I expect this thread to get of lot of posts next year as I work my way through A Dinosaur a Day by Miranda Smith. Each day, I’ll be looking at a different species. So I might be posting pictures, videos, wikipedia pages, etc. I will note that not every species will be a dinosaur, as there were a scattering of pterosaurs, aquatic species and actual birds included in the book as well. That said, I’m looking forward to it and am also looking forward to sharing some of it with you guys.
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I’m surprised there isn’t a lot of talk about the dinosaur in Joy to the World. Was it a T-Rex, @darthgallifrey?
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I suspect so. It was just such a small part of the episode. I enjoyed it, but it was barely in it. Though after this and the short bit in Space Babies, they really just need to do another dinosaur-centric episode. Something in modern day, maybe. Akin to Primeval (the TV series) or Invasion of the Dinosaurs. They have the money and effects to really do it justice. Or have dinosaurs with the Silurians. You could have something similar to UNIT: Assembled, or have dinosaurs in the Silurian/Sea Devil spin-off.
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That was the first thing I thought when I saw it in the episode. It looked great! We could have a proper episode with dinosaurs now. Maybe we get to see more dino action in War Between.
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I’m starting my Dinosaur a Day journey with: Eoraptor. More to follow later today.
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So today’s dinosaur is Eoraptor lunensis, literally “dawn plunderer from the Valley of the Moon”. It’s currently considered a basal sauropodomorph (that is, a distant ancestor to the sauropods, or long-necked dinosaurs), though in the past it was considered a theropod. According to one thing I was reading, the reason for the change in classification is from subtle characteristics of the dinosaur’s skeleton. (The two images that follow are of the skeleton, with known material in white, unknown in gray; and an image showing its scale with a human.)
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Today’s dinosaur is Weewarrasaurus pobeni, an ornithopod (small bipedal herbivore) from Australia known from fragmentary evidence. The only specimens consists of two sections of a jawbone with teeth. These were discovered by miners in 2013 during a routine mining run in a mine at the Wee Warra geologic locality of the Griman Creek Formation, near the town of Lightning Ridge, New South Wales.
The dinosaur’s name means “Poben’s Wee Warra Lizard”. The genus is named after the location of discovery, and the species (pobeni) is named for Mike Poben, an Opal dealer from Adelaide whofirst recognised it as a fossil after acquiring it in a bag of rough opals received from the miners. The specimen was noted for being preserved in green-blue opal, a gemstone for which the region is well known. (The picture is photos and 3D renders of the holotype.)
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Was rather busy yesterday so didn’t get to my dinosaur. Yesterday was Troodon and today’s is Nigersaurus. More data to follow later.
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Let’s look briefly at yesterday’s dinosaur, Troodon formosus which means “finely formed wounding tooth”. Troodon itself is only known from a handful teeth, though related species that were formerly attributed to the genus are more complete, notably Stenonychosaurus. Despite the genus only being known from a few teeth, the Troodontids have made appearances in both the Jurassic Park franchise and Ark: Survival Evolved were they are characterized as nocturnal and having a venomous/narcotic bite. If you want a weird look into dinosaur theory and speculation, look up the Dinosauroid (Dinosauroid - Wikipedia). (The two pictures that folow are of the holotype tooth and a screenshot from Jurassic World Evolution 2.)
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January 4th’s dinosaur was Nigersaurus. Today’s is the first British dinosaur of the year: Eustreptospondylus. More data might follow, we’ll see.
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Only a week into the year and I’m already falling behind on my Dinosaur a Day quest (never mind sharing it with you guys). 
So, here’s a quick recap of the dinosaurs featured so far.
January 1: Eoraptor (When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth! - #67 by DarthGallifrey)
January 2: Weewarrasaurus (When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth! - #68 by DarthGallifrey)
January 3: Troodon (When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth! - #70 by DarthGallifrey)
January 4: Nigersaurus (A North African Sauropod)
January 5: Eustreptospondylus (The first British dinosaur of the year, a Theropod)
January 6: Barapasaurus (An Indian Sauropod)
January 7: Shunosaurus (A Chinese Sauropod with a tail club)
I might post about some of these in more detail later (or I might just play more Fountain of Youth where I’m currently exploring a cave system). We’ll see.
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Saturday’s dinosaur was Nigersaurus taqueti, a small sauropod from North Africa known for its unusual skull design. The name means “Taquet’s Niger Lizard” after the country of origin (Niger) and it’s original discoverer (French paleontologist Philippe Taquet). The skull is unusual because the jaws are wider than the rest of the skull and the teeth are in a straight row. (The following pictures include: A size comparison + existing fossil evidence, a skull cast on display in Canada, and a screenshot from JWE2.)
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Today’s dinosaur is Apatosaurus.
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Today’s species is Microraptor. Here’s a fascinating research paper about whether this species should be looked at as a dinosaur, transitional species (which I don’t believe it should), or an actual bird:
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