Hope the Doggy

Hope the Doggy

Hope is a mixed breed dog that lives in Southern Utah.  She is a nice dog.  Small, and she is several shades of tan or beige.  Hope is an older dog but not too far past her prime.  Kids sometimes call her a puppy, but she is an adult dog.. . even though she is small.  

Mermaid at the Reef

Mermaid at the Reef

This drawing is based on our granddaughter.  She turns 3 tomorrow.  If you are wondering about the sizes remember that she is only three years old. . . or will be tomorrow.  Then again, if mermaids were real it might make sense for them to be smaller than humans.  That might explain why they have stayed hidden from us for so long.  

We all need to be aware of the importance of our coral reefs.  Many reefs are dying due to increased temperatures caused by global warming.   Coral reefs protect coastlines from erosion caused by wave action.  They are the most diverse ecosystem in the world as well.  Some marine animals are being studied as a possible source of life saving medicines.   

NOTE:  Prntable coloring pages are found by clicking the top buttons.  Newer drawings like this are at the bottom of the lists.  

Pinocchio rex

Pinocchio rex or Qianzhousaurus sinensis

Pinicchio rex is a nickname for Qianzhousaurus sinensis...who was a feathered Tyrannosaur from late Cretaceous in what is now China.  It lived at the same time as the better known Tyrannosaurus rex of North America. Of course since Qianzhouraurus lived in China, it never met a T. rex.  This fairly new discovery was a Tyrannosaur, but more like 30 feet or 9 meters long compared to the 40 foot or 12 meter long T. rex.  Pinocchio rex weighed around 1800 lbs or 816 kg.  It had a bumpy face with tiny horns.  

The nickname of Pinocchio rex is because Qianzhousaurus had a long thin snout.  It looked quite different from T. rex.  The co-author of the study on this large Theropod dinosaur was Steve Brusatte.  He says this dino was the real thing.  He also thinks it fed very differently than the much more robust T. rex.  Since its  bite was much weaker it probably went after smaller prey than T. rex fed on.  

By the way, I learned about this dinosaur from Steve Brassatte's book, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs.   It is a very fascinating book. Dr. Brassatte's friend was the lead author of the study on this Theropod.  He is a well known Chinese paleontologist named Lu Junchang.  

By the way, if you think any of the volcanoes I have drawn are weird and asymmetrical. . . know that not all volcanoes are symmetrical.  Many are asymmetrical. 

Here is a T. rex drawing for you to compare the snouts.   .   .  

T. rex drawing from Skull

NOTE:  The printable drawings are found by clicking the buttons up top.  

The newer drawings like Pinocchio rex are at the bottom of the lists.  

Happy Little Mermaid

Happy Little Mermaid

This is a drawing for our granddaughter's birthday party.  She turns 3 tomorrow.   We made copies for the little girls at the party.  The below picture is of a game my wife and I made.  It is also for the party.  You can guess, it is a mermaid party.  

Pin the Tail on the Mermaid game

Since our granddaughter loves mermaids her are a few more mermaid drawings form blogs past.  

Mermaid chasing a Fish

Mermaid named Krishna

Mermaid Denverie

(From the Denver Aquarium)

Hatzegopteryx and Quetzalcoatlus the Huge Pterosaurs

Hatzegopteryx

Hatzegopteryx was a huge Pterosaur.  It lived in the Cretaceous Period... in what is now Romania in the continent of Europe.  This Pterosaur had a huge skull.  Its skull was as wide as 18 inches or 50 cm. at the back of it.  It had a sharp point on the end and overall this was a very robust skull.  Most Pterosaurs had gracile skulls.  Gracile means light thinner and robust means think and heavier.   Hatzegopteryx had an especially large or thick neck of 5 feet or 1.5 meters long to support that huge skull.  The vertebrae from that neck were the largest ever seen from a Pterosaur.  When it was first found the fossil was thought to be a large Theropod because no one had seen a Pteroasaur with a robust skull or a skull that large.  The skull was around 5 foot 3 inches or 1.6 meters long  Hatzegopteryx was probably was the top predator of the islands of the late Period.  Those islands eventually became Europe. Hatzegopteryx was close to 10 feet tall, but also had a wingspan of somewhere around 39 feet or 11 meters, but it was probably wider than than.   So, although not taller than the huge Quetzalcoatlus, Hetzegopteryx may have had a wider wing span and been a heavier animal.  It also may have been a predator of land animals like smaller dinosaurs and early mammals.  

