The New Dinosaurs of 2013

Welcome back everyone! I hope that everyone had a good Christmas! I know I did. There were no movie updates this week, so we'll jump write into this week's topic right after we look at our "days till" section.

It is: 6 days till New Year's!

Despite the fact that most people only have heard of a select few dinosaurs (e.g. T. rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurus), scientists have discovered hundreds and hundreds of different dinosaur species, many of which have only been discovered in the last ten years! Take a look at this clip from the new movie, Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie to see what I mean:

So as you can see, dinosaurs are being discovered all the time. Before we go on, you should know that even though there appear to be hundreds and hundreds (perhaps thousands) of different species of dinosaurs

Some even have only made their appearance within the past year! Some dinosaur discoveries consist of a few unidentifiable bones and are put in museum storerooms until they can be identified. But there are many others that consist of terrific skeletons. Like the article I posted about dinosaurs discovered in the last few years, I'll give a little description of the dinosaur itself. Let's start learning about some of the newest discovered dinosaurs that used to roam the world before the Flood of Noah's time killed and buried these amazing animals that can only be seen as fossils today:

Acheroraptor

Discovered in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, Acheroraptor means “underworld thief” and was discovered and named by David C. Evans, Derek W. Lawson and Philip J. Currie. As the last part of its name suggests, Acheroraptor is a dromaeosaur or “raptor” dinosaur and related to the more famous Velociraptor. Like Velociraptor, Acheroraptor had a sickle-shaped claw on each foot that was used to help kill its prey.

Albertadromeus

Image Credits

The small ornithopod Albertadromeus was an herbivorous creature from Alberta, Canada, hence its name which means “Albertan runner”. Like its name suggests, this dinosaur was a swift and agile runner; this is a good thing because when this animal was alive, predators such as Daspletosaurus, Troodon, Saurornitholestes and Dromaeosaurus would have stalked the landscape Albertadromeus made home. Other dinosaurs that lived with this relatively small dinosaur were Coronosaurus, Anchiceratops, Chasmosaurus, Parasaurolophus and Corythosaurus among others.

Brasilotitan

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Brasilotitan was a genus of titanosaur sauropod from the Cretaceous habitat of the pre-Flood world. Sauropods – more commonly known as “long-necked dinosaurs” – were the largest land animals God made and are found on every continent. As its name suggests, Brasilotitan was discovered in Brazil. It was closely related to sauropods such as Antarctosaurus (which was discovered in southern South America! Go figure!) and Bonitasaura.

Cuspicephalus

Though discovered in 2009, Cuspicephalus wasn't named until 2013. This animal was a pterosaur, not a dinosaur, as dinosaurs were terrestrial creatures. The exact size of the animal is not yet determined due to the incompleteness of the fossils found so far, but its skull is about 326 millimeters long and 55 millimeters high. Like many pterosaurs, Cuspicephalus had a crest on its head, probably used for display.

Jiangxisaurus

Jiangxisaurus was a species of oviraptorid theropod from the Cretaceous of China. It is quite similar to its relative Oviraptor. The family Jiangxisaurus belongs to is also known for their head crests that, like the head crest of Cuspicephalus, were probably used for display purposes.

Judiceratops

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Judiceratops is a relative of the more famous Triceratops. Like Triceratops, Judiceratops possesses a large neck frill and three horns on its head for protection and display. It was discovered in the Judith River Formation in Montana.

Lythronax

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Lythronax was a ferocious 24-foot, 2.5 ton carnivore from Utah and since many of its more “important” parts of its skeleton were well preserved, we tell know a good bit about this extinct reptile. It that had a short, narrow snout and eyes set far back on its head. Its forward facing eyes enabled it to see three-dimensionally, which helped it lock its target on what it hoped to catch for a meal. And when Lythronax bit down, there was no way of the prey getting loose from its toothy grip! Lythronax was an efficient hunter that would have hunted a variety of herbivorous dinosaurs such as members of the ceratopsian (horned dinosaur) and hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaurs) family. Like its larger cousin, T. rex, this dinosaur had large banana-shaped, serrated teeth that were perfect, not for slicing, but for chomping out huge chunks of meat and bones. That makes it no wonder it's name means “king of gore”!

