Return to Backyard Terrors and Dinosaur Park

Around this time of year back in 2013, I interviewed my friend, Chris Kastner, who builds life-sized dinosaur models in his backyard!  If you haven't read that yet, go and do so now!  Well, since there, Chris has not stopped working and his dinosaur park has grown immensely.  Let's check back in on him and see how things have changed!

Chris with one of the park's Velociraptors.  Chris' park is one of the few outdoor dinosaur parks that has figured out how to present realistic feathers where necessary and still have them be weather-durable.  Other parks take note.  No excuses!

My name is Chris Kastner.  I think I've always been into art of some form. I believe I started drawing from a desire to capture what I saw on TV, movies and other places. Dinosaurs entered my art and mind at a pretty young age. I was totally hooked on the prehistoric beasts! However it was quite awhile before I was able to express my love of them and share it with many others. I think at some point we all want a life size dinosaur. I had toys, models, books..but I really finally decided the big critters were best enjoyed in 1:1 scale. I tried saving to buy one but the best were too far out of this artist's reach. So I learned to build my own. That was in 2007. It's been many trials and difficulties but now we have an established Dinosaur Park here with 38 different species!

 

Two of Chris' guests break up a fight between the park's Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus.

Question 1: It has been two years since we last had you on! Have there been many changes to Backyard Terrors since then?

CK: Wow..2 years already? Let's see..did we have the full size Triceratops then? lol We've grown a bit all with the support of everyone who believes in our work here and what we are doing. We did move our haunted house, The Funhouse here this year and have added other events throughout the year like Dino Park in the Dark and Trick or Treat with the Dinosaurs. 

Life-size adult Triceratops in Chris' dinosaur park.

Question 2: What models have been added?

CK: I believe we have added our 25' Triceratops, we did our Apatosaurus this past winter. " Kathy" named for my mother is 67' along with two 10' juveniles. Our Terrors of the Deep exhibit which features a Nothosaurus, Plesiosaurus duo and a large animated Mosasaurus. Then we also went ahead and opened our Mesozoic Nature Trail that has Dimetrodon, Oviraptors, Minmi, Ceratosaurus, Nothronychus, Quetzalcoatlus, Edmontosaurus, Deinonychus and..whew..we are working on a 30' Stegosaurus!  Man I'm tired! lol

Life-size, animated Mosasaurus in the marine-themed section of dinosaur park.

Question 3: Have any of the models been Improved or tweaked? Do they need any sort of maintenance or upkeep?

CK: We have continued to add the taxidermy eyes to older models, some need repainting or touchups. The feathered ones that stay outdoors in particular keep losing paint on the feathers. We've had a few guests want a tooth here there I've resculpted too.

Close-up of one of Chris' Plesiosaurus, which he used taxidermy eyes intended for crocodilians to give a realistic appearance to.

Question 4: How do you fund building all these new models? Some of them are HUGE and others implement special effects now!

CK: Donations. This place and everything in it couldn't continue without the help from all those that appreciate what we doing here and support us. Not just local friends either, we have help from all over the world, people that never have even been here support us as best they can..it really touches my heart to bring fans of dinosaurs together to accomplish something for everyone to enjoy like this. 

Ceratosaurus, on the park's nature trail.

 

Question 5: When we last spoke you said your largest dinosaur in the park was either Big Al, the Allosaurus, or the Carnotaurus. Who is the biggest now and how big is he/she?

CK: Wow I guess it was a awhile back! lol We started with our 45' T. rex..but even he won't mess with our new 67' Apatosaurus! She is based on A. ajax and is around 15' tall at the top of her head.

Chris' sixty seven foot long Apatosaurus.

Question 6: Do you find Backyard Terrors has gained a lot more popularity and fame since two years

 ago? How do you advertise?

CK: It has! Jurassic World really boosted us this year, bringing dinosaurs into focus for kids again. Advertising is something we don't get to do a lot of..usually due to cost. A billboard is around 4,000.00 for a 3 month lease for example. Social media like Facebook is our biggest advertising tool, letting us keep fans updated and connect with them. 

The park's Nothronychus.  Many of the dinosaurs that Chris has built are appropriately feathered.

Question 7: What is the farthest people have traveled to see your park?

