Every palaeontologist I know has a toy dinosaur or trilobite sitting on their desk or computer monitor. It seems inevitable that within a few years of starting a career in palaeontology a toy dinosaur will appear and can be found lurking somewhere in their office. Of course almost all scientists have some token of their research in their place of work, but we are perhaps lucky that there's such a huge range of toys going for dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasties. It's not just the odd plastic Triceratops, but there are a good number of companies pumping out high-quality and scientifically accurate models of ancient animals that are devoured by kids and adults alike. What's more, the range keeps growing and just as ever more dinosaurs are being named, so too do new models appear.
Which brings me to the point of this little guy. A colleague of mine has been doing some consulting work in Japan for an exhibition on dinosaurs and spotted this little critter for sale, picked it up and sent it to me. It may not look like that much (and it's only 10 cm long), but it does have a special place for me. The label identifies it as Zhuchengtyrannus, a rather large tyrannosaur from eastern China. This has special resonance for me as I was the lead author on the paper that identified and named this animal. Naturally I have a strong affection for this animal, and indeed its picture adorns the banner of the Lost Worlds.
As such, I was delighted to get this little piece of memorabilia through the post and it's taken pride of place on my shelf already. It was, I felt, too good not to share so my profuse thanks to Matt Lammana of the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, for this thoughtful present.