Nasutoceratops

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Another Utah weirdo discovered in 2013, Nasutoceratops was also a member of the ceratopsian family, like Triceratops. At about 24 feet in length, it was shorter than Triceratops, but what made it unique was its head – instead of the typical triple horns on an average ceratopsian, Nasutoceratops had two bull-like horns near the top of its head and the nasal horn that sat on its short and high snout was low and narrow with an elongated base. Along with the fossil bones, skin impressions of Nasutoceratops have also been found and reveal that at least the left shoulder region of the dinosaur's body was covered in a pattern of large, eight to eleven millimeter wide hexagonal scales surrounded by smaller triangular scales.

Siats

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Yet another dinosaur from the state I live in, Siats, at around 30-40 feet long and weighing 2.5 tons, is the third largest carnivorous dinosaur from North America, behind Acrocanthosaurus and, of course, Tyrannosaurus rex. This dinosaur is related a carnosaur and is related to creatures such as Allosaurus and the aforementioned Acrocanthosaurus, two dinosaurs whose remains are also found in Utah.

Xinjiangtitan

 

Many species of sauropods grew to gigantic proportions, and Xinjiangtitan was definitely no exception – it grew 98-105 feet long, outsizing most other sauropods. The only sauropods that grew longer were creatures including Diplodocus and Argentinosaurus. Like its relatives, this dinosaur was herbivorous, stripping plants of their leaves and/or fronds with its spoon-like teeth. As its name suggests, this dinosaur is from China.

So there you have it, a list mentioning a mere few of the incredible (and often times bizarre) dinosaurs discovered in 2013. I hope you've enjoyed the articles my co-author, Joy, and I have written as much as we enjoyed writing them. Next week begins a new year! The year 2014 will be upon us! I'm also planning to do things slightly different with the set-up of this website, so be sure to come back next week to see what changes are made. Happy New Years everyone!

PS 1: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the new in the news? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.

Joy's Snickerdoodle Recipe

Hi everyone! This blog post is the last one before Christmas, so naturally it's going to be Christmas oriented. I can't believe Christmas is already almost here! I mean, it just left, right? Anyway, let's get started with our "days till" section:

It is: 1 day till Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie is released!!!

It is: 6 days till Christmas!

It is: 13 days till 2014!

Now for movie updates! This week, some information on the upcoming film Jurassic World (formally Jurassic Park IV) was revealed: we now know when the film's going to start filming! According to a tweet from Kauaimovieguy, who reports movie news for the island, the film's finally going to start filming in early March of 2014! Here is the tweet:

Bob Movie Guy Jasper @KauaimovieguyFollowRevised update....JP4 begins filming on Kauai early March... :)
3:57 AM - 18 Dec 2013

I'm so excited! This probably means we can be expecting some more affirmative news on the film's cast pretty soon.

Also, thanks to word from the film's director, Colin Trevorrow, Phil Tippet, the dinosaur supervisor from Jurassic Park, is coming back for the new movie!

As many of you might recall, Walking with Dinosaurs: 3D is coming out on the 20th . . . that's tomorrow! I probably won't see it till it comes out on DVD, but it's nice that the movie is coming into theaters. Here are some clips from the movie itself:

Now, you can read a special recipe as today's article written by my co-author, Joy Hammond:

Here is a recipe for your Christmas table: SNICKERDOODLES!

These Snickerdoodles look delicious!

First you will need:

• 1 ½ cups of sugar
• ½ cups of butter or margin, softened
• ½ cups shortening
• 2 eggs
• 2 ¾ cups of all purposed or unbleached flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon of salt
• ¼ cup of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

Directions:

• Heat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit.
• Mix the sugar, the butter, shortening, and eggs in a large bowl. Then stir in the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
• Shape the dough into 1 ½ inch balls. Mix ¼ cup of sugar and cinnamon into a small bowl, then roll the dough balls in it till it's covered. Place the balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Finally bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set, and remove the tray from oven. Let it cool and then enjoy!

Well, in closing today, I'd like to leave you with this: from my house to yours . . . HAVE A MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

PS 1: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the new in the news? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.

What's YOUR Focus this Christmas?

Well, I can't believe it! Christmas is already so close and we're already deep into the month of December! Before you know it, New Year's will be upon us. Let's look at the "days till" section, then we'll look at some movie updates and then we'll look at my latest article.

It is: 8 days till Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie is released!

