Halloween Fun 2019

This week has been a little busy but so much fun. Yesterday was my campus Halloween event for families. I was with my nature club called the South Nature and Outdoors Club which I am the president of. It was fun to be with my friends as we helped educate our table guests. We had a bunch of fun stuff for the kiddos and a few other handouts and even had some stuff up for sale in some fundraising. We all had one our nature themed costumes. I was Shark Week this go around and had so much fun with it. This photo was taken by my adviser. 

I really loved how it turned out. I think I may have went a little overboard with the sign but it was still fun. I didn’t win in the costume contest this go around but today was a different story. 

Today I won third at the Anime Club meeting. I won a little Izuku Midoriya Pop Vinyl Figure which I will show off in a minute. I was going to blend the costume but didn’t really have time to do it since things were a little crazy last night. I think Yakko Warner is one of the most fun costumes I do for Cosplay. It takes some people a while to think about the character when they see me but if you say Yakko then the light bulb goes off. Halloween this year was fun. I really dressing up and having fun. There is never a dull moment in my life. I really enjoy acting silly and being a total geek and nerd. It totally beats being normal which as they say in the X-Files “how do you define normal?” There is no such thing.  

Here are my Pop Figures from oldest to newest. The Midoriya is the one I won today. I think it is awesome.I hope all of you had a happy and safe Halloween and had some fun. I know I did but now it is time to wait until my next convention to get this stuff out again. I wish you all a great November and wish you all a good night and I will see you on the trail.  

A photo of me with my Shark Week Costume for a school Halloween event on the 30th. I am so excited to try this. This is the first time I am going as anything shark related. The only thing I had do was stuff the head and the tail of the costume and then put the boa rd around the head. The board has a bunch of Jaws Movie quoted, Shark Week Taglines, different shark related characters like from Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, Pokémon like Sharpedo and his Mega Evolved form, a Lego Shark man, a few shark stickers and Cartoons, it also has a few other things like seals just to add the popular catchphrase "its a bad week to be a seal." This is going to be great. I am so excited to see all my South Nature and Outdoors crew in their costumes. It is going to be Jawsome and Fintastic. My aunt took this photo of me. Yeah I would have done a silly pose but I was too tired.

Halloween Plans continued

Here is something I normally don't get often. Shark delivery for Zach. I can't wait for Halloweem my costume has finally arrived and the sign I made is already finished. My Nature Club team is going to be dressing up as animals and things and I think my friend had the best idea for mine. I love sharks and Shark Week. It might seem out of place since Shark Week was in July it August but that is the cool thing about Halloween you can be whatever and whoever. Yep I think I am gonna need a bigger boat. I have to stuff some parts of the shark to make it work better. I went out and bought some batting to stuff the head, the tail, the whole darned thing. Okay I know I am using a lot of Jaws lines but I can't help myself. This is by far the craziest thing I have done for any costume idea. Yakko I thought was pretty nutty this I think takes the cake. I might put my speaker in my pocket and play a shark music (NOT BABY SHARK) I mean the Jaws theme, Deep Blue Sea, and a couple of other shark movie tunes just to make it funny. I can't stand Baby Shark that get a annoying and my ears nearly start to bleed. This is going to be fun. I have a few nature club members dressing like Butterflies one is going as either a bat or a Praying Mantis. It is going to be fun. Can't wait till our school fall festival.

Halloween plans 2019

I started up a nature club at school last semester and it has really picked up this semester. This year we are going to do a booth for our Halloween event that Student Activities puts together. This year I am going as Shark Week. This is the sign I have made that will go around my neck. I will have a shark costume that I will be wearing along with this. I love sharks and my friend thought it would be pretty cool if I did it. My whole Nature Club crew will be dressing up as nature based things. I have a few members dressing up as insects and I have some undecided and I think I have another shark in the group. I think this is going to be the craziest thing I have done. Normally I go as something from a Sci-fi show or cartoon but going as a documentary series is kind of interesting. I drew out the Shark Jaws and then put JAWS quotes around them. I put all the days of the week with different shark and summer related stuff attached to them. Then I have a few important Shark dates one being the release date of Jaws which was 1975, 1916 was the date of the Jersey Beach Shark Attack that Jaws the films is based off of, then I also have 1945 with the words USS Indianapolis which was the ship attached to one of the worst Shark Attacks in military history. I also have a few sharks around the place from many different things. All of the ones from Finding Nemo and Finding Dory are there, I have the Shaaark! Comics shark mascot on there which is one of my favorites, I have Sharpedo from Pokemon both in original form and also the Mega Evolution, Up at the top I have a seal and under it I have the Tagline “Its a Bad Week to Be a Seal! but I have added stuff that are in this shot and that is the I Love Snuffy from when they had the Snuffy Seal craze a few Shark Weeks ago. I also have another tagline on the opposite side of the seal which is the Shark Week HOO HA HA! which adds a twist from the often repeated Finding Nemo Quote “Shark Bait HOO HA HA. So yeah a lot going on here but hey it is Halloween season you have to be a little crazy at times in your costume choices. I will be going as Yakko Warner for one of my events but for school I am going as a walking ad for Shark Week. I may do this for a Shark Week party idea for next year or another time. Sharks are one of my favorite subjects to talk about. Sharks are amazing and should be celebrated not only for a week but all the time for they are vital to the ecosystem. They should be respected and not feared. They are actually good guys and help keep the ocean healthy by keeping seal and fish populations down so we don’t get too much of one thing. They are important in the food chain and the food web.  

Just went to the Abiline Zoo today. It was a very nice visit. I got a lot of cool photos of the animals. I love to go to Zoos and this Labor Day I will be going to another Zoo for my three day weekend. I think collecting patches to stick on my vest is a cool hobby. My best has some of the coolest stories attractched to it. Patches are more than just fabric circles and squares. For me they remind me of my travels, adventures, and the wonder I have experienced. I love collecting them to advertise to other to visit some of the places I have been as a promotion of what I love. I will post the zoo animals and talk about each one but not until I go to the Fort Worth Zoo this weekend. I want my photos to be comprehensive. Still it was a pretty cool day to be out with my family. Got to see some pretty neat stuff.

National Moth Week part 2

Sorry it has taken me a while to post this next series of shots. I am starting another semester of college and had some business to attend too. During mothing events you never quite know what will show up. This time we had very few moths show up. We had a few but not very many like I have experienced in different outings. 

This one was the most impressive one I saw on the three days of mothing I attended. Here we have the Zebra Conchylodes Moth. You can really tell where it gets its name. This is one I am still learning about. Moths and Butterflies are just one of my many insect obsessions next to dragonflies. Dragonflies are my favorite insect to obsess over at times. Moths are one of my favorite types of insects for they come in all sorts of colors and shapes. Moths are an amazing group. They maybe unappealing to some but in my mind they are quite diverse and really something to take note of. I love most insects for their features and the way they live. Insects are some of the most misunderstood animals but I love them. I am always standing up to the lesser appreciated animals. They deserve a far better reputation than what they are given. Insects are pretty incredible once you get to know them.

