YouTube Podcast Videos
All Podcasts are now uploaded to YouTube. You can download them Here in mp3. (Bottom of Page) Want to sit back, relax and listen to them all without clicking play more than once? Check out the playlist on YouTube. Be sure … Continue reading →
Jurassic Park Encyclopedia Updates & More!
The Jurassic Park Encyclopedia and Jurassic Innards are now running on WordPress 4.1. New entries in the Jurassic Park Encyclopedia (Recent Entries on the right under Categories) will now show up on the JPLegacy Facebook and Twitter. Like, Follow, Share, … Continue reading →
Jurassic World Film: About Page
JPLegacy now has an ‘About’ page for the Jurassic World film. You can view the trailer in 1080p HD if you use the gear icon in the YouTube player. There is a list of all of the known actors and … Continue reading →
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JP is hitting Broadway, in a manner of speaking. The NY Fringe Festival is conducting a Jurassic Park musical of sorts told from a dinosaur's perspective. Check out this press release here!
The New York International Fringe Festival Presents:
JURASSIC PARQ: THE BROADWAY MUSICAL
Written by Emma Barash, Bryce Norbitz, Marshall Pailet, and Stephen Wargo
August 20-27th at The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa
NEW YORK, NY (July, 2010)- Boldly re-imagined and retold from the perspective of the dinosaurs, Jurassic Parq: The Broadway Musical is an unflinching meditation on gender, sexual, and racial identity in an evolving landscape destined to stun you with its importance. Chaos is unleashed upon the not-so-prehistoric world when one dinosaur in a clan of females spontaneously turns male… because of the frog DNA. The mutation spawns a chain reaction of identity crises, forcing the dinosaurs to question the very facts of life they’ve held as truths.
In addition to being brilliant, Jurassic Parq: The Broadway Musical is revolutionary and groundbreaking in the following ways:
1. It is cast gender blind, but color conscious. 2. It doubles as an Adv/Beg Jazz Class. 3. It sings the songs of the unsung heroes; those unsung heroes are dinosaurs. 4. It addresses gender, racial, sexual, ethnic, and religious identity… in just 90 minutes!
Starring Big Momma’s House 3: Like Father, Like Son’s Brandon Gill, Jurassic Parq: The Broadway Musical features John Jeffrey Martin (Rocky Horror, Hairspray, Good Vibrations, High School Musical 1st National Tour) as the Velociraptor of Faith, Mary Ellen Ashley (Yentl, Annie Get Your Gun) as the Velociraptor of Science, Natalie Bradshaw (Hair) as T-Rex 2, Brandon Gill (Neighbors) as the Baby Velociraptor, and Brandon Espinoza (Gypsy, Big, Will Rodgers Follies, Les Mis) as Mime-a-saurus. The cast also features Tara Novie as T-Rex 1, Jay Frisby as Dilophosaurus, Lee Seymour as Morgan Freeman, Denise Dumper, Emily Jenda, Olli Haaskivi and Cara Massey as Chorus-a-saurus.
Written by Emma Barash, Marshall Pailet (Super Claudio Bros., On a Glorious Day, Swimming Upstream), Bryce Norbitz, and Stephen Wargo. Directed by Marshall Pailet. Choreographed by Hayley Podschun (Pal Joey, Sunday in the Park with George, Hairspray, Sound of Music). Music directed by Jonathan Breit. Set by Caite Hevner. Costumes by Bronwyn Meehan. Stage managed by Ashley Rodbro.
Performance Dates: 8/20 at 7pm, 8/21 at 12pm, 8/22 at 6:15pm, 8/25 at 7:45pm, 8/27 at 4pm
At The Ellen Stewart Theater at La MaMa, 74A East 4th St, New York, NY 10003
It's been a good long 9 years since the release of Jurassic Park 3. Today is the release date of the film in 2001. Joe Johnston directed the third installment. JP3's main star Spinosaurus actually wasn't originally the star. Baryonyx was to be the main star, until Jack Horner suggested that a meaner badder dinsoaur be introduced into the JP universe. It's a shame, Baryonyx would have been so cool to see, but so would have been Carnotaurus. Besides the dissapointments that JP3 draw out, it's a good movie standing alone and away from the triology. To all of you who want to read more about JP3, read FRH's well thought out thread. You will understand a lot more about JP3 after reading that. Check out the JP encyclopedia also fro more info about the animals.