It is: 13 days till Christmas

It is: 20 days till New Year's

Now, these aren't really updates, per se, but several clips related to the upcoming movie, Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie (or WWD for short) have been uploaded onto YouTube and you may view them below. (Keep in mind that they don't share the Creation world-view as we do) Hope you like them:

Seeing these clips really makes me excited about the film. Remember, if you want to see Walking with Dinosaurs, it comes out in theaters on December 20, 2013. I can't wait!

Now it's time for this week's article focusing on Christmas, written by yours truly:

Christmas came last year, and it’s already coming back! You know what’s interesting? When you ask a lot of people what Christmas is all about, many people including non-Christians could say something like: “Jesus Christ is the reason for the season!” And this is very, very true, as Christmas is Jesus’ birthday (at least, that's when it's celebrated). But that leads us to a very personal question: “What do we do for Jesus’ birthday?” If we were honest, most of us would probably say that we’re either visiting family members and/or giving gifts. But what do we do for Jesus HIMSELF for His birthday?

Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, but if we were honest, many of us would say that we don’t really do much for Jesus on His birthday. Now technically, we don’t know the exact date Jesus was born on, but we celebrate it on December 25^th. So why don’t we really do anything special for His birthday? Perhaps it’s because we’re too focused on ourselves and each other!

While the giving of gifts to each other is not bad in and of itself, we really should be focused on the One who’s birthday it is. This may seem weird to some, but let’s make this a little more applicable – say your birthday falls on May 1^st, the same as celebrity Jamie Brinton. Now, let’s just say that instead of celebrating your birthday, you celebrate Jamie’s birthday and yet you hardly know the guy (and that’s saying something because a celebrity by the name of Jamie Brinton doesn’t exist, but you get the picture, right?)! That wouldn’t feel very good for you, would it? Well, this is sort of what we do with Jesus. We do things for each other, when it's not even our birthday.

Granted, gift-giving, Santa Claus and other things we typically associate with Christmas aren't bad, but we should be primarily focusing on Jesus Christ this time of year.

This year, I'd like to challenge everyone to do something different. That's why my family and I recently produced a Christmas play entitled, "Meet the Cheatham's". The goal of the production was to get people to stop and think what or who they were focusing on this time of year, whether it be presents, decorating, Santa Claus or Jesus Christ. In the play, my family portrays a wealthy family known as the Cheatham's; their only concern is to use the Christmas season to make more and more money . . . until they decide to go to church, intending to make a profit. I don't want to give the ending away, so I won't describe anymore of the plot.

Now don't get me wrong, I totally enjoy Christmas decorating, giving and receiving gifts, Santa Claus and many other Christmas traditions; these aren't bad. They just shouldn't be the focus of the Christmas season.

So I'd like to encourage you readers, this Christmas and the Christmases to follow, to use Christmas to actually put Jesus as the center of attention at His birthday! The changes you make, whether big or small, still make a difference - for some it might be gift-giving on another day instead of December 25 (like my family is doing), or doing a Bible devotion on the true-meaning of Christmas before opening presents. Instead of focusing on ourselves this Christmas, let's focus on Jesus and also give Him what He wants for His birthday. What does He want? All He wants is us; He wants our time and attention given to Him on Christmas, since it is His birthday and all.

My family has decided to dedicate this day to the Lord. Now let me leave you today with the following question: what's YOUR focus this Christmas season?

Jesus Christ should be the main focus of Christmas for us, because only HE is what Christmas is all about!

PS 1: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the new in the news? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

The Wonders of Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I certainly enjoyed mine. By now, Christmas season has begun and the end of 2013 is approaching. I can't believe it's going to be 2014 soon! With no movie updates to write about, let's start with our "days till" section before rolling right onto Joy's article for this week:

It is: 20 days till Christmas

It is: 27 days till New Years

Here's Joy Hammond's article for this week:

Now that Thanksgiving is done, I find myself scrambling for last minute shopping, and I mean last minute shopping, not the end. Christmas is just around the corner . . . actually it's less than a month away, but still, my point remains: it's not far away. I don't have a small and simple shopping list . . . nope, my list just happens to be about three lines long! It goes something like this: . . . get something special for my parents and my sister, while managing to save up money to pay off some long-overdue debts. I mean I owe $4 for lunch. Anyway, there are five things I just love about Christmas.

Christmastime truly is one of the best times of the year! Keep reading to learn what Joy likes about Christmas.