Sometimes more things besides beetles will show up to your light trap as in this case where we had a Little Mesquite Cicada show up. These are Texas’ tinest cicada. They are pretty cute and not as big as some of the others like the Superb Dog Day Cicada, Resh Cicada, or the Sissors-Grinder Cicada. This one is only about an inch. I love cicadas for they just make up part of the symphony of nature. They are a true icon of the southern summers. I have lived in Texas all my life and every year I get so excited for their return in the mid to late summer. They are one of my favorite insects. I don’t find them annoying like some people say. I really like the way they sound; it is just part of being home to me. It is as familiar to me as my favorite story. Cicadas are so amazing and a fun fact is that they do not eat but they drink sap from trees. They will not attack the trees or plants. They are not really a pest at all. They are a major food source for snakes and other animals. Snakes like the Copperhead can eat a ton of Cicadas each summer. They will wait at the base of a tree and wait for one to fall and when it does the snake will make good use of it as nourishment. 

Here is another one we saw called the Resh Cicada. There are a lot of Cicadas in Texas and this one is one of the most common that I find each year. I have quite a few on my life list so far and we are now winding down from Cicada season and bug season. I love this time of the year for you start to see an interesting change in insects. In late fall you will see more pollinators than anything once the late summer plants begin to bloom. Texas is a truly wonderful state and I love to explore it when ever I get the chance. There is always something new and exciting to see when you are here. Some areas may not look like much but if you change your perspective just a little bit a whole new door will open to you. Nature is an amazing thing and we must all do our part to protect it and keep it safe so future generations can experience it too. So until next time I will see you on the trail. 

National Moth Week 2019 Part One

I do a lot of moth nights each year with some of my naturalist friends. This was my third year participating in the National Moth week activities. Mothing is really fun to do. All you do is put out a UV or some other light that has different wave lengths than regular household lights and a white sheet or a mesh netting and see what you can find. National Moth Week is not all about moths it is all about the nocturnal world when most of us are asleep in our beds. It is a celebration of the creatures of the night. Here are a few that I photographed during this years NMW. 

First up is the Sad Underwing Moth. I saw this species about four times. This one was found in broad daylight though. This one was at Elmer W. Oliver Nature Park on a tree. I was volunteering with a bunch of others during a kids science camp. The two in the back pointed it out and I just happened to have my camera on me. I took a few shots just to add it to my favorite app and site called iNaturalist which is a sight I use to keep track of all my nature observations. These guys are pretty hard to see sometimes. You can easily walk right past them. They sit on the side of a tree and it can take you several seconds to see it. If you know what to look for you can see them all over once your mind adjusts. For first time spotters it can be a little trickster. This species loves to suck down to the tree and say hidden leaving very little shadow so predators wont nab it for a snack. This moth species is about two to three inches in length and is one of my favorites in the Underwing family. 

I went to Twelve Hills Nature center in Dallas for one of our events and even though it was not a moth it was still a pretty cool observation. Here we have a Yellow and Black Garden Spider. These are one of the better known spiders that in most cases can be picked out of a line up. They are very large spiders and make very beautiful webs. The spiders you see on the webs are always females. The males are very tiny you can barely see them. That happens in a lot of the orbweavers and other spider species. This spider also makes an elaborate zigzag pattern called a stabilimentum. This is seen a little here in this photos. We are not too sure what this structure is used for. It is just something that a lot of spiders in the genus Argiope do. These are so cool to look at. I almost didn’t see the web until I was called to see it. 

One of the many insects we had come up to our light traps was this Eight-spotted Flea Beetles. I have been trying to get a good photograph of one of these for a long time. They have always seemed to escape me every time I see one. They are one of the many leaf beetles we have in Texas. This one is one of the larger ones. It is dark with some red and little white dots on the wing coverts. It will eat a lot in a garden and is considered an agricultural pest. 

One of the coolest beetles we found during one of the three moth nights for the week was this guy. This is known as the Fiery Searcher. Some of you may have seen it on one of my other posts around the City Nature Challenge time. These guys are one of my favorite beetles. They are swift and always hungry. They specialize in eating caterpillars. They are a pretty large beetle and when angered they will release a highly pungent odor that will throw you for a loop. They can also deliver a very painful bite if miss handled. Probably not enough to break the skin but it can hurt for a good while so I am told. I have been lucky not to have been bitten but as they say their is a first time for everything. It is just one of those occupational hazards we have to face from time to time. 

 Another cool beetle we saw during National Moth Week. This one is in the Genus Mallodon and is known as the Hardwood-stump Borer Beetle. This guy is almost as big as the Fiery Searcher and has a mighty set of jaws of its own. That yellow stuff you see is some kind of fuzz that it has. This is the first time I have observed this beetle. This monster gets pretty larger and it was kind of daunting to get it into a petri dish to better observe it closer. Petri Dishes come in handy when you do insect photography for science purposes. It holds them in and you can get closer shots in the clear plastic. It is just one of those things I picked up along the way during my time as a naturalist. This guy is one heck of a beetle I will tell you that. I think it may just be one of my new favorites all because of its cool Genus name. Mallodon sounds so much like something from a space adventure show. 

A cool flying beast we saw at the Parr Park National Moth Week night in Grapevine. This sucker is known as an Eastern Dobsonfly. This guy was one that was on the rocks near one of our more powerful set ups. This is a female for it has small stubbier jaws. The males have much larger ones that overlap when at rest. This thing can get up to four inches. It has two pairs of wings which overlap and in the good light they almost look plastic. The larva to this insect is called a Hellgramite. These flies are used often by fly fishers. The Fishfly is a close relative of these guys. This thing if not handled right will also bite and can break skin. This one was picked up out of harms way and almost bit one of my friends. It can swivel its head in many directions so it is constantly on the alert from predators. 

Another beetle that looks like the Fiery Searcher. It is very closely related and is in the same line. This guy is called the Black Caterpillar Hunter. It is almost the same size as the Fiery Searcher. This guy is one heck of a beetle. A few of my friends found this guy halfway up a tree when they spotted him. They called me over and I took this shot. This was taken at Parr Park in Grapevine Texas. This is one of my favorite shots. Just look at all the grooves in the wing coverts. This is a very cool predator. I really enjoy mothing and looking for the animals of the night. You see some of the wildest things at night. 

One of the deadlier observations on my list of highlights was this Southern Black-widow. This is the first one I have seen that has that infamous red hourglass on the underside of its body. We made it with out anyone getting bitten which was a good thing. We were all very careful to not disturb it. She was just minding her own waiting for something to walk into her web trap. She was an absolutely beautiful spider. I really enjoy photographing spiders and other arachnids. The funny thing is I used to hate arachnids but after a while of being a naturalist and hiking among them I started to see them in a new light. I saw that they were devoted parents and sophisticated web artists. They are very amazing and some are so beautiful. Strange some maybe but they are just doing what they have to, to survive in the wild. This little thing was really cool. I have now observed two Southern Black Widows. 

