids (animals with two post-orbital fenestra
(holes behind the eyes)) with no postfrontal bone, the
jaw muscles extending to the frontal, The head of the quadrate
exposed in lateral view, epipophyses on the cervical vertebrae,
paired sternal bones, a large deltopectoral crest extending
35% or more of the length of the humerus, the lesser trochanter
being on the anterior side of the proximal end of the femur,
a partly open acetabulum (which may be convergent in different
dinosaur groups), an asymmetrical hand with the outer digits
strongly reduced (except in the ornithischians and sauropods),
an ascending process of the astralagus that keys into a slot
on the distal end of the tibia (I only had to look up the
last three- don't I feel clever!). Finally, there is Hollywood's
definition, which states that a dinosaur is "A large scary
lizardy monster with sharp pointed teeth that eats people
and can make lots of money if put on a cinema screen", as
is the case in that classic piece of high-brow palaeo-cinema
"A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell". At DinoWight
I go with the first two definitions, as that film was the
biggest pile of pants ever (after Disney's "Inspector Gadget"
and "The Avengers" of course).
Simon
Clabby 2006
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| Why
are there so many dinosaurs found on the Isle of Wight? |
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How
do dinosaur bones fossilise?
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See
this
page for the answer, as I can't be bothered to write about
the poor dead dinosaur falling in the river, getting buried
in mud and the bones being replaced by rock while the soft
parts rot away, leaving a skeleton.
Simon
Clabby 2006
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What
age are the islands Dinosaurs?
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What's
Barremian?
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| How
can you tell all this from a Pile of Old Bones? (Thanks
to Jayne the Engineering Geologist for this question!) |
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It's
called palaeontology Deary. Basically the bones are examined
for muscle scars, capillary holes, damage caused by injury
and predation, and similarity to those of extant (living)
organisms and other known dinosaurs, then the shape of the
animal can be reconstructed. Behaviour is deduced from a combination
of examining the stresses on the bones, brain-case shape,
any adaptations similar to those of modern organisms, trace
fossils, such as footprints and resting traces, coprolites,
regurgitates (vomit), the position of the bones in
relation to its environment when in situ (still
in the rock), comparisons of all these and several other
features with modern animals, and occasionally some reasonable
speculation. Of course, this is a simplified list, as the
science of palaeontology is hugely complicated, but even then
there is a slight chance it's wrong, and we'll never get colour
preserved, but otherwise it's fairly accurate.
Simon
Clabby 2006
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| Are
you an Archaeologist? (From
most people I meet on the beach when out fossiling) |
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GET
OUT! I am not an archaeologist, as they deal with human civilisation,
dating back to Ancient Egyptian times. I am a Palaeontologist,
or Palaeo, and I deal with animals that have been dead a very
long time, and the entire history of life on this planet.
Admittedly, my interests are based more on dinosaurs, but
I had to learn all about Palaeozoic animals such as trilobites
(woodlouse-like creatures) and graptolites (little hacksaw
blade-like fossils, basically scum on a stick). Archaeologist
and Palaeontologist are NOT interchangeable terms, though
occasionally there may be a slight overlap. So if anyone talks
about archaeologists working on dinosaurs, put them straight!
Think of it as similar in the way an airline pilot is similar
to a space shuttle pilot, and you get the idea.
Simon
Clabby 2006
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| How
do you become a palaeontologist? |
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A
lot of palaeontologists are "amateurs" (although many know
more than some professionals!) who do it in their spare time,
as is the case with most of the Isle of Wight's local collectors.
However, if you want to become a professional palaeontologist,
it's not as easy. First, you need to get good GCSE's, which
get you onto doing A-levels, preferably in Sciences, especially
Biology, Physics and, if possible, Geology, but many Colleges
and Schools with sixth-forms have phased out any geological
influence. Once having these, you can either apply to do a
geological or biological first degree, or even a combined
first degree in geology and biology, as the University of
Bristol offers, or do one of the few palaeobiology degrees
offered at Imperial College, London, and The University of
Portsmouth (Where I did it, and can recommend if you like
seaweed). There may be others, but I am unsure where, check
www.ucas.co.uk
for information. Having got your BSc in Palaeobiology, you
can then continue and do a postgraduate degree at Bristol,
Imperial or any of the others, as it is much more common at
postgraduate levels, or go out into the real world and get
a job in museums, but be aware that there are not many jobs
for vertebrate palaeontologists.
Simon
Clabby 2006
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| Why
did you decide to create a website about the dinosaurs of the Isle
of Wight? |
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The
Isle of Wight is one of the main sources of dinosaurs in
Europe, and it was convenient when I was studying in Portsmouth.