First, I just love Christmas decorations. My family and I always go riding in the car and drive around the block, just to enjoy all the lights. All sorts of figures and lights are set out on peoples yard, I just love seeing it all. It feels like the world is at peace. My dad always puts lights up on the roof of our house. My mom puts garland across the porch railing. Our tree is put up and decorated, mom insists we need another one (she has this ornament addiction!).

The decorating of Christmas trees has long been a favorite Christmas tradition.

Second, the Christmas music also takes part in this wonderful celebration. The music is all upbeat and warm. It talks about the fun and the compassion of others. I love listening to songs like: "When Christmas Comes to Town" (from "The Polar Express") or "Do You Hear What I Hear". Mom likes the song "When Christmas Comes to Town". Music has been an essential part in our history. I'm not sure what I'd be without music, I just love to sing.

Third, the cooking is another favorite, not just for me however, but my little sister. She absolutely loves to bake. All those different types of Christmas cookies and all those toppings to choose from . . . why it'd take me years to decided which one to eat first! There's so many different foods and drinks to have too, like eggnog, hot chocolate, or even pudding.

Talk about too many to choose from! All these cookies look delicious!

Fourth, you can't have a Christmas without gifts (well, you can but . . . where's the fun in that?)! Now most of the time this is where kids or adults can get a little . . . well you know . . . greedy. Not that every person is that way . . . anyway, most of the time it's the day of giving. People rush out and go shopping for gifts. That is what I like to do the best. I love going out shopping and giving gifts to others, and that's because whenever I get money . . . I have a hard time of saving it. So most of the time, I'd get things I don't need. However, when I think about others and I have money, I know that I'm doing some good and not putting the money to waste. I just love giving gifts . . . as long as I have the money of course. I wish there were more opportunities to give out gifts other that special occasions like holidays or birthdays . . . could there an exception?

The last AND certainly not least, is the most important gift Christmas could ever have! Well actually . . . Christmas isn't the actual date but, we commonly celebrate the most precious gift given to us: the birth of Jesus Christ. "Listen to what I say, the Child, the Child sleeping in the night, He will bring us goodness and light", That is the last verse to the song, "Do You Hear What I Hear". The Child in a stable gave us more than the joy of a new life entering the world - He gave us our gift of salvation. “For God so loved that world that he gave his only son that whosoever believed in him shall not die but have eternal life”, John 3:16. "In the land of sin and hopeless, came a voice crying no more, come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest". Matthew 11: 28. Jesus Christ is THE most important thing (or person) during this time (and all times) of year (we will go into more detail about the true meaning of Christmas in another upcoming article).

This is a recreation of the nativity: Jesus as a baby, lying in Mary's lap with Joseph looking on.

I will leave you off with one last note: 

". . . maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store."

-Dr. Seuss

PS 1: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the new in the news? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.

Thanksgiving Special - The Gobbling Turkey: More Than a Thanksgiving Food

Well, wouldn't you know it? Today's Thanksgiving and I've got a great article for this week! But first, let's look at our “days till” section and my movie update.

It is: THANKSGIVING DAY!!!
It is: 27 days till Christmas
It is: 34 days till New Years

There isn't much to say about movies I've been writing about as they progress. But there is a little newsflash for the upcoming movie Jurassic World (initially called Jurassic Park IV). For the past several months, Jurassic Park fans have been questioning whether or not the upcoming film is going to be a reboot or remake of the first JP movie thanks to a comment made by Sam Neil (Alan Grant in the first and third movies). After all of the news that's revealed concerning this movie, it's been pretty unlikely that JW is in fact a remake. But we haven't been able to know for sure . . . until yesterday! A fan asked the film's director, Colin Trevorrow via Twitter if the film would be a remake and the truth is . . . it's NOT a reboot! Here's the tweet below:

"@pfcbains916 Reboot is a strong word. This is a new sci-fi terror adventure set 22 years after the horrific events of Jurassic Park."

I don't know about you, but I think it's great that we finally are 100% sure that we can look forward to a new movie and not a remake of the first one. Personally, I think it's far too soon for a remake of the first movie. I simply can't wait for June 2015 comes around!

Not really an update, but here's a new trailer for the movie coming out this year called Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie:

Now let's get to my nonfiction article for this week:

Thanksgiving is normally a time of giving thanks and eating. There's one meal item that just about everyone eats; I'm talking about, a bird loved by millions – Meleagris gallopavo, otherwise known as the turkey. This bird is a common species that is found all over the United States. When my family was living in North Carolina, Vermont and New York (yeah, my family's lived a lot of places in my time), we often saw flocks of these birds on their search for food, often just outside out house. Despite the popularity of the turkey, many myths have been made up about these birds and a lot of people don't know much about these birds except the fact that it tastes really good. So let's learn more about America's favorite bird! (Next to the bald eagle, perhaps).

