Profile
Adam Smith
Palaeontologist Adam Smith is the curator of natural sciences at the Natural History Museum, Nottingham, which is based in Wollaton Hall, an Elizabethan mansion that doubled as Wayne Manor in the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises. The exhibition Dinosaurs of China runs there until 29 October.
So China is rich dinosaur territory?
Palaeontology is a growing science there because there’s a huge amount of rock in China that hasn’t yet been explored. Back in the 1980s, most dinosaurs were depicted as scaly creatures, but most carnivorous dinosaurs are now known to have been feathery – a result from new discoveries of exceptionally-preserved remains in China.
What other discoveries have been made?
The Velociraptors in the Jurassic World film were portrayed as reptiles, but we now know they looked bird-like. There is also a tiny dinosaur called the Mei long, or sleeping dragon, which would have fitted in the palm of your hand but, significantly, its fossil has been found with its head underneath its arm, much like a duck relaxing by a pond.
This show includes type specimens (archaeological exemplars used to define species) which make me nervous because they are priceless artefacts and there are obviously security issues.
As a leading dinosaur consultant, what sort of advice do you dispense?
Toy companies are keen to make their figures as accurate as possible. Some artists, however, just add feathers as an afterthought, worried that they make the beasts less scary. They end up just looking like skinny lizards with plumage stuck on.
The Gigantoraptor, however, was four metres tall, seven metres long, with huge claws – it would have looked like an enormous vulture chasing you as fast as a cheetah. Even with feathers, I’d say that’s frightening.
What other scary beasts should we know about?
Companies send me samples to review in my dinosaur toy blog and the best ones end up on my shelves. One of them, the Tsintaosaurus, caused a stir in model dinosaur circles. It has usually been depicted with a crest on top of its head like a unicorn, but recent research shows the prong probably faced the other way like a giant quiff.
Most depictions are unicorn-like, but one manufacturer added air sacs and other soft anatomy. Apparently no one noticed at design stage that this version of Tsintaosaurus looks like it has giant male genitalia on its head. It sells well around the world though.
So China is rich dinosaur territory?
Palaeontology is a growing science there because there’s a huge amount of rock in China that hasn’t yet been explored. Back in the 1980s, most dinosaurs were depicted as scaly creatures, but most carnivorous dinosaurs are now known to have been feathery – a result from new discoveries of exceptionally-preserved remains in China.
What other discoveries have been made?
The Velociraptors in the Jurassic World film were portrayed as reptiles, but we now know they looked bird-like. There is also a tiny dinosaur called the Mei long, or sleeping dragon, which would have fitted in the palm of your hand but, significantly, its fossil has been found with its head underneath its arm, much like a duck relaxing by a pond.
This show includes type specimens (archaeological exemplars used to define species) which make me nervous because they are priceless artefacts and there are obviously security issues.
As a leading dinosaur consultant, what sort of advice do you dispense?
Toy companies are keen to make their figures as accurate as possible. Some artists, however, just add feathers as an afterthought, worried that they make the beasts less scary. They end up just looking like skinny lizards with plumage stuck on.
The Gigantoraptor, however, was four metres tall, seven metres long, with huge claws – it would have looked like an enormous vulture chasing you as fast as a cheetah. Even with feathers, I’d say that’s frightening.
What other scary beasts should we know about?
Companies send me samples to review in my dinosaur toy blog and the best ones end up on my shelves. One of them, the Tsintaosaurus, caused a stir in model dinosaur circles. It has usually been depicted with a crest on top of its head like a unicorn, but recent research shows the prong probably faced the other way like a giant quiff.
Most depictions are unicorn-like, but one manufacturer added air sacs and other soft anatomy. Apparently no one noticed at design stage that this version of Tsintaosaurus looks like it has giant male genitalia on its head. It sells well around the world though.