   

Quetzalcoatlus had a thinner but longer neck than Hatzegopteryx.  Quetzalcoatlus also had a possibly longer and definitely more narrow skull.  Quetzalcoatlus fossils were found in Texas.  This is the tallest known flying animal of any kind.  It may have weighed more than 500 lbs. or 227 kg.  It had a huge wingspan that was once estimated at  52 feet or 16 meters.  That estimate has been downsized to closer to 40 feet or about 12 meters.   Quetzalcoatlus was as tall as a giraffe.  It was 18 feet or 5.5 meters tall!  This spectacular Pterosaur was named after Quetzalcoatl, who was the Aztec God. known as the feathered serpent. 

One more thing.  Paleontologists think that all Pterosaurs were covered with a fuzzy covering.  It was not fur, nor was it feathers nor protofeathers.  Remember that Pterosaurs went extinct and did not leave any descendants.  Birds descended from feathered Theropod dinosaurs, NOT from Pterosaurs.

Quetzalcoatlus

Quetzalcoatlus with Giraffe for height comparison
(They were never together.  Quetzalcoatlus went extinct with the large non avian dinosaurs.
 This drawing is to help you see just how tall Quetzalcoatlus was.)

Quetzalcoatl on pyramid at Teotihuacan
I have seen this Pyramid that is located just outside of Mexico City.

NOTE:  The printable versions of this are found under the Paleontology Button or the All Printables Buttons that are located at the top of this blog page.  The names of newer drawings are at the bottom of the lists.  

Chance the Clown

Chance the Clown

This is a drawing of a clown that went to the Barnum and Bailey Clown College. . . before tbe Circus closed down. Chance the Clown loves to make people laugh. . . especially kids.   The dog doing tricks is a Bichon Frise.  To me it was a sad day when the Barnum and Bailey Circus closed down.   

River Fairies

 River Fairy kneeling

Bank Dwelling River Fairies are a beautiful type of fairy that are known to help people who get in trouble on the waterways that the fairies protect.  They love water.  But they are not mermaids.  They live on the shore and often in the nearby woods, although they can swim quite well.  To swim they fold their wings tightly against their backs. 

There are other types of River Fairies that actually have fin-like wings.  Those types of fairies live in the rivers and lakes.  The drawing below is of one of those River Fairies swimming in the river.  They are called Aquatic River Fairies.  They are actually a type of fresh water Mermaid.  They can breathe water like a fish.  So they get their needed oxygen from the oxygen that is trapped in the river.  Aquatic River Fairies are actually a specialized type of Nyad.  Aquatic Water Fairies, unlike regular Nyads, can fly out of the water and even walk on land, however, like an amphibian, they can not allow themselves to get dry or they will dehydrate and die.  For this reason Aquatic Water Fairies like to fly on rainy days or nights.  The rain also tends to hide them from mortal eyes. 

A science note now:  The animals with gills that live in the water still need oxygen to live.  They extract the oxygen from the water.  The rivers and creeks have more oxygen than a lake.  Water that is moving picks up more oxygen. . . especially when it tumbles down a waterfall or over a boulder that is in the water.  Also, an amphibian has leaky skin.  When the area outside of their skin is dry. . . ie air. . . then the water moves out of their cells.  This is why frogs on land look like they have slimy skin.  . . the water is leaking out.  When an amphibian gets back in the water they re-hydrate. 

NOTE:  The top drawing is based on a beautiful Medical Assistant.  She has pink hair and lovely eyes.  The drawing, of course, does not capture her true beauty.  It is done in a cartoon style or a stylized cartoon.  The printable version of this cartoon drawing is found by clicking on the correct buttons at the top of the page.  That would be the  Fantasy Myths and Circus and the All Printables buttons.  The new drawings, like these two, are placed at the bottom of the lists of printable drawings.

River Fairy swimming