Saturday 8 March 2014

Whopping Great European Carnivorous Dinosaur Found Near Lisbon!

Woo-hoo!  I do love dinosaurs; and the bigger the better, especially when I can relate to them in my own neck of the woods - i.e. Britain or Europe!

In my daily newspaper a couple of days back there was an article about a brand new discovery: a Jurassic-era carnivore - a Megalosaur-type - which has been named Torvosaurus gurneyi, and was up to 10m (33ft) long and weighed between four and five tonnes.

http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/torvosaurus-gurneyi-king-of-carnivorous-dinosaurs-in-europe/
It had heavily muscled forearms with formidable claws, thick legs, and an elongated skull that allowed for a devastating bite!  The likelihood is that it used sheer brute force, instead of speed or ambush surprise to take down its victims, because its jaws are so huge, and with its razor-sharp teeth acting like multiple knife cuts, it is possible that "TG" took one huge bite out of its prey, withdrew until that animal had bled to death, then came back to get its meal.

The archaeologists say that there is another Torvosaurs, in the USA, but the one found recently in Lisbon is a sub-species which may have evolved when the huge pre-historic continent we call 'Pangea' began to split into the continents we know today, and Torvosaurus in Europe evolved differently to its American cousin.

Whatever, for me, the news fired up my scenario-building juices and I immediately wanted my intrepid "Dino Hunters" to find themselves facing this beasty!  However, there aren't any model Torvosaurs, but it seemed to me that the closest I could come was either the Copplestone Castings model of a Nanotyrannus (a bit of a lightweight model, but, hey, it could be a youngster!), or the Schleich (small) model of an Allosaurus, which, again, isn't a Torvosaurus, but until Richard Deasey and Acheson Creations make one (via their Primaeval Designs range) we wargamers will just have to "make do and mend" as the old phrase goes!
Here's some links if you fancy the models mentioned above:
http://www.toysandlearning.co.uk/schleich-dinosaurs-allosaurus-14512.htm (Allosaurus)
http://www.copplestonecastings.co.uk/range.php?range=HA (K11 Nanotyrannus in the High Adventure range)
http://achesoncreations.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=category&virtuemart_category_id=50 (28mm Dinosaurs range)
I've got a whole box full of various manufacturers dinos, and spent a pleasant half-hour re-acquainting myself with what I've got "in stock"... but I didn't have a Schleich Allosaurus, so I soon made a quick order at Amazon!  The Copplestone Nanotyrannus comes as a pair, with some assembly required - and then a bit of 'filling' around the joints.  Mine were assembled several years back, but never painted, so that'll keep me busy for the next couple of days, till I receive my pre-painted Allosaurus.  More news on this scenario in a few days...

No comments:

Post a Comment