The is often thought of as just Thanksgiving dinner. But there's so much about the turkey that most people don't know. Read on to learn more about the turkey!

The turkey (also known as the wild turkey) is in the Phasianid family, which also contains chickens, pheasants, partridges, junglefowls, quails and peacocks. All these birds are probably in same baramin, also called a “created kind” – one of the original created kinds of animals God made. Being a bird, God created the first member of the Phasianid family on Day 5 of the Creation week recorded in Genesis chapter one (remember that it says “every winged fowl”). It might also be handy to know that the domestic turkey is a descendant of their wild ancestors. However, we're mainly going to talk about the wild turkey today. There's a lot more to these simple-looking birds than what meets the eye. (For instance, did you know that it's a myth that turkeys hold their heads up when its raining so that they drown?) So what makes a turkey a turkey?

Turkeys are known for their characteristic red and/or bluish heads and the fleshy growth on their beaks, known as a "snood".

Well, to start it off, the turkey has a long legs, a feathery body, a relatively small head and beak and, on males, one of the most noticeable features – that fleshy growth on a male turkey's (or tom's) beak. That “fleshy growth” is called a snood. A tom gets up to 49 inches long and weighs 11-24 pounds. A female turkey, also called a hen, stretches 30-37 inches long and weighs 5.5-12 pounds. Toms and hens have quite a few differences between each other. As you might have guessed based on the size and weight estimates mentioned above, toms are larger than hens. Toms are also the only ones to have a snood. The turkey also has the second heaviest weight of any North American bird. Did you know that turkeys also have the amazing ability to change the color of their skin according to their mood? For instance, if the head and neck are rather white, that means that the turkey is excited. The color of a turkey's skin can range from brilliant shades of red, blue and white.

The reddish-brown color represents where wild turkeys live.

Domestic turkey's are plump birds and can't fly. Wild turkeys, however, are agile fliers. Another interesting fact you might not have known about these birds is that they're omnivores, eating a variety of things they find on the ground. Some foods they eat are nuts, seeds, berries, roots, grasses and insects. Sometimes turkeys have been known to consume amphibians and small reptiles (e.g. lizards and snakes)! That's what I call a varied diet! If you want to watch wild turkeys feeding, the best time to be on the lookout for them would be early in the morning or in the late afternoon because these are their favorite times to feed. Turkeys sometimes can be found alone, but they are generally social birds, roaming their range in relatively small flocks.

This flock of both toms and hens is foraging.

Turkeys are one of many species of animals that are polygamous. This is a fancy term that means one male will mate with as many hens as they can. Turkey courtship starts in March and April and this is when toms like to strut their stuff . . . literally! When trying to attract hens, a male turkey will puff out their feathers, drag their wings and, much like a peacock, they'll fan out their tail feathers. This sort of behavior is also known as strutting. After mating season is over, it is time for hens to build and nest and lay the next generation of turkeys. Normally laying 10-14 eggs over a period of 10-14 days (they most often lay one egg per day) in a shallow depression in the dirt covered in woody vegetation, the eggs take at least 28 days to hatch. Soon, it's time for the eggs to hatch! Baby turkey's are called poults, and even though they can leave the nest 12-24 hours after hatching, they'll continue to follow their mother around for four to five months as they mature.

In this photo, we can see a mother turkey with her poults. Aren't they cute?

It's a plain fact – turkeys are found delectable to many different species of animals at just about every stage of life! Poults and eggs are often picked off by opposums, raccoons, skunks, foxes, birds of prey, groundhogs (unbelievable, right?), other rodents and snakes . . . and those are just predators of the young! Predators of both young and adult turkeys include coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, eagles, great horned owls, domestic dogs and (especially in the fall) humans! Humans are actually the top predators of these large birds; so much so that we've domesticated these birds to meet the demand. When faced with danger, most turkeys will run away rather than fly (though they'll fly at times for short distances), but when push comes to shove, turkeys can defend themselves. Large toms especially can be extremely aggressive toward predators; when faced with danger, they can fight with the spurs on the back of their legs, bite with their beaks and bump their large bodies against predators. Many small to mid-sized mammals are deterred by a turkey's defense methods. So long as a human doesn't have a gun, a large turkey will also occasionally fight off a human being, especially where natural habitats are rare. So if you see turkeys in the wild, it's best to give them space and let them forage, undisturbed.

