28 Days Of Dinosauria - 20

[swordznsorcery]

Day 20: When I was a kid, I had a little plastic toy Polacanthus foxii. It was one of my favourites. The current models don't look much like mine did back then! One of the great things about science is how it moves forward, but it doesn't do to get too attached to a particular image of a dinosaur, because even ten years can see them completely reimagined, let alone thirty-plus years.

An ankylosaur, Polacanthus was originally found on the Isle of Wight (further specimens have since been found elsewhere in Europe). It dates from the early Cretaceous period, around 125 million years ago, and although not many specimens are known, we do know that it was armour-plated, as were all the ankylosaurs, and had some spikes as well for good measure. It would have been an herbivorous quadruped, probably about five metres long, slow-moving, and very well defended against predators. It probably wasn't invulnerable, but it can't have made for easy eating!

Comments

[corvidology]

Ah, so it's been a life long love. :D

[swordznsorcery]

Yes. I have no idea how it started. My mother was buying me dinosaur books when I was tiny, as I was already obsessed then. I think she's still waiting for me to grow out of it. :)

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, you know what - I think as a child I climbed around on a model of one of those! I can almost feel the flat bobbly bit and then those spikes. Where would that have been? That amusement place on the Isle of White maybe? They had different 'lands' and there was a dinosaur land with big models made out of, I don't know, soem sort of tough plastic or something? We went there twice.

ETA: *reads your post properly* Ah, so it was even a native if so, then! (I don't think they all were!)

[swordznsorcery]

There is a dinosaur museum on the Isle of Wight which has recreations of dinosaurs, yes. Certainly one of them is Polacanthus, but I don't know what the others are.

[thisbluespirit]

It wasn't a dinosaur museum; it was an outdoor park of some kind, where you walked up and down the levels of the cliff and each bit was set up as a different 'land' - a Wild West one, I remember. I'm not sure about the others. I think every so often there was a random dinosaur along the path, as well as there being a dinosaur section. Definitely not a museum - Blackgang Chine, maybe? It was a long time ago - I was about 9 or 10!

[swordznsorcery]

Blackgang Chine has clearly upped its game since you were there! It has moving dinosaur models now! Doesn't look like they have the local boy anymore though, which seems a bit odd, if true. You were right about the place though. This blog post has picture of the models that were there in the nineties, and one of them is certainly (meant to be!) a Polacanthus.

[thisbluespirit]

Ha, yes! I can distinctly remember the T-Rex (weirdly alone, not far from the Wild West land, I seem to recall), and there is Polacanthus! I knew I'd sat on one! :-D

The internet is pretty amazing, really. I don't know if all of those were there in the 1980s, though. But most of them definitely. The two things I remmeber the most were the dinosaur models - I think because they were just random (fibreglass!) things and you could touch and poke and climb on them, and the Wild West tombstones full of bad puns of the sort my family enjoyed.

[dimity_blue]

Awww, it's rather cute! Like a cross between a rhino and a porcupine.

[swordznsorcery]

Ha! Yes, I suppose it is a bit.