Magyarosaurus was a dwarf after all!
Date: Sunday, July 18, 2010 - 22:36 PM (Eastern Time)
You may or may not know the tiny sauropod from Transylvania. It was a smaller version of a larger sauropod in areas near it. It's name was Magyarosaurus, it was a dwarf from a small chain of islands in the Cretaceous. If you have seen Dinosaur Planet:Pod's Travels, you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, scientists have know for years that this animal was small, but have just recently figured out that is was indeed a true dwarf. Science Daily has posted an article on the subject:
A team of scientists led by Koen Stein and Professor Dr. Martin Sander from the University of Bonn, decided to cut up the fossil bones of the dwarfed dinosaur and study their microstructure.
Over the years, palaeontologists have frequently debated the question of whether or not the Magyarosaurus was a dwarf. Martin Sander, spokesperson of the Research Group on Sauropod Biology funded by Germany's central research funding foundation the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) notes, "An animal the size of a horse may not seem like a dwarf to most people but, in sauropod terms, it's tiny!".
You can read the full article here for more information about this exciting news!
The Ceratopsians Aren't Done Yet
Date: Saturday, July 17, 2010 - 2:21 AM (Eastern Time)
That's right! This year seems to be the year of the Ceratopsians, seeing as how they still have news coming in like water in your daily showers... If you take them. Lately, there have been some heated debates over combining Dinosaur genus that may be the same, starting when John "Jack" Horner published the paper about it late of 2009. Paleontologist from Montana State University (One of which being Horner) provide evidence in supporting the proposal of moving Torosaurus into Triceratops. They believe Torosaurus was just an older Triceratops, thus almost closing the folder on the topic.
MSU paleontologists John Scannella and Jack Horner said in the July 14 issue of the Journal of Verterbrate Paleontology, however, that Triceratops and Torosaurus are actually the same dinosaur at different stages of growth. They added that the discovery contributes to an unfolding theory that dinosaur diversity was extremely depleted at the end of the dinosaur age.
The confusion over Triceratops and Torosaurus was easy to understand, Scannella said, because juvenile dinosaurs weren't just miniature versions of adults. They looked very different, and their skulls changed radically as they matured. Recent studies have revealed extreme changes in the skulls of pachycephalosaurs, tyrannosaurs and other dinosaurs that died out about 65 million years ago in North America.
The finding that Torosaurus was a grown-up Triceratops adds fuel to the theory that dinosaur diversity at the end of the Cretaceous Period and Mesozoic Era was far less than previously thought, Scannella said.
Want to know more? Read the full article here. Thanks to Daspletosaurus5000 for posting the news on the forum.
Newly Discovered Dinosaur Is Named ''Mojoceratops''.
Date: Friday, July 9, 2010 - 15:06 PM (Eastern Time)
A new member of the Chasmosaurine Ceratopsid family has been named Mojoceratops due to its heart shaped frill and a round of beers. The newly discovered dinosaur lived in Canada around 75 million years ago in the Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces but is believed to of only survived 1 million years before falling into extinction.
The paleontologist who found and named Mojoceratops was joking when he first suggested the name Mojoceratops.
"It was just a joke, but then everyone stopped and looked at each other and said, Wait that actually sounds cool,'" Longrich said. "I tried to come up with serious names after that, but Mojoceratops just sort of stuck."
It was after Longrich gave Mojoceratops its name he realized that due to the shape of its frill it was a fitting name for the new dinosaur.
When anyone thinks of Tyrannosaurus Rex one of the last things that would come to mind would be it plodding along but recent studies have revealed that the most famous dinosaur to have ever lived walked like an elephant.
A recent study looked at the nerves of various animals such as shrews, dogs, pigs and Asian elephants and estimated the ‘‘speed limit’’ of the nerve signals running through the body of Tyrannosaurus Rex.
The scientists found that, for all body sizes, nerves have a basic speed limit of about 180 feet (55 meters) a second. That's the fastest a signal can travel from an animal's feet to its spinal cord—the kind of signal that's essential for walking and running. At that speed limit, big animals such as elephants can't run too fast or they're effectively running blind.
John Hutchinson of the Royal Veterinary College in London still feels Tyrannosaurus would of been impressive and exciting to see.