The turkey really is an amazing bird!

The turkey is quite a survivor. And for good reason – they're smarter, have more complex behavior than we give them credit for and can even put up a good fight at times. So this Thanksgiving, instead of merely thinking of the main course of your Thanksgiving's Day meal as good food, but think of it as the amazing, un-dumb and beautifully designed bird God created it to be!

PS 1: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the new in the news? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.

The First Thanksgiving

Happy early Thanksgiving, my readers! I can't believe Thanksgiving's almost here already! Time has flown by so fast . . . scratch that, the year has flown by so fast! Soon we'll be doing the Christmas-thing. Along with an update on Jurassic World, I do have a photo taken during the filming of Dolphin Tale 2 (which I believe they're still filming at this moment) and an announcement to share about what my family's doing. But first, let's look at our “days till” section:

It is: 7 days till Thanksgiving

It is: 34 days till Christmas

It is: 41 days till New Year's

Lately, all we've been getting concerning news for the upcoming film known as Jurassic World (which used to be called Jurassic Park IV) is casting rumors (I haven't posted most of them because, frankly, I'm waiting to see if they're true before I do so). I don't know about you, but I'm finding the casting rumors to be getting kind of old. I mean, come on! Let's see some news about confirmed actors or, better yet, the movie's dinosaurs. I mean, what's Jurassic Park without dinosaurs? Well, for those of you who are also tired of casting rumors, you're prayers have been answered - during a recent interview, the film's dinosaur-consultant Jack Horner has re-affirmed not only that the film is in the works, but also that the "new, scary dinosaur" he's been teasing us about since last spring is still in the movie (that is, it wasn't removed with script revisions).
Click here to see the whole interview on YouTube. We still don't know what the new dinosaur is, but I've got my eye on Troodon from Jurassic Park: The Game. Many other fans have the same idea as I do.

A ferocious pack of these killer Troodon could definitely fit the bill of the "new, scary dinosaur" in Jurassic World.

That's not the only piece of news: ever since we've known that the movie has been in development, many fans have wondered over whether the new movie would be a remake of the first one or what. But thanks to a an interview the film's visual consultant Rick Carter by Comingsoon.net (and the facts that the film's name was changed to Jurassic World and that the film's director has said he wants to make a movie that honors the ones that went before), we're 100% positive that it's an actual sequel. Here's what Carter says,

"I came into that one as a visual consultant," he says. "I just worked for four months to get it going. To try and visualize where this could go next and make sure it had some the same -- literally the same -- DNA of the previous movies. Ed Verreaux is the production designer on that one. He did the third 'Jurassic Park'. We've worked together going all the way back to 'Back to the Future'. It's a real hand-off between the two of us. He's the production designer and the director's a new director named Colin Trevorrow. He's a big, big talent."

The fact that the film has the same "DNA" as the first three is terrific news! Remember, the film comes out on June 12, 2015, so mark your calendars! Now if we could only do something to eliminate those casting rumors . . . 

Here's a little update on the movie coming out this year called Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie. A new trailer has been released, please enjoy:

As anyone who's been reading my past few articles knows, Dolphin Tale 2 has been in the filming process since October and is due to be released in September 14, 2014. Here are some photos from and during filming of this film I discovered from 15-year old Dolphin Tale actress Cozi Zuehlsdorff's blog:

"Due to budget cuts on #DolphinTale2 Winter had to be replaced with this inflatable dolphin. (don't cry, I'm joking)" Cozi Zuehlsdorff, 2013

"Well, @NathanLGamble almost made me drown from laughter today. Don't know whether to thank him or smack him." Cozi Zuehlsdorff, 2013