Here is one I found on my friend’s truck that he was using for the moth night at the Heard Museum. This right here is the Carolina Mantis. Some of you may have seen this species in an older post. This is a female. Males and females are sexually dimorphic. That means that one gender is one color and the other is another color. In this case the female is much browner and the males are much greener. This thing was hoping to snag a moth or something. Sometimes the mothing lights can be a great place to hunt. When a lot of insects gather it is fair game. Predators are just as attracted to the lights we moth-ers put out. You never quite know what might turn up during one of the events. It is a lot of fun to observe all the creatures that come up to the light traps. It is equally fun to photograph them and post them and share them to your friends. I have been sharing my stuff ever since I became an amateur photographer. I love doing these kinds of things as a volunteer for many nature parks. I really enjoy what I do. I am going to school for photography among other things. So next time we will visit some more creepy crawlies of the night. Until next time I am Zachary AKA Galactic_Bug_Man and I will see you on the trail. Live long and prosper.  

Recent finds in Nature

I volunteered a lot of my time this summer to help kids learn and to get some observations for my favorite App called iNaturalist. On the last day of camp a couple of our campers found this

Luna Moth. It had already died and was just an empty husk. I took this to the suprivisor of the Park that I was at and gave it to her as an education animal. She might have been able to pin it. This is the first time I have ever seen this type of moth. I have been looking for it since I was sic years of age or so. It was a really cool find. It was still kind of sad to think it was dead but it was pretty cool. This sucker was almost as big as my entire hand. And if you are wondering about my fingers that is food coloring that exploded on me during one of our experiments; its not moth dust. These are in the Family Saturnidae and do not ingest food. They only live for a couple of weeks and their only purpose is to breed and make the next generation of Luna Moths. This is my favorite species of moth and it was kind of cool to get to hold this winged beauty. A very large moth.

Here is a cool Robberfly I found at the same park during one of the camp days. This sucker was one I was introduced to by a friend on Facebook. He had a video of this species eating an Eastern Pondhawk Dragonfly. This is the Giant Prairie Robberfly. This thing is a monster but it is pretty neat. I saw two of these in just the matter of a couple of days. This is one of my favorite Robber Flies. Some robbers are hard to ID but they are all pretty cool. This one is quite large and is a couple of inches in length. I have seen a lot of Robber Flies recently more than I have in a long time. I love these guys. Next up I will be sharing with you some of the highlights from National Moth Week 2019. So until then this is Zachary AKA Galactic_Bug_Man and I will see you on the trail.

My Jurassic Collection Part II

Here is the infant T-rex from the same Legacy collection as my Tiger Striped Velociraptor. This thing came with the mussle that Sarah and Ian had removed from the tyke as they raced around San Diago but it was on my desk when I brought the main part to the bar to take the photo. This is not the full collection. I have a little bit more in storage but there are a few more articles like...

My The Lost World: Jurassic Park Tyrannosaurus Rex egg toy. This is the thing I took with me to SCA Con when in was the Jurassic Park Ranger. This is one of the oldest toys I have in my collection if not the oldest. This has always been a favorite. I used to play Jurassic Park when I was a kid and I always had a mission revolving around this toy. This thing is still in pretty good condition and is one of the articles I look back in fondness of those childhood memories of being a young Jurassic Park fan. Let's move on shall we.

Here is a little figure that was in a pack of Jurassic Park figures. I have this Triceratops and I have a Pachy from The Lost World toy line. These gas battle damage on the side but it is printed on. These are some of the oldest figures I own. I had a lot from The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park ///.

Here is my blind bag Indoraptor that my aunt got us as a little surprise. She takes trips and often buys blind bag toys and things for us and this one is one that is also in my fossil cabinate along with the fossils I have. I have a friend who puts her figures in a flower pot with her plants. I have a different approach entirely. I have fossils so I find it fun to have them in there with them just to have some fun as I said before. I like to beef up my collections by having fun with them.

Here is my Jurassic Park: Danger Board Game I got last Christmas. Last year was a big Jurassic Park win for me. I was able to add a lot of Jurassic Park stuff to my collection. Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World Bed Sheets, just to name a couple. The last two years have been good for my Jurassic Park collection. I was just able to add the two novels fairly recently and I am almost half way through the first novel and will soon be working on The Lost World. It is a fun game and my family still has yet to beat me. I always play as the dinosaurs. I have yet to play as a human character. It is pretty fun and by far the best Jurassic Park board game ever created.

Another game I got a few years back was the Jurassic World Lego game. This thing is fun even if it is for the 3DS. I still have yet to complete it. I just unlocked the Dilophosaur AKA spitter recently. I have used him a lot and even made a hybrid using its parts. I also have a little Henry Wu Lego Mini Figure with this one. It is a pretty cool game. Most of the Jurassic Park games I have played were on emulator or Arcade but it is fun to have a video game hard copy.

And last but not least my Blue POP! Vynal figure. This was an add I got last Christmas too. It is one of two Pops I know. I also own the Fourth Doctor from Doctor Who. This too is in my display case with the rest of the toys. So that is pretty much it except for the stuff I have packed away. Now you kind of know how much of a Jurassic Park fan I am. I also have a bunch of shirts and stuff that I often wear since it is one of my favorite franchises. Well that about does it. Time to continue my reading. Until next time I am Zachary AKA Galactic_Bug_Man. See you on the trail.

My Jurassic Collection

I am just crazy about Jurassic Park. It was a series I was not allowed to watch until I was about ten or eleven. Ever since I have become quite the fan of the whole thing from the comics, books, movies, toys, video games, and so on. It is one of the coolest movie franchises and one that has really stuck with me ever since I saw it for the first time. So here is my Jurassic Park collection as a whole so far.

First off is my recent acquisition I got for my birthday the original two novel by Michael Crichton. No JP/ JW collection is complete without this set of books. These are the original works that the late author wrote that are the basis of the whole Jurassic franchise. They are much darker than the screen adaptation but go into a lot of detail that the movie doesn't explain. Both are great reads and are a must for any Jurassic Park fan and any book worm. This is one of the coolest editions by Barnes and Nobel. It is hardback and just a wonderful design.

Next up the films

As you see all the movies are here in the collection. The original, 3, and World are standard DVD, The Lost World is a DVD/ Blue Ray but Fallen Kingdom is a limited edition steelbook I got last birthday. I love all the films and when the next one hits theaters I will be watching all of these back to back and also reread the novels just so I can make my own predictions and watch them all back to back just to see how each piece fits. I did the same thing when Fallen Kingdom came out. I watched all the first four and listened to the Jurassic Park and Lost World Audio Book before I saw Fallen Kingdom. That is how much of a crazy nerd I am.

My aunt got me this along with a few other things JP related last Christmas. This is the Jurassic Park Legacy Matchbox edition Jeep Wrangler the I have in my fossil vabinate along with the rest of my Jurassic Park toys just to have some fun with the collection.