My first real introduction to the islands dinosaurs was
in 2000 when a few others and myself where invited by Dr
Dave Martill to assist with the excavation of an Iguanodon
at Barnes High. After spending most of the day digging,
sludge-surfing and picking through clay, we finally had
a vertebra to take back to Portsmouth. Unfortunately, the
cliffs conspired to bury the bones that were left in the
rock, and then when permission was requested to excavate
them, it was refused and the vertebra we extracted was demanded
back by the landowners. My interest was increased while
researching for my dissertation in 2001, in which I was
at the time attempting to find remains of Hypsilophodon
in the Hypsi beds. It was around this time that I
was thinking of writing a book on the dinosaurs of the Isle
of Wight, but then I discovered that one was already in
preparation (this one),
so that idea went out of the window.
One
thing that I noticed during my research was that Isle of
Wight dinosaurs where severely under-represented on the
internet, with only the Museum of Isle of Wight Geology
website and the (at the time) unfinished Dinosaur
Farm Museum website.It was my fellow student and member
of the Famous Five Adam
Smith (who runs the "entertaining" Dinosaurs
and their Biscuits website and the informative Plesiosaur
Directory) who suggested that I create a website with
some actual purpose.
Originally
called simply "Dinosaurs
of the Isle of Wight" (created before the book of the
same name was released, I hasten to add!), it featured only
seven dinosaurs- Iguanodon,
Neovenator, Baryonyx,
Eotyrannus, Polacanthus,
Hypsilophodon and
Yaverlandia, and was
produced using the PageWizard at www.geocities.com
and what information I could get from DinoData
and the Dinosauricon.
This was concise, but looked quite awful, as
you can see. Since then, I have been able to get my
hands on the papers, as well
as the book that killed
off my plans, which has enabled this web resource to be
created with some real science. Now called DinoWight, I
aim to include every known dinosaur from the Isle of Wight,
from Aristosuchus
to Yaverlandia, as
well as anything else that was alive and interesting in
the Barremian. This is the website
that you see here.
Since
DinoWight was first created in June 2001 it had been featured
on the Isle
of Wight Index, the Dorset
Dinosaur guide for Grockles and has received visitors
from all across the world, including the USA, Australia,
Germany (mostly from Trevor Dykes, a friend of DinoWight),
Brazil, Canada, Portugal, Mexico, The Czech republic, Northern
Ireland, Japan, (where DinoWight's Thecocoelurus
page is linked to on this
website but be warned, it's in Japanese!) Belgium, Oxford
University (oh, alright, she's an old friend of mine)
and Blackgang Chine. It has also recently been included
in a suggested website for students of the University of
Sussex, The BBC's British
Isles - A Natural History website, and the resources
page for the Channel Four Palaeo-Time-Team-style programme
Big
Monster Dig.
Some
people are under the impression that I created DinoWight
to try and sound clever, and get people to think I knew
lots about dinosaurs using information that they have provided
without crediting them. Well, in reply to these criticisms,
I created DinoWight simply to share information that has
previously only been available to academics and those with
the money to buy relatively expensive books. As children
are generally more interested in dinosaurs than adults,
and those in the UK are told virtually nothing about Britains
prehistoric heritage, although such schemes as the Bristol
Dinosaur Project and Dinosaur
Isle are doing something to correct this, it seemed
hypocritical that only adults were being given access to
information. Therefore I created DinoWight as a place where
everybody, the academics, the children with the internet
at school, people in other countries and anybody else with
an interest, to find out about the dinosaurs on our own
doorstep. Of course, I do enjoy it when I get praise for
DinoWight, but I never forget that this website could not
exist if it were not for the information. Basically, I didn't
make DinoWight for Me, I made it for You.
Simon
Clabby 2006
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Where
is Vectisaurus
in the main list of dinosaurs?
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Vectisaurus
is a synonym of Mantellisaurus
atherfieldensis. For those who don't know how the
naming of animals goes, every species on earth has a scientific
name, from humans (Homo sapiens) to rats (Rattus
rattus). Some of these are quite amusing, such as the
orang-utan (Pongo pongo), but I digress. As you may
have noticed on the dinosaurs pages, after the name there
is a human name or names (e.g., Oplosaurus
Gervais, 1852). This name belongs to the scientist who named
the animal, and is a way of achieving immortality in the scientific
world, as this name will be used whenever the animal is mentioned
in a scientific paper. Some scientists get a bit over-zealous
with the naming of things, and tend to be known as "splitters",
using the minutest difference to erect a new species. This
was the case with Vectisaurus,
and in nomenclature (naming) it is the name coined
first that has priority.
Simon
Clabby 2006
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What
about
Megalosaurus?
Can't you find them on the Isle of Wight?