’’Tyrannosaurus rex were "by no means slow, sluggish, ponderous, clumsy animals. They still would have been impressive and exciting to see, and capable of surprising feats from time to time."
Winter is the season of Hot Chocolate in bed, cuddling with your blanket while staring at the flames of a fireplace, and going to work with 3 layers of clothing with an enormous jacket while still feeling the 50°F (10°C) of shivering cold. Recently, flint tools have been discovered near Norfolk, England dating back 800,000 years ago, as reported by Discovery News. Back then the temperature got as low as 32°F (0°C). Back then, humans survived the cold with nothing, but the hairs on their back, while people today have technology to help keep them warm.
A trove of flint tools found near Happisburgh in the eastern English county of Norfolk marks Homo sapiens' earliest known settlement in a location where winter temperatures fell below zero degrees Celsius (minus 32 degrees Fahrenheit).
"The new flint artifacts are incredibly important," said Ashton. "Not only are they much earlier than other finds, but they are associated with a unique array of environmental data that gives a clear picture of the vegetation and climate."
Summers probably averaged 16 to 18 Celsius (61 to 64 Fahrenheit), and winters a frosty zero to -- 3.0 Celsius (32 to 26 Fahrenheit).
The famous Smilodon may be best known for their long canine teeth which has given them the nickname that they are often referred to as the ‘‘Saber-toothed Tiger’’ but they also have another distinguishing feature – their exceptionally strong forelimbs which would of been used to pin down and hold on to their prey before they administered the fatal bite.
A study has revealed that due to the size of the Smilodon’s teeth it would be more vulnerable to fractures unlike modern day cats, Dr. Julie Meachen-Samuels of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, NC.
Although having vulnerable canines Smilodon limbs showed prominent muscle attachment scars which suggest the animal was powerfully built meaning the animal may of used its arms to save its teeth from fracturing.
"As muscles pull on bones, bones respond by getting stronger," said Meachen-Samuels. "Because saber-toothed cats had thicker arm bones we think they must have used their forelimbs more than other cats did."
"The findings give us new information about how strong their forelimbs were and how they were built," "This is the first study to look inside sabertooth arm bones to see exactly how much stress and strain they could handle."
Ostriches are perhaps the most saurian birds in the present times. It even has a dinosaur named after it, called Struthiomimus (meaning "ostrich mimic"). Recently, PhysOrg released an article concerning an Ostrich's arms and their movement in relationship to a bipedal Dinosaur's body movement.
New, long-term observations of hand-raised ostriches, model calculations and air-stream experiments have shown that these flightless birds can efficiently channel aerodynamic forces and consistently use their wings during rapid breaking, turning and zig-zag maneuvers. If a comparable mechanism existed in extinct theropod dinosaurs that shared similar running styles and habitat, the energetic cost of carrying a heavy body would have been reduced, leaving the dinosaur more fuel to run longer and faster. Future work will continue to examine ostrich wing characteristics and will hopefully establish additional links between ostrich and theropod dinosaur locomotion, say the researchers.
You can read the full article for more information.
'Sea monster' Whale Fossil Unearthed
Date: Thursday, July 1, 2010 - 15:06 PM (Eastern Time)
We all know the fictional tale of Moby Dick the whale, but a new discovery would make Moby look like a guppy. The recently and appropriately named Leviathan is thought to measure up to 17 meters long. The skull, which was 3 meters long, harboured teeth that measured an amazing 14 inches long. These are the largest teeth on record.
It's interesting to note that at the same time in the same waters was another monster, which was a giant shark about 15m long. It's possible that they might have fought each other.
Leviathan was stalking the seas 12 million years ago; however, it is still unclear how the mighty whale died out.
They speculate that the ecology and environment changed so that the creature had to change its feeding habits.
The origin of life has always been an ever lasting argument, but an amazing discovery has thrown all that was said to be known out of the window. The discovery of 250 fossils has provided proof that multicellular organisms lived 2.1 billion years ago. This throws out suggestions that life started 600 million years ago.
Until now, it has been assumed that organized multicellular life appeared around 0.6 billion years ago and that before then the Earth was mainly populated by microbes (viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc.). This new discovery moves the cursor of the origin of multicellular life back by 1.5 billion years and reveals that cells had begun to cooperate with each other to form more complex and larger structures than single-celled organisms.
Read the full article on this groundbreaking discovery here.