I have a Tiger Striped Velociraptor from The Lost World: Jurassic Park. This comes from the Legacy toy line. I got this as a Just Because gift along with another from the same toy line. My aunt sure knows me like the back of her hand. She gifts a lot of cool stuff. My brother got a Galliamimus from this sane line up. I love the Jurassic Park toy line. I still have stuff packed away in storage that are also JP related that I need to get back into my collection here at the house. My photo meter just came up so I guess I will make a continuation of this post. I know I am posting a lot but I have been kind of behind so just bare with me. Next up my Jurassic Collection part II.

My New Patches

In was able to add a few new patches this summer to my naturalist vest. I was so excited to have a little more space filled up.

My news ones include the Morrison Museum of Natural History, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the National Museum of World War II Aviation, the Santa Fe Trail National Trail patch, the Broadmoore Seven Falls, Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, and I have one more that I have not added yet but soon will.

Here is one I got from my dad when we visited the Heard Musem for Mothing Night. It has been a good summer. I volunteered a lot of my time thus summer and traveled. Watched a bunch of movies and collected all kinds of neat stuff. I really had a blast this summer. School will be starting soon but that is okay by me. Until next time I am Zachary AKA Galactic_Bug_Man.

My trip to Colorado the conclusion

After a short Jurassic Park break it is time to finish up my Colorado Trip review. It sure was a fun trip. Now I share with you some of the odds and ends of the trip. 

We went out to Red Rocks amphitheater and saw this cool statue. This statue is of John Denver. I am kind of old fashioned in my music tastes. I love stuff from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. I like a lot of stuff from pop, rock, some metal, jazz, and country. John Denver is one of my favorites. You just can’t go to Colorado without putting on “Rocky Mountain High” which is one of his most iconic songs. I played that song I don’t know how many times on my iPod when I was up there. He will always be one of my favorite musicians ever. He may be gone but his music lives on. He was and is a true legend. 

 A cool shot of the Kissing Camels at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. This is one of my favorite stops to make when ever I am up there. I love to look at the huge stone monuments that make up this park. They are so majestic and beautiful. They say everything is bigger in Texas but I just don’t see it. I mean Texas has some big things but there are some things bigger in other places. Colorado is one of my favorite places to travel to when wanting to go on vacation. I have only been three times but every time I find something new and exciting. 

We stayed in Denver most of the trip and nearly every evening we would see these huge Black-billed Magpies. They are a very pretty bird and not as annoying as our grackles here. These guys are so cool to look at. I have only seen this bird a handful of times but this was my first time getting one on camera so I was really excited. Just look at that iridescent blue and green on his feathers it is magnificent to look at. 

 On the trip we went to this museum which was not too far from Red Rocks Amphitheater. The Morrison Museum maybe small but they have a lot of cool things to look at and see. 

 For a few minutes at the Morrison Museum of Natural History I got to chip away some rock that was encasing a large Apatosaurus bone. It was quite cool to work on something this big even if it was only a flash in the pan. It was still pretty cool to do. All I had was a handheld jackhammer and had to push down really hard in order to put a dent in this fossil. Now I know just how time consuming this is. They have been working on these fossils for about fifteen years. I really feel for the paleontology staff here. They need more volunteers. Next time you are looking for volunteer work think about volunteering for places like these and nature parks they greatly appreciate it. I wish I have could have stayed and worked on this a little more but I had to move on but still I got a really cool patch to put on my vest and had the time of my life. 

On our way to Colorado I was able to get a shot of this beautiful Pronghorn. Pronghorn are the last of their kind here in North America. They are a kind of Antelope that survived the Ice Age. They are not deer at all and have their horns their whole life. They are one of the coolest animals we saw on the trip. It was hard to photograph these for there are no pull outs on the highway which really stinks. Still it was a great trip full of wonder and excitement. I got a bunch of patches and things that I put on my vest that I will show you all very soon. So until we meet again I am Zachary AKA Galactic_Bug_Man see you on the trail of life. See you next time. 

My Jurassic Park/ Jurassic World Top Ten List of  Prehistoric Creatures

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So as some of you may know that I am a crazy Jurassic Park fan. I love the movies and I love the books. I thought it would be a pretty cool idea to post what my favorite dinosaurs are. I have a lot of favorite Dinosaurs in the Jurassic Park fandom but what are they? Let us dive into it. So get ready we are taking a short tour through the wilds of Isla Nublar and Isla Sorna for these favorites. Buckle up the the Jeep Wrangler is moving. These are not my photos but are stock and belong to their rightful owners. Spoilers ahead so watch out! If you have not seen the film turn back now you have been warned. 

Number 10: The Stegosaurus 

To begin my list of my favorite Jurassic Park/ Jurassic World Dinosaurs is this beast which was showcased in the search for Sarah scene in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. This is on my list for it was the first time we saw a plant eater attack a human in the series on screen. This attack was provoked by Sarah Harding as she was photographing the baby Stego in the nest. Her camera goes wonky and scares the baby and it alerts the family. Two big ones come from out of nowhere and start to attack Sarah by trying to swipe her with their large Thagomizers. She is almost killed but the massive tail spikes miss and she is left to live for another day. This was always one of the favorite parts for me in the Lost World for it was the first and only time we see a plant eater attack a human in the original trilogy. You don’t really see any other animal that is a vegetarian try to attack anyone. So this one kind of stands out there as one of the more interesting attacks in the Jurassic Park franchise movie wise. It is also one of the best designed and one of the coolest opening dinosaurs in the franchise. Lets let the heard move on and got down the road shall we. 

Number 9:  Ptranodon 

The Ptranodon is one of the most under used Dinosaurs in the movies until you get to the third and fourth Jurassic movie. However in the first book there is a giant bird cage scene that we eventually got to see in the Jurassic Park /// film. This is a favorite of mine. The bird cage scene is one of the best scenes in the third JP film which many of us think was pretty clunky in some parts. I think it was much better than Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in some aspects. This scene was one of those redeeming qualities in my opinion. In the book Alan Grant, Tim and Lex enter the bird cage and get attacked. In the film it is Alan, Eric, Mr. Kirby, Amanda Kirby, and Billy who wind up getting attacked. It is a terrifying sight but the design of these are pretty cool and just the sheer terror of this scene gives me chills. The photo of this is part of that scene where Billy is being swept down stream and this guy looks at the survivors like “your next!” this part always sends shivers up my spine for some reason. It is just one of those scary moments that shouldn’t really be that scary. I did like them in the Jurassic World scene but their design is not as good as these guys. So I am adding this one as a JP Win instead of a Jurassic World win because even though I liked that movie these looked the most real in my book. This is a much darker and more intense scene for me than the birds escaping the bird cage in Jurassic World. You may have another opinion but this is mine right here. Lets move on. 

Number 8: Procompsagnathus AKA Compys! 