Now as for the news of what my family's been doing . . . since January, my family and I have been working on a brand new production called “Meet the Cheatham's”. This play will be the second one we've ever produced and is about a family named the Cheatham's (hence the name of the production). The four members of the Cheatum family: Dewey (do we), Iotta (I outta), Howee (how we), Yugotta (you gotta) Cheatham (Cheat 'em, pun intended) each have their own successful business and do whatever it takes to make a sale, even if it involves cheating people, hence their family name. During the upcoming Christmas season, they plan to make more money than ever. My character, Howee Cheatham, is a successful travel agent who owns Cheatham's Travel Agency and likes to send people to the worst possible places to go during the holidays because those places pay more commission. I don't want to give away the whole play, but all this changes when the father of the family, Dewey, gets a call from a local pastor and the Cheatham's lives are changed forever as they learn what's really important during this time of year – that it's not about presents, or making money, but about Christ Jesus Himself. This play is going to be a shocking revelation not only for unbelievers, but Christians who see this play as well. If you're interested in seeing this play, you'll be able to “Meet the Cheatham's” as First South Baptist Church in Utah and at 11:00 a.m. Mountain Time on November 24, 2013. Hope to see you there!

Without further ado, let's take a look at Joy's latest article:

Hey readers! The first thanksgiving may be a surprise to you! You've already imagined the feast with corn and turkeys because that's what really happened, right? Not! For starters, when the pilgrims invited the Indians . . . oops! My bad! The pilgrims didn't exactly invite Indians. This is a common misunderstanding made by many. In fact, Indians lived many thousands of miles away in Asia. The correct term for the "Indians" the pilgrims invited to the feast is actually Native Americans. Did you know that turkey may have not been served at the first Thanksgiving; corn on the cob and pumpkin pie weren't included on their menu either! The only foods we know were present at the First Thanksgiving were wildfowl (not specifically turkey; it is more likely they ate goose or duck), corn in the form of bread or porridge, various kinds of seafood and deer. We also know they didn't eat with forks. Why? Because forks weren't even invented yet! What other myths have we learned about Thanksgiving that are just plain incorrect? Read on to find out!

This is how the First Thanksgiving is normally depicted, but the real one was anything but! Continue reading to learn what the real First Thanksgiving was like!

Get this, the pilgrims did not even have a Thanksgiving feast the next year. The next Thanksgiving celebration was a hundred years later. It was to celebrate their victory of the Native Americans. Imagine that! They could very well have been celebrating over the feat of the very Native Americans who had attended their feast the first time! Thanksgiving is not all that we thought it was.

Turkey - a staple Thanksgiving delight - probably wasn't served at the First Thanksgiving! Neither were potatoes, pie, pears or cranberries . . . go figure!

However, after many years, it has changed into the perfect holiday for this time of year. A time where both family, friends - and even enemies - find time to gather together and remember all the things they are thankful for. This holiday is now a time of sharing and gratefulness; greed barely takes place here. So, what are you thankful for?

Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to stop by next week where, since it's Thanksgiving, we'll be doing a gobbling-ly fun article! (Did I just reveal the focus of next week's article?)

PS 1: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the new in the news? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Some if not most or all of the photos above are not mine. If you own one or more of them and would like it removed, please notify me.

The Dueling Dinosaurs

Hi everyone! I don't have any updates concerning the movies I've been writing about, so we'll go directly to the article I've written for this week right after:

It is: 14 days till Thanksgiving
It is: 42 days till Christmas
It is: 49 days till January 1, 2014

Without further ado, here's my article that I promised:

The year was 2006 when an amazing fossil discovery, possibly one of the most amazing fossil discoveries ever made, was uncovered in the badlands of Montana. On Mary Ann and Lige Murray's Montana ranch were the ancient fossil remains of dinosaurs, but upon their discovery, it was obvious that this was no obvious dinosaur find! First of all, you might like to know that when scientists find dinosaur skeletons, they don't normally find them articulated (that is, aligned in the order they were in life); they're normally found in a dismantled array of broken fossils and the skeleton is normally not complete. Often times, paleontologists only have a few fossil teeth or a few bones or a fossilized skull to go by. When Therizinosaurus, a large herbivorous theropod (that's the group with mostly carnivorous dinosaurs) was discovered, scientists only found the claws of this beast and accidentally classified the creature as a giant turtle!

This was not the case with these new dinosaurs that we're going to talk about! In the ground were not one, but two dinosaurs in the exact same location . . . no really, their bodies were partially intertwined! One was a theropod from the tyrannosaur family, possibly Nanotyrannus, and the other was an unidentified species of ceratopsian or horned dinosaur. Perhaps this was a new species! But that's not what drew the most excitement – most of the excitement was from the mere fact that both animals were not only articulated, but intertwined as if they had interacted in life! These two dinosaurs had probably died in the middle of a fight. This isn't the first case when two species of dinosaurs were found together; in the 1970's, the fossilized skeletons of a Velociraptor and a ceratopsian called Protoceratops were found locked in a deadly fight and died caught in the act. The new specimen however, referred to as “The Dueling Dinosaurs”, is of much larger dinosaurs. Yet, despite the amazing state of this find, it was rather ignored until earlier this year where it's attracted lots of attention from the press lately. Before we get into that though, let's take a closer look at what many scientists hope to discover with these finds.

