An artist impression of a day out at the Mangahouanga beach! (Artsit - Geoffery Cox)
It is interesting that where these dinosaur fossils were found are in the mountain range which had been named by the Maori's from long ago as Mangataniwha - Mountain of the Dragon!
The Mangahouanga Stream is where the late Joan Wiffen, her husband Pont and good friend Trevor Crabtree found marine & dinosaur fossils. No easy digging here she said the water is really cold the rocks are slippery and with steep banks to haul the rocks up it sure makes a lot of hard work!
I think it shows dedication and that Kiwi can do attitude of these amature fossil hunters which eventualy paid off as they discoverd the fossils which confirmed we had Dinosaurs in Aotearoa.
Isn't it amazing that up until the 1970's scientists said dinosaurs didn't make it to New Zealand, and yet it was amature fossil hunters to prove them wrong! and did you know it has been amature fossil hunters that have made some of the greatest discoveries of dinosaurs around the world!
So kids! next time your out in the country or at the beach take a second look around you and under your feet you never know you too could discover something really special as well.
(The late Joan Wiffen's geological pic and replica Dinosaur Vertebra on loan courtesy of Brian Reeve)
This Dinosaurs Rock enthusiast is holding a theropod tail vertebra replica which was made by Paleontologist Joan Wiffen, our NZ Dinosaur Hunter.
In 1975 Joan Wiffen discovered the original theropod tail vertebra in the MangahouangaValley, but it wasn't until 1979 when she was visiting an Australian dinosaur expert Ralph Molnar that she saw a similar bone. She sent the vertebra she found to Ralph Molnar and he confirmed it belonged to a Dinosaur! So, it was this small vertebra that became our first identified dinosaur fossil in New Zealand.
In the other hand of this young palaeo-enthusiast is Joan Wiffen's original geologic pick hammer which she used to discover the theropod vertebra and other fossils. Could this young paleo-enthusiast be our next Joan Wiffen of the future?
Hey Kids! this is about the size of one of our Kiwi dinosaurs, the Hypsilophodont. Looks like it drowned to me and wash up on the banks of the Mangahouanga stream and then a long time after our Kiwi Dinosaur Hunters found a small part of it'pelvis bone.
It's Official!
New Zealand now has a third location where Dinosaur fossils have been found.
The Chatham Islands is a group of 10 islands located about 800 km due east of Christchurch.
Back in March 2003 Palaeontologist Jeffery Stilwell and PhD student Chris Consoli found small theropod bones which were recovered from the Takatika Grit formation (late Early Palaeocene) based on the dinoflagellate microfossils, is several millions of years younger than the main Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event (at 65Ma) so any dinosaur fossils must be reworked, in other words they are clasts derived from some older Cretaceous formation. There are suitable candidate formations exposed on PittIsland (Tupuangi Formation, Kahuitara Tuff) both of which could have dinosaur fossils! Info curtesy Dr Hamish Campbell, GNS Geological & Nuclear Science, Lower Hutt NZ.
Now one of the bones was a 10cm long finger bone of a theropod dinosaur which indicates the dinosaur would have been about 6 meters long!
Photo curtesy Melissa Di Ciero, MonashUniversity, Melbourne, Australia.
Dr Jeffrey Stilwell (in background) and PhD student Chris Consoli with a theropod toe bone fossil they found on the Chatham Islands.
Look at this fossil cast of the theropod toe bone found in the Chatham Islands which Jurassic Jackie is holding. This fossil cast (genuine replica) was made by MonashUniversity in Australia and kindly donated to Dinosaur Darren & Jurassic Jackie and when we come to your school you will be able to see how it just about matches the size of a T rex toe bone!
Dear visitor if you have a fossil or something of Geology-Palaeontology interest and no longer need it please consider donating it to us. We promise it will be used to inspire Kiwi Kids in their education.
Hey Kids! Scientist don't really know what colour dinosaurs were.
Dinosaurs could of had bright colours around certain areas of their body to warn off predators or to attract a mate, or maybe they could been the same colour all over, say like a elephant.
Well off the coast of New Zealand a Pink! dinosaur has been spotted on WhiteIsland, don't believe me see for yourself.
A world first! Tuatahi the Tuatara in a cast of a genuine life size T rex footprint
I reckon Tuatahi is thinking "Hmm now this all looks familia!
Did you know the Tuatara once lived with our Kiwi Dinosaurs long ago and is known as a living fossil, but more importantly the Tuatara is a living tohanga from the days of creation for the people of Aotearoa.
Hey Kids! this here is a tuatara skull and looks just like a minature dinosaur skull but unlike the Allosaurus skull beside me, tuatara don't have teeth studed jaws.
Tuatara Update "They're... Back!"
The ancient and rare tuatara returned to its natural environment on mainland New Zealand for the first time in over 200 years, when 70 tuatara were released at Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellington on Thursday 8 December 2005.
Our living dinosaur Tuatahi the Tuatara. He's an adult Tuatara (Scientific name: Sphenodontidae) and is about 62 years old but they can live longer than 100 years. Tuatara's are the only living members of an ancient order of reptiles that have remained the same since dinosaurs were about. They eat mainly invertebrates but have been known to eat their own young as well as the eggs and chicks of the fairy prion - a bird whose burrows they often share. Originally Tuatara's were found throughout New Zealand but now only found on offshore Islands. It is considered a sacred creature by the Maori of New Zealand and can be found depicted in many traditional Maori carvings. Tuatara means 'old spiny back' in Maori.
Today (DoC) Department of Conservation have a cooperative recovery programme in action, where captive bred Tuatara's are released to predator-free islands.
Now Kids! which one is a real living fossil?
A. Dinosaur Darren (please don't pick me) B. Tuatahi the Tuatara C. Albertosaurus dinosaur D. Allosaurus Skull E. Velociraptor - outside looking thru the window!!! ?
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