Check out the Kids' Reading Guide

Prehistoric Australia has been chosen as one of the 160 books featured in the 2007-2008 Kids' Reading Guide, which has just been published by the Australian Booksellers' Association.

The Kids' Reading Guide, which is available from participating bookstores from 1 November 2007, also offers readers the chance to win 10 of the fabulous titles featured in the latest edition.

So, don't just sit there reading this blog - get to your nearest bookstore and demand your free copy, today!

Tune in for Queensland Dinosaurs

Tune into ABC television at 8.00pm (AEST) on Thursday 1 November 2007 for the latest episode of Catalyst, which features a special report on the dinosaur fossil excavations being conducted by the University of Queensland.

The state of Queensland has provided palaeontologists with a rich source of prehistoric fossils, dating back to the pioneering discoveries of Heber Albert Longman of the 1920s, through to the Winton Dinosaur Project which has been undertaken by the University of Queensland since 2001.

This episode of Catalyst promises to be a timely update on the University of Queensland's more recent fossil discoveries. What weird and wonderful beasties have they found? Tune in tonight to find out!

Dinosaur Tracks Uncovered in Victoria

Palaeontologists from America and Australia have uncovered three separate sets of dinosaur tracks at a site near the town of Inverloch in Victoria, Australia - making them the first of their kind to be discovered in Victoria.

Reporting the findings at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Austin, Texas on 19 October 2007, Dr. Anthony Martin, senior researcher at Emroy University (USA), said that the tracks were approximately 14 inches long and were most likely made by large carnivorous dinosaurs during the Cretaceous Period - 115 million years ago!

Dr. Martin discovered two of the tracks during a visit to the Inverloch site in February 2006, with the third track located by Monash University undergraduate volunteer, Tyler Lamb, in February 2007.

Dr. Martin collaborated with noted Australian palaeontologists Dr. Thomas Rich (Museum of Victoria), Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich (Monash University) and Lesley Kool (Monash University) in classifying the tracks. (Image reproduced from Science Daily)

Dinosaurs Storm Melbourne!

Well, actually, no, they didn't. In fact, the closest we came to witnessing a 'dino stampede' was seeing Doug & Kevin (pictured at left) smuggling copies of their book, Prehistoric Australia (which does contain heaps of dinosaurs!), into the Armageddon Multimedia Expo held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre on Saturday 13th/Sunday 14th October 2007.

But there was wrestling. And Lasertag. And pizza-eating contents. And an all-in pillow-fight brawl. All this, and more comic books, figurines, console games, trading cards and sci-fi paraphernalia than you could poke a phaser (set to stun, of course!) at.

Armageddon began in New Zealand, where it has become a massive event, attracting thousands of visitors each year. This was the first time in almost a decade that the event organisers have returned to Melbourne to stage the expo.

Personally, we were looking forward to meeting Adam West and Julie Newmar, who played Batman and Catwoman in the original 1960s version of the Batman TV show. But sadly, that was not to be, as Adam West couldn't attend because his house burnt down. (Kev was especially bummed out by this - he had his copy of West's memoir, Back to the Batcave, all ready for West to autograph.)

Younger readers who have absolutely no idea what the hell we are talking about may know Adam West as the voice actor for the character, Mayor Adam West, who appears in the potty-mouthed (but extremely funny) TV cartoon show, The Family Guy.

The great thing about events like Armageddon is that some people really do make an effort to put on their "Sunday best". Consider, if you will, the following attendees:

Or this intriguing visitor:

Honestly, if you've never been to a comic book/pop culture convention before, then you owe it to yourself to attend just one in your life. Trust us, the costumed punters are as every bit as entertaining as the 'celebrity guests'! For more photos from the Armageddon Expo, click here.

New Dinosaur Species Discovered

If you thought we knew all there was to know about prehistoric dinosaurs and their world, then think again.

Paleontologists from Brazil and Argentina have just uncovered fossils of a new, previously undiscovered species of dinosaur in the Patagonia region of Argentina.

Measuring between 32-34 metres, and dating back 88 million years ago to the Cretaceous period, the dinosaur is said to be a member of the Titanosaur family, and belongs to the Lognkosauria genus.

It has been named Futalognkosaurus dukei, which was partly derived from a native Mapuche tribal word meaning "giant chief of dinosaurs", while the word 'dukei' was assigned in recognition of Duke Energy Argentina, which helped finance the excavation site at Lake Barreales, which lies 90 kilometres north of Neuquen, Argentina.

Further details about this amazing discovery can be read here. To see photos from the excavation site, and a reconstruction of the dinosaur itself, click here.

Twilight of the Thylacine - 70 Years Later

It's been over 70 years since the last captive Tasmanian thylacine died in the Hobart Zoo, but recent research carried out by the University of New South Wales suggests that humans were not the sole cause for this creature's demise.

As we noted in Prehistoric Australia, the thylacine faced fierce competition for food and resources from the dingo, which is believed to have driven the thylacine from mainland Australia. However, the University of New South Wales' comparative study of dingo and thylacine skulls suggests that other factors, such as climate change and the arrival of humans on the Australian continent hastened the species' decline and ultimate extinction.

More than any other creature, the fate of the 'Tasmanian Tiger' (as it was popularly known) continues to captivate the imagination of Australians from all walks of life, with alleged sightings of the elusive beast always receiving widespread coverage in the local media.

Even the late, great 'Crocodile Hunter' himself, Steve Irwin, apparently tried to see if the thylacine still survived in the Tasmanian wilderness - but without success.

Back in 2002, geneticists at the Australian Museum captured world headlines when they announced plans to clone the Tasmanian Tiger using DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) taken from a thylacine pup (or 'joey') that had been preserved in ethanol since 1866.

However, the project was scrapped in 2005, with researchers citing the poor quality of available thylacine DNA making the experiment impossible. (Other obstacles confronting attempts to clone the thylacine are outlined in this article from Museum Victoria.) Subsequent media reports issued later in 2005, however, claimed that the Australian Museum had not entirely abandoned the project, and was still investigating means of obtaining suitable thylacine DNA samples.

(Image of 1962 Tasmanian Tiger stamp courtesy of Thylacine Stamps.)

Don't call him 'Skippy'!

If you think this fierce creature doesn't look like any kangaroo you've ever seen, then you're right - it hasn't walked on Australian soil since the passing of the Pleistocene Epoch.

The Procoptodon goliah was the largest-known kangaroo to have inhabited ancient Australia and weighed almost twice as much as the modern-day Red Kangaroo.

You can learn more about this menacing marsupial in the pages of Prehistoric Australia.

However, as a special treat for our online audience, intrepid illustrator Douglas Holgate has produced this full-colour version of the Procoptodon goliah exclusively for this website.

Join us for...Armageddon?

No, we're not inviting you to the end of the world. Armageddon, in this instance, is the Armageddon Multimedia Expo, which is being held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre on Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th October 2007.

We'll have a table all to ourselves (actually, the table really belongs to Doug, but Kevin decided to gatecrash the event), so you can come along and say "G'day" to us. We'll be selling and signing copies of our new book, Prehistoric Australia.

And, if you ask Doug nicely, he might even draw you a quick dinosaur sketch.

However, in the event that Doug's vanished to take part in the Armageddon Pizza Eating Contest, then Kevin will bravely step up to the artist's easel and dash off some abstract squiggles that are supposed to resemble dinosaurs.

Actually, it'd probably be better if you all waited for Doug to reappear if you want a decent dino-sketch!

See you there...