CK: Hmm..well as far as the states go we guests from just about every state. I do believe I saw Hawaii in our guestbook and I certainly saw Japan. Though I think that guest was here locally for other reasons ( family) and came to see us while here.. heh. 

Quetzalcoatlus on the nature trail.

Question 8: You also do an awesome horror-theme park with killer clowns. Do you favor one over the other? Are they open at the same time?

CK: Ah yes we do! My mom got me into Halloween big time, making costumes for us, decorating, encouraging us to be creative this time of year. In some ways it even beat out Christmas. We've done many haunt themes, Pirates, werewolves, but clowns..well clowns really let you let the crazy out..lol It's really great being able to turn that aspect loose..if only one time a year. The Funhouse actually supports the Dinosaur Park. Giving something to the older kids and adults to do. Proceeds from it are funneled back into the Park helping through the winter months when attendance all but stops. In the past our haunt had a few different venues, this year we brought it home to the Dinosaur Park, creating it's 1700 sq foot structure in one month ( Sep). The haunt is open Fri-Sat in October from 8-12am after the Dinosaur Park closes.

 A zombified elephant that Chris made for his haunted attraction, which is haunted circus-themed.

Question 9: Is Big Al still your favorite?

CK: Oh yeah! Allosaurus will always be my favorite, though every dinosaur here is special to me in some way. Many are nicknamed for friends and family. "Conrad" our Mosasaur is named after a good friend, reporter Jim Conrad who first came out and talked to me before we had gone anywhere near this far. He believe in us then and was truly interested in our efforts here. Sadly he passed away last December.

Big Al, the Allosaurus, sneaks up on an unsuspecting guest.

Question 10: Do you get inspiration from other dinosaur parks? How do you think yours hold up? Have you seen any that are more scientifically accurate than yours? (I can’t think of any off the top of my head to be honest)

CK: Things are always changing, our older/first pieces are often surpassed by newer ones. I'm always still learning and trying new things as well. A new process I've used relies on a plywood frame instead of just 2x4, it gives us a much more accurate guide to work from. Oh yeah for sure. There is at least one in Europe that has some great pieces and a few scattered about the U.S. too...never having been able to visit them myself I rely on images online..some look AWESOME! but I'm even a fan of the retro dinos too..they can show us a lot about our changing view of these magnificent animals.

Apatosaurus model being built using plywood.

If you're ever in Tennessee and feel like getting the crap scared out of you by cannibalistic clowns, or maybe you just want to take a stroll through a nature trail and see some dinosaurs, be sure to give Chris Kastner's Backyard Terrors a visit!  Check them out on facebook, too! 

Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2015: Resilience that Hits Back

"Wow!" I said to my girlfriend as we were driving in the car, earlier this month. "It's already October again!  Which prehistoric creature should I paint in pink this year for Breast Cancer Awareness?"

She stopped and thought for a long minute.  Then looked at me and said.  "Something...resilient."

The word, resilient, can describe a lot of different creatures.  Most of the most famous prehistoric creatures are the big, tough ones, after all.  I spent the next minute or so running through the countless options in my head until I finally had an idea and turned back to her.  "I know one that is resilient that can also hit back...hard."

Which brings us to this year's pink prehistoric beast.  Euoplocephalus!  It had some of the thickest armor, topped with a bony tail that was all business.  Enjoy. 

As always please click here to find out how you can actually help make a difference in fighting breast cancer! 

National Fossil Day: 2015

Yesterday was National Fossil Day!  A day where we take time to appreciate fossils and all the glorious things they have to teach us....so for me it's a pretty ordinary day.  That being said what sort of paleontology site would this be if I didn't do something in acknowledge it?

Today I will share of you some fossils I have in my personal collection.  Some of them were collected locally and others are from when I did fieldwork in New Mexico.  (All were obtained with permission and legally!)  The ones I feel would be nice to show you today, however, have been in my collection since I was in middle school.  They were given to me by my music teacher who collected fossils as a hobby.  Once he found out I was a dinosaur-nut kid, we would pass time in between me practicing songs on my trumpet talking about the latest article on some newly-discovered dinosaur or something of that manner.  He was also kind enough, as I stated, give me some fossils every time he came back from collecting over the weekends. 

