Hedgerow crane's-bill

Hedgerow crane’s-bill (Geranium pyrenaicum) is also known as the Pyrenean or mountain crane’s-bill, because it grows in mountainous regions of Southern Europe, but it is only found as a lowland plant in the United Kingdom (notably the south and east of England). It is not native to Britain, having first been recorded here in 1762. Formerly a rare plant, it has increased in numbers in recent years and it is especially prevalent in overgrown churchyards, growing alongside grasses and dandelions. It is also found in hedgerows, field margins and on wasteland.

The plant has upright stems between 9 and 24 inches (23-60 centimetres) high. The rounded leaves are “half lobed” in that the indentations go only half way to the midrib. The flowers, which appear between June and August, are light purple and grow in pairs. The sepals are oval and pointed and the petals deeply notched.

The name crane’s-bill comes from the shape of the pointed fruits, which are thought to resemble the beak of the crane (a bird resembling the stork). The fruits are smooth and downy, each containing a single seed. A long thin style runs up the outside of each fruit. When the seed is ripe the style acts like a spring, flinging the seed up to 10 feet (3 metres) from the parent plant.

The botanical name of this plant could be taken to mean that it is related to the garden plants with bright red flowers that are generally knowns as geraniums. However, the latter is a member of the Pelargonium family.

© John Welford

Prosauropod dinosaurs

The Prosauropods, also known as Plateosaurids, were the first large dinosaurs. They lived during the late Triassic and early Jurassic eras (230-180 million years ago).

They were plant-eating dinosaurs with long necks and tails, small heads, wide bodies and four strong legs. Although they walked on all fours, some of them, such as Plateosaurus, may have reared up on their hind legs to reach leaves on tall plants. This was an animal that was up to nine metres long and may have weighed as much as three tonnes.

Riojasaurus lived about 220-215 million years ago in what is now Argentina. It was ten metres long and probably weighed about two tonnes.

Fossils of Sellosaurus, which lived 215-210 million years ago, have been found in Europe.

Lufengosaurus, from the early Jurassic, lived in what is now China and was up to nine metres long. A skeleton of Lufengosaurus was the first complete dinosaur fossil to be found in that country.

The Prosauropods were followed by the Sauropods that were even bigger but with the same basic shape having long necks and tails.

© John Welford

Baryonyx

Baryonyx was a carnivorous dinosaur that lived in the early Cretaceous era about 130 million years ago. The first discovery of a Baryonyx fossil was made in Surrey, England, in 1983.

Baryonyx was about 10 metres long, of slim shape, with a long narrow tail and a crocodile-like mouth and snout. An unusual feature was the strong thumb claw on the front legs. This claw measured 35 centimetres in length and may well have been related to Baronyx’s feeding habits.

Specimens of Baronyx have been found alongside fossilised fish scales, which give another clue as to this animal’s probable way of life.

It very much looks as though Baryonyx was a fish-eating dinosaur that behaved in a similar fashion to the modern crocodile. The signs point to Baryonyx having lived in swamps or alongside rivers. It would dart its long neck forward to snatch fish out of the water, and it would use its massive thumb claws to hook fish and other water-dwelling creatures.

Modern fresh-water crocodiles had not evolved during the era when Baryonyx was around, so it is entirely possible that Baryonyx was unchallenged in its role as a fish-eating predator at this time.

© John Welford

Eustreptospondylus

Eustreptospondylus was a large meat-eating dinosaur that lived during the Jurassic era about 165-160 million years ago. Its fossils have been found in an area that comprises the present-day counties of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire in England.

The first fairly complete specimen was found in 1870 and it was mistakenly categorised as “Megalosaurus”, which was the only genus of meat-eating dinosaurs known at the time to have existed in that region. It was not until 1964 that Eustreptospondylus was identified as a separate species and given its own name.

The name means “well-curved backbone”, which refers to the arrangement of the bones of the spine.

Eustreptospondylus measured about six metres from nose to tip of tail and probably weighed about 400 kilograms (900 pounds). It was equipped with a mouthful of very sharp teeth and would have been a fearsome hunter. It probably preyed on sauropod plant-eating dinosaurs such as Cetiosaurus.

© John Welford

Dilophosaurus

Dilophosaurus was a meat-eating therapod dinosaur that lived about 195-190 million years ago, which was in the early Jurassic period. It was one of the earliest large predatory dinosaurs that is known about from the fossil evidence.

Dilophosaurus was about six or seven metres in length, including its long tail. It probably weighed in excess of 500 kilograms (1100 pounds) which places it in the same weight category as the polar bear.

The name means “two ridged reptile”, which refers to the parallel plate-like ridges on the animal’s head. Given that these do not look to have been strong enough to be used as weapons, it is possible that they were covered in brightly coloured skin and used to warn off rivals or enemies, or as part of a mating ritual.

Fossils of dilophosaurus were found in 1942 in Arizona, USA, but the creatures may well have lived in other places. The species was only designated and named in 1970, due to difficulties posed by the fragmented nature of the fossils.

© John Welford

Coelophysis

Coelophysis was a small, agile dinosaur that lived during the Triassic era about 210 million years ago. It was about three metres long and it would have stood about waist-high to the average human, had any been around at the time. Being of light build, with hollow bones, it would only have weighed about 20 kilograms (44 pounds).

It had long, powerful back legs, so it would have been able to run quickly, and its smaller front legs would have been used like arms. It had “hands” with three clawed fingers that would have been used to catch and hold its prey. Its mouth was full of small sharp teeth.

The “arms” feature contrasts sharply with meat-eaters that appeared much later in the Dinosaur Age, such as Tyrannosaurus, that had forelimbs with no discernible purpose. More than 140 million years elapsed between Coelophysis and Tyrannosaurus, which is many millions of years longer than the gap between Tyrannosaurus and us! There was therefore plenty of time in which evolution could make substantial changes between dinosaurs similar to Coelophysis and those resembling Tyrannosaurus.

Coelophysis belonged to the therapod group of meat-eating dinosaurs. Its food probably consisted mainly of lizards, worms and insects.

A large number of Coelophysis fossils were found at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, USA, in 1940. They may have been a herd of animals that drowned during a sudden flash flood.

© John Welford

Allosaurus

Ask just about anyone to name a meat-eating dinosaur and they are quite likely to say “Tyrannosaurus”. This was a fearsome hunter that lived at the end of the Age of the Dinosaurs about 65 million years ago. However, there was a very similar animal that filled the same niche in the natural world 90 million years earlier; this was Allosaurus.

Allosaurus lived during the late Jurassic about 155-150 million years ago. Fossils have found in the American midwest, notably Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. However, close relatives of Allosaurus may have lived in what is now Europe and Africa.

Allosaurus was 11-12 metres in length (36-39 feet) and could have weighed up to four tons. It had a massive head (up to a metre long) and jaws that could be flexed to allow huge bites to be taken.

The late Jurassic was also populated by massive sauropod dinosaurs including Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus. These may well have formed a major part of the diet of Allosaurus.

© John Welford