Toddler with Stuffed Animals

This is my granddaughter siting on our daybed among the stuffed animals I still have.  When I taught Science I had 350 stuffed animals.  They were from zoos, national parks, and museums mostly.   I gave most of them away but I kept about 30.   The drawing is rather simplified and stylized, but it is cute I think... Then again, my granddaughter is cute anyway.   By the way, the drawing includes a starfish, bobcat, African lion, cheetah, dog, octopus, robin, and of course a Blue Footed Booby.

Photo of Toddler with Stuffed Animals 

Toddler with Stuffed Animals drawing

Top Predators of Cretaceous N.. America (T. rex and Tylosaurus)

PICTURES COMING SHORTLY

There were two top predators of the cretaceous.  They would be T. rex, of course, but also the less known Tylosaurus.

T.rex is also called Tyrannosaurus rex.  This is the scientific name and it means Tyrant Lizard King.  The scientific name is in two parts...the first is the Genus name....it is capitalized....the second part of the scientific name is the species name and the species name should NOT be capitalized.    T. rex had an incredible sense of smell.  As well as a great set of eyes that had a view from around 20 feet (7 m) off the ground.   He/she also had the most powerful bite ever known in an animal.  A Tyrannosaurus rex bite could shatter bone.  It probably had a pack lifestyle, where younger and faster members of the pack would chase the prey species, (like duckbill dinosaurs), into a trap.  The trap would have been sprung when mommy and daddy T. rex jumped out of the woods and did a bone crushing killing bite to the prey.   T. rex did have unusually small arms, for its body size, however, those arms may have helped it stand up from a lying down position.  As small as they look to us, they were still big enough to possibly dead lift 500 lbs.  I drew this T. rex by studying the skull of a T. rex. Notice that the very front teeth are smaller.  They are for tearing meat off the bone.  The bigger teeth are the size and roushly the shape of a banana.  These bigger teeth are the bone crushing teeth.

Tyrannosaurs rex Skull.  

Tyrannosaurus rex 

Tylosaurus prorigor

Mosasaur tooth

Tylosaurus came in three differnet species. Tylosaurus prorigor is one of those species from the late Cretaceous. Paleontologist thought it had a snake-like or lizard like tail.  Now some paleontologist infer that Tylosaurus had a tail fluke, like a whale.  Some estimates put Tylosaurus at up to 55 feet long (17 m) long.   Tylosaurus was a Mosasaur.  Since the midwest was once a shallow sea, many Mosasaur teeth are found in midwest states like Nebraska and Kansas.   There is a great IMAX movie, now available on Bluray....called SEA REX.  I think that is a great name for the top ocean predator who lived at the same time as T. rex.    

Tylosaurus prorigator

Triceratops New Theories

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Also, to see older posts scroll down through the more recent and hit the "Older Posts" button.  

A fairly recent theory comes from John Horner.  He was the consultant on the Jurassic Park movies.  He took a look at different Triceratops and Pachycephalosaur skeletons.  He came to a unique conclusion that may apply to other dinosaur species as well.  What he discovered is that the young and growing dinosaurs did NOT look like mini-adults.  They had a unique look that did not look like their parents.   They still looked smilar, but the young do not near appear just like as their parents....in smaller form.  You can watch Jack Horner's relatively new video called Decoding Dinosaurs to learn about his new theories.

Dr. Horner says that a young Triceratops had (relatively speaking) larger bones around their frill.   The adults of reproductive age have absorbed these guard bones into their frill so that you can barely see that they are there.   The frill itself bends over the neck of a young Triceratops.  The adults, of course, have much larger horns as well.  So, as much as I like my below color drawing from a few years ago, it is probably wrong.   The calf looks too much like his or her daddy.

Triceratops Bull and Calf

Copyright 2008 Robin Andrew Lyman

The below drawings are much less detailed but probably more scientifically correct.

Mother Triceratops (cow) and 2 Calves 
(Notice the calves' frills go back over their neck and upper back.)

Triceratops Teen
 (Notice the horns do not face forward.)

Full Sized Triceratops Adult (bull)
(Notice the horns face forward.)



All Coloring Page Drawings are Copyright 2017 by Robin Andrew Lyman
Some previous posts are Copyright 2016 or earlier by Robin Andrew Lyman

American Alligator and Sarcosuchus

Most adult American alligators weight around 790 lbs  (360 kg) and they can get up to  14 ft (4.4 m) long and some really big ones can weigh over 990 lb  (450 khg).  The largest ever , found, in the state of Louisiana, was 19.2 ft (5.8 m) long.   There is also a species of Alligator in China.  The Chinese Alligator is only about 7 ft (2.2 m) long.   