The first set of fossils consists of crab claws and Horn Coral, which were found in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Horn Coral was a kind of coral which was common during the Cretaceous.  Most of the Eastern coast of the United States was under the ocean during that time, keep in mind.  The crab claws, you can see the one large one which looks to consist of at least two parts of the limb, and the five small ones, are all missing the actual pinchy claw parts, which probably broke off sometime between now and when the little guys died millions of years ago.  So think of that meaty part just behind the claw....mmmm.

The second group consists of fossils from upstate New York. It includes some imprints from trilobites, which were VERY successful marine arthropods that lived during the Devonian Period, long before the dinosaurs, and were related to modern horseshoe crabs.  Trilobites came in many varieties from all over the world.  The ones here I believe are Phacops rana. It also includes some snail fossils, including both an imprint and positive cast of the curved shell, which I think is really neat.  The slab on the bottom includes two snails AND an imprint from a shelled mollusk, possibly a brachiopod, which came from Stafford, New York.

Happy National Fossil Day!  Remember, every fossil tells a story.  It's easy to forget that that tiny trilobite or snail you are holding at one time was a living creature that was crawling around right where you might be standing HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of years ago!  That's mind-blowing if you think about it!

Heterodontosaurus: Beast of the Week

This week we will be checking out a little dinosaur with very interesting teeth, check out Heterodontosaurus tucki!

Heterodontosaurus life reconstruction by Christopher DiPiazza.  A related kind of dinosaur was discovered with long, quill-like structures growing from its back.  What you see on the backs of these guys is based on that, but nothing like that has been discovered on Heterodontosaurus, itself, yet.

Heterodontosaurus was a plant-eating dinosaur that lived in what is now South Africa, during the Early Jurassic Period, between 199 and 196 million years ago.  It was only a little over three feet long from beak to tail, and would have been able to run quickly on its hind legs when alive.  Its genus name translates to "different kinds of teeth lizard/dinosaur" because unlike many reptiles (not all!) which have only one kind of tooth throughout the mouth. Heterodontosaurus had three.  Heterodontosaurus was an ornithischian dinosaur, defined by the shape of its hips, so it belonged to the same major group as the ceratopsians, thyreophorans, and ornithopod dinosaurs.

Heterodontosaurus skeletal display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Heterodontosaurus' skull is interesting to behold for the first time.  In the front of the snout, it had a beak, which could have been good for clipping vegetation.  Just beyond this beak, inside the front of the mouth it had pointed teeth, which may have been for stripping leaves or other foliage off of stalks.  Just past those, are the teeth that make Heterodontosaurus stand out, which were long, and tusk-like.  We are not exactly sure what these teeth would have been for.  Some have proposed that Heterodontosaurus was actually an omnivore, and could have used these teeth for killing prey.  It also likely used them for show, or possibly combating rivals of the same species.  Modern herbivores like the Water Deer, from China, have tusks very similar to this, which are used for display and fighting rivals.  However, it should be important to note that there has been a skull of a juvenile Heterdontosaurus unearthed that has long, canine-like teeth just like the adults had.  This supports the idea that these teeth were not a sexual display adaptation, since they weren't exclusive to adults.  In the back of the mouth Heterodontosaurus had small, packed teeth for mushing up vegetation.

Chines Water Deer.  Adult males of this species have the longest canines for show and combat.  Heterdontosaurus' long tusks appear to not be exclusive to adults, however.

Heterodontosaurus had five fingers on each hand, digits two and three being the longest, which were strong and could have been for grasping vegetation while foraging.  The arms were relatively long, but wouldn't have allowed for quadrupedal locomotion. (walking on all fours)  Heterdontosaurus also had long slender legs with bird-like joints, suggesting it was a fast runner when alive.  This probably was its main defense against predators in its time.

That is all for this week!  As always comment below or on the facebook page!

References

Butler, Richard J.; Porro, Laura B.; Norman, David B. (2008). "A juvenile skull of the primitive ornithischian dinosaur Heterodontosaurus tuckifrom the 'Stormberg' of southern Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28 (3): 702. 

"Heterodontosaurus." In: Dodson, Peter & Britt, Brooks & Carpenter, Kenneth & Forster, Catherine A. & Gillette, David D. & Norell, Mark A. & Olshevsky, George & Parrish, J. Michael & Weishampel, David B. The Age of Dinosaurs. Publications International, LTD. p. 37.