 These little buggers spell trouble! They are one of the scariest little terrors on Isla Sorna. Introduced to the franchise in the Jurassic Park Novel by Michael Crichton. These guys were set up to be used for waist management. These are the first to escape to the main land and attack a few people including a little girl playing on the beach of Costa Rica. That scene was first seen in The Lost World: Jurassic Park but it was in the opening of the Jurassic Park Novel. These guys will jump on you and not let go. Deter Stark learned this the hard way. After getting lost to pee in the woods he falls down a hill after getting turned around after one pops up and scares him. He is soon swarmed not once but twice and getting torn up. They bite him from all angles and dig into his flesh with their claws. Hammond in the novel was given the same treatment. After falling down a hill after grousing about the failure of the park and hiring all the wrong people and thinking about firing all the original park operatives and wanting to make a new park he falls down and hill and meets a similar demise. These guys are one of my favorites because at first they look kind of cute like a few other Jurassic Park dinos. They look like they mean you no harm but if you tick them off then that is when they get you. karma on Jurassic Park does work. You can’t be stupid in Jurassic Park and if you are a smart-alek or just a plain jerk then best beware Karma on Jurassic Park comes in many forms and in some cases it comes in shades of green. 

Number 7: Blue 

  I am a sucker for Raptors and Blue is only my third favorite in the series. Her relationship with Owen is something that was never explored in any concept in the original films or the first two novels. This is a very interesting concept and makes for an interesting story. Some people maybe against what they are doing in the new films but I kind of like the new ones for they broaden the horizon of the story of Isla Nublar’s animals. Blue is a cool Velociraptor and almost has a human like quality of emotions. She trusts Owen and no one else. She is pretty cool and when it comes to defending Owen and his crew. She is one cut above the rest and not just a blood thirsty monster like the other raptors of Isla Nubar and Isla Sorna. She is alright in my book but kind of falls short. I have nothing against her if that is what you are saying she is smart and one heck of a clever girl in the long run. 

Number 6; The Indominous Rex

Okay so now we are in hybrid territory and this guy is the only Hybrid that I really thought was interesting. The Indoraptor was kind of a retread in my book. It was just the Indominous in a different wrapper. This original Hybrid is the one that I really thought was pretty cool. It just comes to show how unhinged animals built in a lab can be. This sucker was completely hostile and would kill anything for fun. It was kind of sad that she really had no clue what to do she was just trying to survive and learn where she belonged in the food chain. She was quite the fighter and was a brutal monster. Her abilities reminded me of a few of the concepts from the original Michael Crichton novel. The Velociraptor that Ellie Sattler finds that could change color and the Carnotaurs that could blend to their surroundings could be the big inspiration pieces to creating this guy. That is just my theory anyway. I am a huge fan of the books so when ever I talk about a dinosaur I always try to mention the novel’s connection with said animal and why it may be like that. I am not one to criticize a Jurassic Park film for all of the parts to the novels are there on screen throughout all of the movies just told a little differently and this monster is just one of those things that I found very neat. 

Number 5: Stiggy 

Used for a more comical effort this guy was actually pretty cool. He was one of my favorite dinosaurs from the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom film. This guy caused chaos and confusion in the very little screen time film. Again with a vegetarian that attacks people. This attack was not really intentional just more accidental in my book. This guy just runs amok and throws chairs and people every which way just for the heck of it. To be very honest this film was very wild with some of the comical stuff like the Indoraptor smiling just before ripping off Ken Wheatly’s arm and then killing him. This one I would count as comedic but it is more Jurassic Park style I guess. This one was a fun one though and has really grown in popularity in the fandom. I have to admit he has a certain personality to him. He comes off kind of cute and a little clumsy at times. ]

Number 4: The Brachiosaurus 

Going back to the original movie and the very sad part of the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom which included this animal is the Brach from 1993. This guy is the one intro Dinosaur that has really stuck with me and like most of us gave us the best exposure to what we were baring witness too during the first Jurassic Park movie. This is almost as Iconic as Rexy herself. This guy is number four for it had to be on the list somewhere. You just can’t forget the one dinosaur that all gave us the big reactions given by Alan Grant, Ian Malcolm, Ellie Sattler, and Donald Gennaro. It gave us and reaction of our own that this movie was going to rock. This one has always stuck with me and when it died in Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom after director J.A. Bayona said it was this one a little part of me just died inside. It was very sad even though it was not a real creature it was still a big part of the Jurassic Park series but as they say some eras must come to and end and the Jurassic Park era is no more. Welcome to Jurassic World I guess. As sad as it makes me to say that some legends still live on like Rexy from Jurassic Park (1993). So some things just don’t die to easy. Rexy is the most resilient of any of the dinosaurs. 

Number 3: Rexy (Tyrannosaurus Rex) 

Speaking of her majesty! I give you the Queen of the Jurassic Park/ Jurassic World Saga. She has always had a pretty lasting impression on all of us as fans of the Jurassic franchise. This female Rex has stood the test of time in her world gaining a lot of battle wounds over the time of five films soon to be six in 2021 with Jurassic World 3. I have to say she is only third on my list for she maybe iconic but sometimes even the poster children can’t win them all. Still she is pretty high on the list. I love the book and movie versions of this particular dinosaur. In the novel there is a second Rex which is younger than she and is a little more clumsy with a puppies gate. She on the other hand is tough and the young rex knew to stay away from her. In the movie who could forget the “Main Road” scene that first introduced us to her. In the book she is actually seen the first time they arrive to the T-rex Paddock as she eats the goat. The main road is almost the same with a character running out of a car after peeing their pants and totally freaking out with a few differences. Rexy has saved the hides of many a Jurassic Park visitor but I don’t think it was totally on purpose. She is one that always is always going to get the big reaction and I have been very sad that she has kind of been over shadowed by Blue in the recent films and has only been used in only a handful of scenes in the newer chapters of the franchise. Still she outdoes blue anytime. Sorry but she was here first my friends. 

Number 2: The Tiger Striped Velociraptors and the Original Raptors of Jurassic Park and The Lost world: Jurassic Park. 

I count these as one for they are all in the same category. Both of these Raptor clans gave us some of the biggest jump scares in the first two movies. I was not a very huge fan of the ones with the quill in Jurassic Park ///. The original raptors showed us what real terror was like. In the original novels they are just as terrifying and will stop at nothing to rip you to bits. In some cases that is exactly what they are good at. They are almost like the Compy packs but much bigger with bigger teeth and bigger claws. You have to be super smart to out think and fox these guys. The Tigers are my favorite for we see just how their social orders go in just that small scene where they are at the gas station near the worker complex where Nick Van Owen was trying to get a chopper called to pick up the remaining survivors. All the raptors are the top predators of the Jurassic Park series. They have a complex social structure and are hard to bring down. They never give up and they seem to always be on the hunt. They are one of my top favorites for they are just that Clever Girls. I bet you are wondering what is my first over all favorite??? It is not the raptors and not Rexy. Lets take a look at number one.