American Alligator

Alligators evolved in the early days following the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs.  .    .  about 66 million years ago.  They evolved from crocodiles.  Crocodiles lived with the dinosaurs.  There were even giant crocodiles that were over 40 feet long.   

Sarcosuchus was the  biggest freshwater crocodile ever, Sarcosuchus imperator, lived 110 million years ago, during the Early  Cretaceous Period.   It grew as long as 40 feet (12 meters), and weighed up to  17,500 pounds (8 metric tons).  Sarcosuchus has been found in Africa and possibly Brazil.  Sarcosuchus most certainly ate dinosaurs that were small enough to kill and eat.  It probably never touched the bigger Theropods for fear of getting hurt or eaten itself.  A Carcharodontosaurus was a predator that also lived in Africa.  It was over 40 feet (12 m) long and that is longer than a T. rex.  The name: "Carcharodontosaurus" means "shark tooth."  A full sized Carcharodontosaurus would be a bit longer than a Sarcosuchus, but i think a teen-aged Carcharodontosaurus, at 30+ feet would have had a chance.   

Sarcosucus vs a young Carcharodontosaurus

Interesting note, in the new BBC Series called Planet Earth II... they show a small crocodilian getting killed by the powerful jaws of a jaguar.  So, we can infer that a larger Theropod might have given Sarcosuchus a run for his money.

Fairies, Unicorn, and Baby Dragon

Elegant Fairy Sorceress with her pet Dragon (maybe Baby Dragon)

Magical creatures are fun to draw together.  I think a dragon could be the pet of a fairy sorceress.   Of course, I think of the sorceress as a good fairy, not a bad witch.  The dragon could be a baby dragon OR a species of mini-dragon she keeps as a pet or as a familiar.

Fairy with a Unicorn Friend

Some stories have fairies always in love with unicorns.  The fairies hold unicorns in awe.  In one series of stories I read the unicorns can change into human form...and the male unicorn is the offspring of the top fairy and her fairy husband.

Ceratosaurus and Dinosaur Tracks

Ceratosaurus

This past weekend I went to a family baptism down in Kanab Utah.   My brother in law took us up to the top of a bluff called Lamb's Point, to see early Jurassic dinosaur tracks.  It was an amazing experience, although the hike up was really quite difficult.  It took overnight for my crummy heart to calm down.  I'm fine now. ANYWAY, it was sooooo cool to see those tracks up there on the bluff, still in the wild.

Me with one of the Dinosaur Tracks

These tracks are from a 3 toed dinosaur.... almost certainly a Theropod.   Theropods are the carnivorous or meat eating dinosaurs.   The rock is called the Navajo Sandstone formation.   We saw several ripple marks on rocks.  Ripple marks are made when sand is in the bottom of a moving stream of water.   So, this indicated that the dinosaurs were walking in water and left tracks.  There are two distinct sets of tracks and the animals appeared to be of different size.   So this may have been a male and female on the prowl, waling through  a shallow creek.  By the way, in modern birds of prey (bird raptors)  the females are bigger than the males...so we can infer that the female Theropod dinosaurs were larger than the males.

Ripple Marks from a large flat boulder that fell from the top of Lamb's Point

Pair of Smaller Theropod Dino Tracks

Larger Theropod Dino Track from Lamb's Point

Dino Track with Child's Hand

Dino Track with Lanyard for Sizing

The lanyard is included in the picture to help 

determine actual size.  Based on the above picture, 

this track is 14 inches long.  

This set of tracks are from the early Jurassic Period, so we have a problem figuring out what species of dinosaur made the tracks.  Only a handful of dinosaurs have been found in the Navajo Sandstone formation.   Only ONE of these is a Theropod, and it was only about the size of a goose.  The dinosaurs that made these tracks were at least 15-20 feet long.  They match the size of a known Jurassic dinosaur called Ceratosaurus.  However, Ceratosaurus was from the Late Jurassic Period.  What these tracks tell us is that fairly large Theropods lived in North America during the Early Jurassic.  The Ceratosaurus is the closest animal in size, although Ceratosaurus lived later than these tracks by millions of years.  It is possible that this animal that made the tracks was an ancestor to Ceratosaurs, or Allosaurus, or Torvosaurus.  They were all larger Theropod dinosaurs of the Late Jurassic Period.   So, I drew the Ceratosaurus for today's blog because there is no known dinosaur to fit the bill from the correct time period...but Ceratosaurus comes as close as I can get.