Norman, D. B.; Crompton, A. W.; Butler, R. J.; Porro, L. B.; Charig, A. J. (2011). "The Lower Jurassic ornithischian dinosaur Heterodontosaurus tucki Crompton & Charig, 1962: Cranial anatomy, functional morphology, taxonomy, and relationships". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society: no.

Santa Luca, Albert P.; Crompton, A. W.; Charig, Alan J. (1976). "A complete skeleton of the Late Triassic ornithischian Heterodontosaurus tucki". Nature 264 (5584): 324.

SciCafe: Inside Bats

At the American Museum of Natural History, every month an event, called SciCafe, is hosted where guests can come to the museum after hours, are served dinner and drinks (for a small fee) and are treated to an exciting lecture by one of the museum's staff about their research!  It is a great way to spend a weekday night if you have the time.

This past week I had the pleasure of attending one of these events where the topic of the night was bats.  Curator of Mammalogy, Dr. Nancy Simmons, and Postdocotral Research Fellow, Dr. Abigail Curtis, shared their most recent research on the inner workings of the earth's only flying mammal.

What made this lecture particularly interesting to me, and I'm sure a lot of people, is the fact that Dr. Simmons and Dr. Curtis, are using modern technology, like CT scanners, to find out new information about specimens of bats, here at the museum, that were collected over one hundred years ago.  A dead bad, preserved in formaldehyde, can be scanned without leaving its jar, and yield a three-dimensional image of its insides.   One specimen, in particular, turned out to have been collected on one of Theodore Roosevelt's expeditions!  It's great to know that specimens in the museum are still proving their worth after so many years.

Dr. Curtis and Dr. Simmons answering questions after their lecture.  A CT scan of a pair of cochlia (part of the inner ear) of a bat floats around on the screen behind them.  Dr. Curtis affectionately referred to cochlia of certain species of bat as "cinnamon bun-shaped" which made me hungry.

Bats are interesting because they are so specialized as a group, yet at the same time, were one of the first kinds of mammals to distinguish themselves after the great extinction that wiped out most of the dinosaurs.  The oldest bat fossil ever discovered is about 52 million years old, so it was around not much longer after the Cretaceous ended, but still was a true, flying bat.  So far, no transitional fossil between ancestral land mammal and a flying bat has ever been discovered.  this means that the ancestors of bats must have evolving in the direction they were even closer to the Cretaceous.  Since then, bats have had a LOT of time to radiate into the thousands of species that we see around us today. (Yes, thousands.  In fact, there are more known species of bat alive than any other major kind of mammal.)  I learned from Dr. Curtis, that night, that within several hundred square feet of rainforest in some parts of Central and South America, there can be as many as one hundred different species of bat living there!  That's a lot of specific niches.

The Painted Bat (Kerivoula picta) which is native to Thailand, embraces the whole Halloween Stereotype it seems.  Photo credit: Bob Cornes.  This beautiful species was features briefly in the opening of the lecture.

Small, differentiating features among different kinds of bats is what this lecture was mostly about.  Thanks to new technology, we can now see features about a bat's skull (which can be about the size of your fingernail, depending on the species.) that we would never have noticed before.  Minute variations in the structure of the nasal cavity, ear bones, and teeth of a bat can tell us a lot about how exactly they are living. 

My favorite species of bat is the Greater Bulldog Bat (Noctilio leporinus) because we share the same taste in seafood...or riverfood I suppose.  These guys use echolocation to detect ripples made by fish on the water's surface, then crab them out of the water with their hooked claws.  The minor differences in the shapes of a bat's nasal cavity, and inner ear, may drastically affect their sensort abilities, and therefore how and what they exploit as a food source.  This could be part of the reason why there are so many different species, many times coexisting in the same habitat.

One more really interesting fact I learned that night was that out of all the other major kinds of mammals alive today, according to DNA testing, bats are most closely related to...the order that includes pigs and goats, called artiodactyla.  Not, insectivores, like shrews, and not even primates...pigs, goats, deer, cows, giraffes...those guys.  Evolution never ceases to surprise me.

"MOOOOO!"

