Late Cretaceous Mongolia Velociraptor Protoceratops

The dinosaur fauna is relatively rich in theropods, with larger varieties known only from teeth, and smaller types represented by a troodont, adult and baby dromaeosaurs and at least 4 oviraptorids including the
famous ‘nesting’ specimen. Birds are represented by Apsaravis and Gobipteryx, and while there are only 2 ornithischians present (Protoceratops and an ankylosaur) there are about 100 individual specimens of these. The site may have been a nesting ground on the edge of a marsh or spring.

PHOTO AND ART WORK BY....Fred R Hinojosa.

Ukhaa Tolgod, produced countless skeletons of Velociraptors, several species of dinosaur embryo fossils, hard-to-find fossils of the bird-like Mononykus, and skulls of Mesozoic mammals. The red sandstones of Ukhaa Tolgod in southern Mongolia make a true dinosaur graveyard: yet many people have wondered how the dinosaurs actually died. They seem to have been buried suddenly, caught unawares in a sandstorm. It is hard to see how abundant life could have lived, died and nested in a Sahara-like 'sand sea full of active dune fields.

Velociraptor mongoliensis is the first Asian dromaeosaurid discovered in the 1920s. As its close relatives are found in North America, it is suggested that the land bridgewas extended between the two continents in the Late Cretaceous. Velociraptor featured in the "Jurassic Park". was too big. and the tail moved too flexibly in the movie whereas the real one was greatly stiffened by reinforcement of ossified tendons.

PHOTO AND ART WORK BY....Fred R Hinojosa.

IIn 1923, at the Flaming Cliffs in Mongolia's Gobi desert, scientists from the American Museum of Natural History identified dinosaur eggs for the first time. They classified the eggs as belonging to Protoceratops, a small, plant-eating creature abundant in the area. Recent evidence suggests that that the eggs were from the theropod Oviraptor.

PHOTO AND ART WORK BY....Fred R Hinojosa.

15 million years before the dinosaurs became extinct and when the Velociraptor and the shield-headed Protoceratops roamed the Earth. The Gobi Desert, though primarily arid, also contained marshy areas and ponds created by water run-off from the surrounding mountains. Enough vegetation grew then to support a wide variety of dinosaurs, lizards, and mammals.

PHOTO AND ART WORK BY....Fred R Hinojosa.

PROTOCERATOPSIDAE: Were small (1 - 2.5 m/ 3 - 8 ft), primitive ceratopsians with 4 clawed toes, 5 fingered
hands and a typical frill formed from the parietal bone, but with poorly developed horns or bumps in place of horns. They were quadrupedal herbivores known mostly from Asia, particularly Mongolia. The frill varies from small and without openings in Leptoceratops to large with many holes as in Protoceratops. All except Protoceratops and Breviceratops have lost the pre-maxillary teeth. They are abundant in Asia but relatively rare in North America and elsewhere. Isolated bones from South America and Australia have been attributed to this class of dinosaurs, but these claims are regarded as dubious by
many.

Safari Velociraptor came with a limited adition box.

Tyco and two UKRD Protoceratops with hollow vinyl Velociraptor and soild vinyl Protoceratops from China.

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