Number 1: Dilophosaurus AKA Spitter 

This is my favorite dinosaur in the whole Jurassic Park series. I am very upset that this one has only been featured as an actual dinosaur in the first one. It has been eluded to in the last couple of films but that is not good enough. I want to see this one again. This guy is one of my favorites for its very personality. It is kind of cute one minute but then once angered it turns into a frilled nightmare lizard that shoots blinding poison at its target. This one is one of those scenes that give us that “Holy... Did you see that?!” Impression. The difference in this scene from the movie and the book is that in the book Nedry dies outside the Jeep in the movie its pretty much blocked out in the Jeep. The book gets really descriptive which sends shivers down my spine every time I read that. Still my all time favorite dinosaurs for its really interesting surprise attack mode. It is certainly a beautiful but deadly edition to Jurassic Park. 

There you have it my top ten Jurassic Park dinosaurs. Of course I do have a few honorable mentions such as the Mosasaur, Carnotaur, and of course the Certasaur that we only got a few seconds of which I think was a complete let down for that creature and I am not the only one who thinks that. Now I have a mission for you; tell me what your favorite JP dinosaurs are and why. Thank you very much I think we survived another travel through Jurassic Park. Until then I am Zachary AKA Galactic_Bug_Man and I will see you on the trail. 

Colorado Trip Part 3: Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge

In the Denver area there is a cool National Wildlife Refuge that I really like. Here you can find Black-tailed Prairie Dogs such as these guys. They are quite common here. You might also find Black-footed Ferrets which are an endangered species. You can find a plethora of wonderful creatures here more than just the ones listed. Let us check out some of these that I got on this part of my Colorado adventure. ROLL IT! 

Here is a shot I got at one of the intersections of the park close to the front. Here we have a female Mule Deer grazing in the grass. It was kind of fun to watch this creature feeding. She was kind of thin as you can see. You can almost count the ribs on this thing. She seemed to be pretty hungry. We took our leave of her after a few minutes of photographing but when we came back from taking the whole Auto tour we saw that she was still there at this same spot still feeding. If the feeding is good an animal will not leave that spot. Still a pretty deer. This is one of the coolest deer. They have very large ears and are much darker than White-tailed deer. These are just as common as the Elk but these guys live in the prairies and the foot hills of the Rockies. 

Here is a cool shot of a Red Fox that was located at the pond. This guy came up very quietly and was trying to hunt a mallard. He saw me and didn’t chance it and ran away back the way he came. This guy is not a native species to the Americas but is a European species that has since been introduced. Still this was a pretty animal. Again on the thin side of life. He was not at all what I expected. I was expecting kind of a “Fox and the Hound” kind of fox like Todd all bushy and thicker in the coat. Stands to reason it was summer so it wouldn’t want all that thick fur on its body. Still a pretty cool photo and one of my favorites that I got on the trip to Colorado. These guys are super quiet and don’t make much noise. Ever here the term “Sly as a Fox”? well it is not just a metaphor. These guys are pretty sneaky and very quiet. 

A nice little duck I found on the other side of the pond away from the Red Fox. This is the male Ruddy Duck. This guy is one of my favorite ducks. It has a blue bill and a real bristly looking tail (not visible). these guys have a tail that sticks straight up normally. These guys are in the family of ducks known as “Stiff Tails”. These guys are so cool and will not easily fly off. I know a birder that has tired to get these to fly but all attempts failed. These guys are the most chillest ducks you can photograph. They just sit there and don’t seem to move from their little selection of pond space. These are a pretty nice looking duck. They are a pretty good sized duck but are a little big. This guy was in full breeding plumage which is something I don’t get to see down here. In Texas these guys are never seen in breeding plumage. In the winter they are much duller and have a gray colored bill. These guys are so cute either way but I love to see the blue bill. I find it kind of funny in a way. 

Here is another bird I saw on the Auto Trail. This is the Western Meadowlark. The only way that is easy to tell the Eastern from the Western is by the song. They may look the same but their songs are very different from each other. The Western has a very pretty song and so does the Easter but the Western Song is a favorite among birders. This guy was just sitting on his little perch in the prairie. Both species prefer open areas and grasslands. Meadowlarks are just another one of my favorite species. I have a lot of favorites when it comes to my interests and likes. I don’t just have a few but there are many levels when it comes to favorites. This one was a very nice capture on my trip. 

Here is one I have dubbed Squint Eastwood. It was kind of funny when I took this. Sometimes I give my photos nicknames and this one was kind of a fun one to play around with. This one is of a cute Desert Cottontail. These guys were all over the place out there. There were many of them and were as numerous as the Black-tailed Prairie Dogs. A very interesting day at the Nature Preserve. This was the first time I have seen this kind of rabbit. 

Going back to the opening picture. These Black-tailed Prairie Dogs were pretty cool to see. In Texas most have all been moved or destroyed in headway for agriculture. However there are some sustainable groups that have been regulated in recent years. Going around the park you can see a bunch of these guys feeding and scurrying about. When on a auto tour I like to roll the window down and listen to the sounds of nature. Often times we heard these guys do their little jump yip. When something scary passes like a hawk or something like a huge car they will celebrate and give a little bark and lift the fronts of their bodies in the air giving everyone in the prairie dog town the all clear that danger has passed. It is their way of saying “The danger is gone, come on out!” These guys dig a lot of tunnels and each one is connected. This whole area could be two or three dog towns strong if they are all not connected. A town is what their nesting site is called. It is filled with a maze of tunnel systems each one with a specific purpose. They have nurseries for their young, a place where they can relive themselves when nature calls, and sleeping chambers. 

 Another animal that is home there is the iconic symbol of the Wild West. This is the American Bison or American Buffalo. This is one of the coolest animals that has its own range at this place. Their range is fenced to prevent any unpleasant confrontation with auto tour attendance. I saw a lot of mammals on this trip more than I have in years. A lot of them were new to me but this guy is an old favorite. It is hard to believe that these guys back in the olden days used to roam North America in the thousands. It is quite hard to imagine what it must have been like. They were driven on the brink of extinction but in recent years they have begun to reclaim some of their old roaming ground. These guys are so majestic and are the very symbol of the western frontier. A marvelous creature and one of my favorites. 

And there you have just a little fraction of what you might see at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National wildlife Refuge. Next time you are thinking about Colorado you should look this place up. It may look flat but there is a lot out there. It is a pretty cool place. Remember to bring you camera and take plenty of photos. It is also a real good idea to keep a life list of all the wildlife you see and to download the iNaturalist app to keep track of all of what you see. Take care and I will see you next time. 

Colorado Trip 2019: Part 2: Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park was one of my favorite stops in Denver. I had never been up to Denver before so it was kind of new for me. This place was absolutely astonishing in its beauty and its grace. It was about late June when we went there and their was still snow in the Tundra. We saw a bunch of cool things out there so here we go! 

When we first arrived we had unexpected company. We found a pull out by the ranger guard gate and there in the grass were about five or six Wild Turkey. 

They were all in the grass feeding. We pulled up and didn’t even spook them they were just minding their own. These were all hens; we didn’t see any gobblers. This was a special treat for I don’t get to see Wild Turkey that often. I was able to get a better set of photos this time. The first time I ever photographed a Turkey was back in 2016 when I became a Master Naturalist while we were on our last training field trip. It was kind of cool to see a group of them feeding. They would pick at the grass tips and eat them. They may have been getting bugs too. On this trip I didn’t see too many bugs or things of that sort but I did see a bunch of other things that were just as cool as any bug. 