For more information about SciCafe and this lecture click here! 

Titanis: Beast of the Week

Titanis walleri was a large, flightless bird that lived in what is now southern North America between the late Pliocene and early Pliestocene epochs, between 5 and 2 million years ago.  The largest found Titanis towered at over eight feet tall, but there were many smaller individuals found, as well, suggesting sexual size dimorphism.  It's beak, which was hooked at the tip and sharp on the edges, suggests it was a meat-eater.  When Titanis would have coexisted with many famous prehistoric mammals, like saber-toothed cats, giant sloths, Glyptodon, mammoths, and even early humans.  The name, Titanis, translates to "titan" which means "giant", and is also the name of the first Greek gods (the generation before Zeus)  It is an appropriate name because this bird was HUGE.

Titanis walleri about to swallow a young capybara.  Painting by Christopher DiPiazza. 

Titanis was a member of the extinct group of large, predatory, flightless birds, called phorusrachidae, but their nickname, "terror birds", is cooler sounding.  There were a few kinds of known terror birds that have been discovered and described, but Titanis was the largest, and it was also the only known member of this family to have lived in North America.  All of the others were found in South America, which is where Titanis' lineage likely migrated from for reasons that are still a mystery to paleontologists. 

Titanis skeletal mount on display at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Phorusrachids do have one very close relative that is alive today, called the Seriema.  Seriemas belong to the order of birds, called cariaformes, which includes the terror birds.  The modern seriema, although much smaller than its ancient cousins, gives us many clues as to how birds like Titanis may have lived.  For one thing, seriemas are also predators, specializing in killing smaller prey, like lizards and snakes by grabbing them in their beaks and beating the poor little creatures to death against the ground.  They also will use their feet to stun or immobilize prey.  In fact, the second toe on each of their feet houses an enlarged "killer claw" just like their even older, more distant cousins, the dromaeosaurids, like Velociraptor and Deinonychus!  Both seriemas and Titanis also have similar wrists and hands (wings), which could flex to a certain degree, but from what we see in seriemas, have no specific purpose that we know of.

Red-legged Seriema with an enlarged picture of the foot, showing the enlarged talon.

Titanis also had sharp, curved claws on its toes, which no doubt could have helped it pin down prey, but its major weapon was probably its head, which was armed with a massive, hooked beak.   There are a few schools of thought as to how Titanis used its beak.  The most popular idea is that the great bird would have swung its head at its prey, like a pickaxe, nailing it with the hooked end to kill it or immobilize it. It then may have pinned the unfortunate creature down with its strong claws as it used the hooked tip of the beak, paired with the sharp edges to rip off pieces of the likely still living prey to eat like a fork and knife. (Check out the video below of the Eurasian Hawk I work with using this method on a dead mouse I gave her.)  If the prey was small enough, Titanis likely would have swallowed it whole, which is something living predatory birds also do.  Another interesting possibility is that Titanis could have used its beak to hold smaller prey and beat them against the ground like its modern relative, the seriema does.

Titanis is an amazing example of convergent evolution, recycling a successful design more than once in the same major lineage of animals.  Titanis, as you know, was a bird, and therefore a kind of theropod dinosaur.  Unlike other large, flightless theropods, like Tyrannosaurus, however, Titanis did not live during the Mesozoic, but much later after the meteorite that wiped out most of its ancient kin hit the earth.  Furthermore, Titanis did not evolve directly from these large predatory dinosaurs, but rather from smaller birds that were probably capable of flight.  Dinosaur evolution is complicated!

That is all for this week!  As always feel free to comment below or on our facebook page!

References

Alvarenga, H. M. F.; Höfling, E. (2003). "Systematic revision of the Phorusrhacidae (Aves: Ralliformes)". Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 43 (4): 55–91.

Baskin, J. A. (1995). "The giant flightless bird Titanis walleri (Aves: Phorusrhacidae) from the Pleistocene coastal plain of South Texas". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15 (4): 842–844.

MacFadden, Bruce J.; Labs-Hochstein, Joann; Hulbert, Richard C.; Baskin, Jon A. (2007). "Revised age of the late Neogene terror bird (Titanis) in North America during the Great American Interchange" (PDF). Geology 35 (2): 123–126.