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This
is probably due to the opposite of the above happening, a
process called homonymising, or "lumping", which I tend to
do. When dinosaurs were first discovered, there were only
really three recognised, these being Iguanodon,
Megalosaurus, Hylaeosaurus.
Because of this, any dinosaur remains found were attributed
to one of these four, examples being Hypsilophodon
(Iguanodon) and Polacanthus
(Hylaeosaurus),
so it is likely that Megalosaurus
material on the Isle of Wight belongs to Neovenator,
as much Megalosaurus
material around the world has turned out to be something else.
Simon
Clabby 2006
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| What
about Platypterygius, the ichthyosaur from the Greensands?
I saw a thing in
Dinosaur
Isle about it... |
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Well,
firstly, it's from the Greensands of the Isle of Wight, a
marine deposit, and is younger than the Barremian, so is outside
DinoWights remit ('?Titanosaurus'
is actually a dinosaur from the Isle of Wight, so it's
included). Also, and no disrespect to the hugely talented
and wonderful staff at Dinosaur
Isle, but I fear that they may have, if not misdiagnosed
their ichthyosaur material, fallen into a nomenculative trap.
The genus Platypterygius is known from the Cretaceous,
a period from which not much ichthyosaur material is known.
As in the early days of palaeontology, when all ichthyosaurs
were referred to the genus Ichthyosaurus, palaeontologists
have got into the habit of referring all Cretaceous ichthyosaur
material to Platypterygius. Of course, it may be that
the Isle of Wight ichthyosaur material is Platypterygius,
but until someone publishes it, we won't know.
Simon
Clabby 2006
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| Do
you sell fossils and if so, how much do you charge? |
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The
basic answer is no, firstly because I feel that trading in
fossils is pointless if there is no exact stratigraphic information
to assist scientists in finding the rest of the skeleton,
if the fossil is that of a vertebrate. Secondly, my fossil
collection is mostly Estonian Palaeozoic in nature, and my
Isle of Wight fossil collection is fairly pants and full
of rubbish no-one would pay for and finally I think that it's
much more fun if you look for fossils yourself, as you know
that you where the first human being ever to see that specimen.
Simon
Clabby 2006
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| What's
a PDF? |
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PDF
stands for Photo Deluxe, erm, File? Personal Document File?
Whatever it stands for ("Portable Document Format",
apparently!), a PDF is a bit like a Word document, allowing
you to read text but preventing you from altering it. It also
has the advantage of not carrying macroviruses, which can
be a problem with .doc files. You will need Adobe Acrobat
Reader to read PDF files, which is probably already on your
computer, but can also be found at http://www.adobe.com.
Oh, and it's free!
Simon
Clabby 2006
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Where
does DinoWight stand on the evolution-creationism debate?
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Why
doesn't DinoWight include the mammoths found at Compton bay, or
any of the fossils from Whitecliff or the other Cenozoic sites?
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You've
just answered your own question. DinoWight is about dinosaurs
(see above), and there are no Cenozoic dinosaurs,
with the possible exception of birds. There are pterosaurs
and a pliosaur on DinoWight, but only because they are related
and extinct (And yes, I know that I've started including other
animals and plants, but they're all from the Wealden,
and that's where I'm drawing the line.
Simon
Clabby 2006
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Where
can I stay on the Isle of Wight?
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What
do you think this is, a holiday guide? See the Isle
of Wight Index for information (on which, incidentally,
DinoWight was the featured site in December 2001!)
Simon
Clabby 2006
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What
is the best music to look for fossils to?
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Just
HOW proud are you about finding that trilobite in Estonia?
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Very,
and I'm going to tell the whole story here, even though
everybody I know is sick of it. When we arrived in the Päri
quarry, we started the day by counting stromatoporoids (lumps
of algae). Once finished, we had the chance as usual to
have a look for fossils in the piles of rubble deposited
at the far end. Bob, the king of palaeontological photography
(see photo on the about Me page),
informed me that while we were just looking, he was going
to try to find a trilobite, as only two had ever been found
at that locality. Knowing this, I decided that if I found
one, I would let Bob have it. After a short time, in which
I found some brachiopods and a bit of bryozoan, I saw on
a boulder what was clearly a trilobite cephalon (head),
emerging from the rock. Realising I'd found what Bob was
after, I called to him that I'd found something (well, actually,
I shouted "OI, BOB, TRILOBITE!"). Bob followed shortly after,
and he removed the most part on the boulder so that the
fossil could be carried. I at this point decided that as
Bob had been so desperate to find a trilobite I would donate
it to the University of Portsmouth, as they would have more
use for it than I. Then, due to the scientific importance
of the fossil, mainly the fact that the trilobite faunal
list for the quarry had increased by 50%, it was donated
to the Estonian Department of Geology, where it is today.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my contribution to science,
apart from this website of course.
Simon
Clabby 2006
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