Going up the mountains into the Tundra we saw a bunch of these large snow banks some were over five foot. My aunt had just got a new Jeep Wrangler and I had to heat the seats and put on a jacket. It was really chilly up there. It was nice but man it was like winter in the middle of summer. It was kind of weird and was kind of puzzling for me. Hey I am a southern guy I was born and raised in Texas and I don’t get to go to Colorado that often; let along going up into that kind of altitude so yeah it kind of threw me for a loop. This was one of the more interesting photos I took. Most of my shots from RMNP are of the scenes and not so much the wildlife. I have a lot of wildlife from this place on camera but there was a lot of cool things to look at in the mountain landscape. This was about 11,000 feet or so. We made it to the Alpine Visitor Center which is located at 12,800 feet up. This place is one of the wildest I have ever been too. You have to be very careful up here the weather can change pretty rapidly up here and you never know what might happen. This was a cool place to go but it can be dangerous more ways than one. 

A shot of some female Elk feeding on the short grasses and shrubs of the Tundra. The Elk is most plentiful up here. It is one of the ones you will see when you are up here. Elk is one of the most common animals here. I saw a bunch up there and have a few other photos to share with you. This was one of the small herds we saw. There is one male in this photo but he is very young. If you look to the right side you will see a young one with what we call buttons on his head. They are called Buttons for they are not full antlers. 

Here is a Big Male I photographed on one of the many hiking trails here at Rocky Mountain National Park. This was a twelve point buck. These Elk are not small creatures they are twice the size of a full grown white-tailed deer. These guys are pretty calm and laid back though. I have to admit my heart was in my throat when I saw this guy in the woods. A guy had told me at the trail head that I would see this big male about five minutes down the trail. He was right and he said it was a big male. My heart was in my throat when I saw this. I was amazed my its sheer size and majesty. I was trembling as I took the photos; it is something that I never will forget. In the Fall the breeding season is signaled when the bucks begin to bugle. Elk have one of the most eerie calls in the natural world. I say that the Common Loon has the most eerie sound in nature for its long call that echos. This guy was just laying in the grass as he chewed. He was probably chewing cud at that moment in time for he was not bending down. Deer like cows and other animals are called Ruminants which means they are cud chewers. They have a multiple chambered stomach and have a longer digestion process. Lets look at another creature shall we. 

 Here is one of the cutest animals in the Tundra. Meet the Yellow-bellied marmot! The first shot I got of this guy had a funny story to it. I was up at the Alpine Ranger Station asking about these guys. It was not two seconds after my question was answered when the ranger said “Sir there is one under the trash bin out there.” I thanked him and rushed out and sure enough he was under there with only its head exposed. All you could see was its head and little buck teeth. Soon though after a little bit he came out and I was able to get this full body shot minus some of the tail. They are in the same family as Woodchucks. These guys are quite common in the norther areas of the U.S. and up through Canada and Alaska. They are pretty common to see. This guy was fed up with all the tourists taking his photos so he made his exit by going behind a huge snow bank behind the Alpine Visitor center. A pretty cute creature. 

Here is the coolest spot at the Rocky Mountain National Park. This is where one side of the river goes to the Pacific ocean and the other side goes to the Atlantic Ocean. This is the Continental Divide. This place is a little lower in a small valley. It was pretty much snowed over when we went here but it is a little farther from the Alpine Visitor center. This is one of the coolest spots on the driving tour. This is so neat to see where one river goes to two different directions in a huge split. A very cool place to travel too if you ever get the chance. 

 A cute little squirrel we saw before we left Rocky Mountain National Park. This is an American Red Squirrel and a new one for me. This guy was kind of cute and was pretty close. There was two but I was only able to get this one but I did manage to get several pictures of it before he scurried up the tree. These guys were jumping all over the place and were so cute. I am used to the Fox and Eastern Gray Squirrel. These guys are just a little cuter than our squirrel. Of course I do like Chipmunks a little better than squirrels. I am just that way. This was a really nosy character trying to figure out what I was doing. He looked right at me as I took this shot. I love to get shots when the animals are looking right at me. This one looks more curious than anything. Well this is pretty much all I got.  In conclusion with many of our wild lands under constant threat it is important to donate and to explore these places and inspire others to do their part. We need to protect these wild lands for generations to come. Nature is wonderful and we need to do all we can to ensure the survival of all the wonderful species we have on this planet. So the next time you are traveling to a National Park consider donating a little bit. A little bit can go a long way. Until next time I am Zachary AKA Galactic_bug_man see you on the trail. 

Colorado Fun! Summer 2019 Part 1: Prehistoric Adventures

Greetings from Colorado! It was sure a wild trek I took a few weeks ago. It was so cool to visit some of the old hot spots and the new places. This was a photo of me taken at one of my favorite Dinosaur Museums. This place is called the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center. It has a lot of cool things in it. It may be a small little place but it has quite the collection. Here I am behind a model of a Megalodon’s Jaws. These suckers got huge. They wouldn’t have to bite just to swallow you whole. I am so tiny compared to this set of Shark Chompers. It was kind of freaky yet cool. I got a lot of neat photos so lets get started. Just a warning you will be hearing and reading a lot of Jurassic Park related stuff in this posting. 

Okay so you know I can’t pass up a Jurassic Park post it is one of my favorite movies of all time. This one is at the same place as the Meg jaws. This poster I am next to is an authentic original Jurassic Park (1993) Poster. I have all the movies and now the original books. Jurassic Park has had a big impact on my life and I enjoy the whole series. The movies are great and the books are even better. I have been a big fan and no trip to a Dinosaur museum is never complete without some references to classic Dinosaur films from the Sliver Screen. Did you notice my clothes? I thought you did. Yep I wore my Jurassic Park button down and my Jurassic World Raptor shirt for this trek. I went all out and even wore my fossilized Shark Tooth Necklace. I always have a theme when I got to certain places or at least I try to. 

On the other side of the theater area they have another authentic poster from my favorite JP movie in the series. This is an original poster from The Lost World: Jurassic Park which came out in 1997. This was so cool to see posters from the two best Jurassic Park films ever created. I really enjoy finding Jurassic Park based things. I just crazy about stuff like this. I really enjoy the novels that Michael Crichton wrote back in the 90s as well as the movies. I like both types of media and I know that when this movie came out many fans of the book were pretty outraged by the movie not being like the book like we saw with the first movie which did follow pretty close to the book with a few plot differences and things. Jurassic Park for me is one thing I really enjoyed growing up with I have some of the Toys, a Jurassic Park bed sheet set, all of the movies that does include the Jurassic World stuff. I have the Lego Jurassic World Video Game for the Nintendo 3DS, I have played countless Jurassic Park games including the Rampage Edition, the NES Jurassic Park game, the SNES game, I have played the demo for Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis, I have played Jurassic Park Builder for Android, Jurassic World the Game, and Jurassic World: Alive. i even have the Jurassic Park: Danger board game. I am just a huge fan of this and have several shirts and things that I wear pretty often. I wasn’t able to watch the films until I was older. I was I was about ten or eleven when I was finally able to watch the films. Ever since I was able to watch them my mind was blown and I became an instant fan. Of course I did collect  the toys way before I saw the movies I have several that I might post in post of their own in a collection of my collectibles that I have collected over the years of being a huge fan of many things. Still a pretty cool find in one of the coolest museums on the planet. 