Here's a photo of the dueling dinosaurs; two creatures probably caught in a deadly fight.

First, this amazing find could finally settle a really old debate concerning Nanotyrannus and its larger and far more popular cousin, Tyrannosaurus rex. Many scientists believe that Tyrannosaurus changed as it matured; when it was younger, a baby T. rex would have been much more lanky in proportion to body size, would have had a longer snout and had a faster speed than the adult. The discovery of Nanotyrannus meant to some scientists that they'd actually discovered a juvenile T. rex instead of a new species. Before the “Dueling Dinosaurs” discovery, only two specimens of Nanotyrannus had ever been discovered, and they are both juveniles at only around 15 feet long. The new specimen is estimated to be 30 feet in length. So after the scientists actually can thoroughly study the fossils and can classify it as a Nanotyrannus, then it might be proven that Nanotyrannus was its own species after all and only a cousin to T. rex. Even if they can't find this out, many scientists feel that the other two specimens of Nanotyrannus are too different from an adult T. rex to be a juvenile of T. rex.

"The Dueling Dinosaurs" specimens might solve the mystery as to whether Nanotyrannus is its own species or a juvenile T. rex.

Another question that must be dealt with concerning this find is how on earth these two dinosaurs died together in the first place. One thing we know for sure is that they wouldn't just drop dead in the open and expect to become fossilized! The reason why fossilization doesn't work that way is because of numerous reasons. First of all, when exposed to the elements, dead animals will quickly rot and decay and leave nothing but dust. Not to mention the fact that there are plenty of animals that will happily scavenge from animal carcasses, also not giving them the chance to fossilize. For an animal to become fossilized, it has to be buried very quickly. Evolutionists, who date these fossils at 66 million years old, still often scratch their heads as to why so many animals fossilized so long ago. Is there another alternative with an answer as to why “The Dueling Dinosaurs” fossilized?

When animals die, they normally decompose or get eaten; in order to fossilize, they needed to be buried quickly.

As a believer in God's Word, there's one thing that came to my mind the first time I read about this extraordinary discovery. These dinosaurs were killed and buried in Noah's Flood. Noah's Flood was the most catastrophic time in earth's history and could have easily killed both creatures in the middle of their possible struggle. But how much will scientists be able to learn about these dinosaurs?

When the dinosaurs were unearthed, they remained encased in the block of rock they were found in and they didn't get any attention until earlier this year. However, that's not where this story ends! The fossils were uncovered by non-professional fossil hunters and so they don't own the fossils – no one technically does! What was decided to become of these amazing fossils? Well, it turns out that these particular fossils are going to be in an upcoming auction! That's right! People with big money to spend will be able to hope to buy “The Dueling Dinosaurs”. This also means that there's a good chance that the fossils will go to a private fossil collector and the worry among many paleontologists is that if they go to a private collector and the private collector doesn't donate the fossils to a museum, scientists won't be able to study them thoroughly and won't be able to learn as much as they can from these beautifully preserved dinosaurs. And to make matters worse, these dinosaurs are predicted to break the record for the most expensive dinosaurs ever sold, breaking the record of the auction-sold skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex sold to a museum named Sue for around $7,000,000! “The Dueling Dinosaurs” are expected to be sold for around $9,000,000 dollars! WAY more than I can afford; otherwise I'd be happy to buy the specimens myself and donate them to a museum.

I for one hope that a museum can rally up enough money to buy the fossils or that a generous buyer donates the specimens to the museum, or else these dinosaurs might in fact go extinct twice; the first time being when they died and the second time when they get sold and fade into obscurity because we might not get to learn anything from these fossils. Let's hope and pray that these dinosaurs make it to a good museum where they can be studied, because these fossils can help us unlock the mysteries surrounding some of the most magnificent animals ever to walk the earth.

The "Dueling Dinosaurs" forever entombed in stone.

PS 1: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the new in the news? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: I don't own many (if not all) of the photos in this article. If one or more of them is yours and you want it taken off, please contact me.