Ceratosaurus was about 18 feet (5.5 m) long.  It was a predator that had horns.  Two small eyebrow horns and a larger nose horn.  Their weapon was not the horns.  It is speculated that perhaps the horns were for impressing the members of the opposite sex.  So, MAYBE they were used when males fought for the mates, but that seems unlikely.  In modern birds of prey the raptors usually mate for life.  So the males do not fight over the females.  Also, Ceratosaurs had a skull with bones that were too thin to play the head bashing game.  Ceratosaurs were replaced or out-competed by Allosaurus.
Ceratosaurs went extinct, they did NOT evolve into birds...so it is thought that Ceratosaurs did NOT have feathers like the much smaller and later Velociraptor.

Male Velociraptor.   .    . all fluffed out for displaying feathers to Females

By the way, I would say that since modern birds are often very colorful, this male Velociraptor could be colored with bright head feathers and / or bright tail feathers.   OR bright feathers everywhere.   It is up to you.  Remember that Velociraptor was only about 6 feet long and 4 feet tall.  It was still a deadly desert predator...and it did probably hunt in packs.   

Rabbi and the Soap Maker

This story is from the 2017 Ensign magazine. It is part of the First Presidency Message.
 I put the story here to help spread the Word about God's Love...and how He cares for us and that we can turn to Him in times of great or small trials.
Feel free to use the coloring page of the story in spreading the Word yourself.  

Rabbi and the Soap Maker 

The Rabbi and the Soap Maker

There is an old Jewish tale about a soap maker who did not believe in God. One day as he was walking with a rabbi, he said, “There is something I cannot understand. We have had religion for thousands of years. But everywhere you look there is evil, corruption, dishonesty, injustice, pain, hunger, and violence. It appears that religion has not improved the world at all. So I ask you, what good is it?”

The rabbi did not answer for a time but continued walking with the soap maker. Eventually they approached a playground where children, covered in dust, were playing in the dirt.

“There is something I don’t understand,” the rabbi said. “Look at those children. We have had soap for thousands of years, and yet those children are filthy. What good is soap?”

The soap maker replied, “But rabbi, it isn’t fair to blame soap for these dirty children. Soap has to be used before it can accomplish its purpose.”

The rabbi smiled and said, “Exactly.”

     -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 

Learn to turn your troubles over to Jesus and He will help you.  

Now my commentary on it:   The moral of the story is that Heavenly Father knows that bad things happen in the world because He gave us our free agency.    But remember that Heavenly Father is in charge and we know HE will win in the end.  Also, we all have trials in life can, but because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can be comforted and we also can receive guidance on how to handle our problems.  This life is a test.  Do we keep God’s commandments or do we not?  And when we DO have things go wrong…do we get mad at God or do we turn to him for support and help?  We will have trials either way, so to me it makes sense to reach out to God for his support.  The atonement of Jesus Christ makes it possible to let him take away our pain and emotional turmoil.  OR He helps us to be able to bear that pain... he strengthens us beyond our own capacity.  So in both cases we get help and some relief.  On the other hand, if we get mad at Him because life is so unfair, we deny ourselves the opportunity to turn to Him and get that relief and comfort.   I know what I am talking about here.  I have experienced years of failed health and it DOES seem so unfair.  But I am learning to turn to our Lord to get comfort.  I have had to read my scriptures more, counsel with my wife, and even seek some professional help.  When you are constantly wondering (like I have...for the last 11 years)  if this is your last day on Earth it can take its toll on you.   But now I am truly doing better, not really a lot better health-wise, but way better emotionally and Spiritually.   Starting this blog of free coloring pages is one way I can still serve others.  This helps me take my mind off of my own troubles.  I hope my coloring pages help you feel some added happiness in your life.  .   . or the lives of the kids you work with, or care for etc.   Remember that we have to get out of the mud of our problems and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Like soap, our religion does us no good if we don't apply it to ourselves.  So my advice to all is to take care of yourself, and to keep busy, serve others as you can, and turn to the Savior... and He will take care of you. 

   -Robin Andrew Lyman