One of the coolest things about this museum is that they have the third Largest Tyrannosaurus-Rex. It used to be the second almost topping Sue; but in recent years there is another one that has been discovered to be even taller than Sue. Still this monster is one of my favorite dinosaurs and has always been my favorite since I was kid and it is one of my favorites in the Jurassic Park franchise. Tyrannosaurus-Rex was not really an active hunter but more of a scavenger. It’s teeth are kind of dulled out and only used for ripping and swallowing whole instead of chewing. What is the deal with the tiny little stubby arms you ask? It has been up for debate for years but some thing that they played a part in the mating ritual of this species but we are not too sure about that. It is just speculation which paleontology is all about. Still a fantastic and giant creature from the last Cretaceous period. 

 One of my favorite shark fossils is this one. This is an almost complete spinal region and skull of a shark. It maybe the only one in existence so far as we know. This is kind of a really interesting rarity. As we know Shark skeletons are made of cartilage and it often breaks down and deteriorates after a while but in this is one of those rare fossils of cartilage. It is kind of neat and this shark may looks small but it is pretty large. The photos don’t really do it justice than experiencing these fossils in person. Lets look at another cool fossil shall we. 

What is this weird creature? Is it an alien? Well it is from a time very different from our own. This is the Giant Ground Sloth and my brother and I saw this guy being put together on a display stand. This is one of the weirdest creatures. You may have heard of the Horse Apple or Bois De’ Arc tree. Well the horse apple was a favorite food of this species as well as the mammoths that lived here thousands of years ago. This one was pretty young and just a little taller than me. I am about 5′ 9″ and these guys could get up to ten foot tall so this guy was not even close to being done growing. This guy is kind of a weird dumpy animal but it is quite interesting to look at. It was kind of cool to see all kinds of extinct animals other than Dinosaurs. There was a bunch of neat stuff at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. 

As a huge Jurassic Park fan I couldn’t help but notice this skull hanging in the prehistoric wing of the museum. You may recognize it from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. This guy is the Stygimoloch AKA Stiggy in Jurassic Park. Sorry to bust your bubble on these guys but they can’t actually ram each other or solid brick wall. These guys would shatter their skulls if they were to do that. These guys may have used their heads to amplify noise or to show off for the ladies. These guys are still pretty cool to look at. I saw this and was instantly familiar with it. Stiggy is one of my favorite Jurassic World Dinosaurs for the chaos at the auction scene when we was running about causing panic and confusion to buy Owen Grady some time. This was one of the coolest fossils in their collection. This is the first one of these I have seen in any museum collection. 

A cool battle scene between an Allosaurus and a Stegosaurus. You might think of a Stegosaurus to have a pretty good defense due to those big thick bony plates; however this is simply not the case. The plates are actually very thin and were possibly only used for mating purposes. This made the plates more like a blood filled cookie. Still they did have their famous weapon the Thagomizer which was used as a weapon and could really do some damage. I will never forget the scene in The Lost World: Jurassic Park when Sarah Harding gets attacked by the family heard after her camera messes up when she is photographing the baby causing it to sent of an alarm call. Stegosaurus is a huge dinosaur and will always be one of my favorites. Fun Fact: In the first Jurassic Park novel by Michael Crichton instead of using a sick triceratops like they did in the film it was actually a sick Stegosaurus that Dr. Harding was caring for when the Toyota Land Cruisers came up to that point on the tour. That was one of the biggest differences in media but the same thing was going on with both animals in both forms of media.   

A close up of a Stegosaurus Thagomizer. 

A cool Hadrosaur fossil that was also at the Denver Museum. They had a lot of cool fossils but I didn’t get a chance to photograph them all. There was just too much and so little time to see the whole museum but heck it was really cool to see some of the Jurassic Park superstars in this museum. Hardrosaurus was not in Jurassic Park but this was one of the first dinosaurs I ever learned about. These guys are also known as Duck-bills for their goofy looking mouths. Dinosaurs had some of the coolest features from weird headgear, to weird mouth shapes, to their wild arsenal of weapons. Even in the time of the dinosaurs biological warfare was very weird. 

A rather cool replica I got on the trip was this cast of a Raptor claw. I am a huge Raptor fan and adding one of these to my collection was really cool. My collection is now in a nice display cabinet with some of my Jurassic Park toys in the mix just to make it more interesting. Fossils are just one of my favorite things to collect and even though this is a fake it is still a nice edition to my educational collections and too I got it reminded me of Alan Grant’s Raptor Claw from Jurassic Park (1993) and I am a huge JP Raptor fan. I will be doing a top ten Jurassic Park Dinosaurs post soon to show you what my top 10 pics are after the trip photos. So stay tuned more animals and stuff to show you from Colorado as my Colorado trip review continues. 

A Guardians of the Galaxy gift

One day when I was volunteering I received this cool Rocket water bottle from one of the ladies I work with that I always cut up and with. She and I are just like two peas in a pod we both like nature, Star Trek, and all things nerd based. She asked me a few weeks before I got this what my favorite MARVEL superhero or group and I said Guardians of the Galaxy which was also on my top ten favorites list as was Roger Rabbit for movies and TV. I was surprised to get this one. Rocket is one of my favorites from that group besides Starlord and Drax. Rocket comes to me as over the top sarcastic and just a gigantic pain to deal with at times. He is funny and will always rely one sheer violence to get any job done. He is kind of silly and yet one of the most troubled of the bunch. He does have kind of a tragic back story in the comics and in the Disney XD series which I really love to watch aside from the movies. I just added Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 to my collection with some money I got for helping my neighbor with her lawn watering. I have been wanting that one for a while and the day I got it I watched it and couldn’t stop laughing. For me I like funny superhero movies. I don’t do many of the DC heroes I am more of a MARVEL fan and I love these guys for they constantly bicker and argue and it always leads to hysterics and if not a few blows from each other. They have really good character development and are just so funny. Drax is really growing on me for his reckless behavior in the second and first is funny. Starlord and Rocket will always be my top pics though. So this was really nice and it is something I use a lot. By far my favorite water bottle. When in the nature or hiking gig you can’t have enough water canteens especially around this time of the year. It has been very hot here in Texas and this sucker holds a lot. I am currently doing a science camp this week and it is an all day shift but it is fun. I had this with me today come to think of it. I love being a nerd. Hey being normal is over rated. I like to keep it a little fun and weird.