Aerodactyl Dinosaur
Lorin Cupples
Aerodactylus was a pterosaur, a type of flying reptile. It was not a dinosaur, though it lived during the same period.Aerodactylus lived during the Late Jurassic and resided in Europe.The first Aerodactylus fossil was discovered in 2014.
Tyranitar: This dinosaur Pokemon is a monster! It has two sets of pointed teeth and several spikes protruding from its head, neck and shoulder. Tyranitar also has a ring of spikes on the tip of its tail. This dinosaur Pokemon is extremely strong, and is always looking for a battle. If you want the toughest dinosaur Pokemon, Tyranitar is the one for you!
Aerodactyl: A pterosaurian, bipedal dinosaur Pokemon, Aerodactyl has serrated fangs and a ferocious attitude. It is able to effortlessly rip out enemy parts regardless of armour, especially steel-type Pokemon. Aerodactyl glides through the sky by spreading its wings. It likes to nest in the mountains where it enjoys safety and seclusion.
I was fortunate enough to take a trip to Japan this past summer with friends and family. We are all big Pokemon fans, my wife and I having played the games since the late 90s, and my daughter enjoying the anime, so we naturally had a lot of fun visiting several of the official Pokemon centers and other attractions throughout the country during our three weeks in the country. One of the must-sees was to visit the Pokemon Fossil Museum, a traveling exhibit that showcases fabricated skeletons and models of prehistoric Pokemon alongside casts of the real dinosaur and other prehistoric animal fossils they're based on.
Upon entering the exhibit visitors are greeted by a model of the pterosaur Pokemon, Aerodactyl, being ridden by a Pikachu (because of course there's Pikachu) dressed like a paleontologist. Pikachu was never one of my favorite Pokemon but I must admit this version of the electric mouse was very cute. "Paleontologist Pikachu" would be portrayed several more times throughout the exhibit acting as a sort of guide, and was shown interacting with various prehistoric Pokemon. Regarding Aerodactyl, despite being one of the original fossil Pokemon from the first generation of the franchise, there is no actual skeleton of it in the exhibit. It is mentioned and depicted again alongside a cast of a Pteranodon, Dimorphodon, and Pterodactylus, demonstrating pterosaur anatomy, however.
The exhibit showcases quite a few ceratopsian pieces, including a (real?) Protoceratops skull and a baby Triceratops skull cast that appears to have been filled in quite a bit. It doesn't match the other baby Triceratops skulls I've seen in photos of and in person at other museums. They also have a model of what I'm pretty sure is the Triceratops prorsus skull, from the Yale Peabody Museum. These pieces are showcased alongside a full skeleton model of the ceratopsian Pokemon, Bastiodon.
The main hall of the exhibit showcases full skeletal mounts of the sauropod Pokemon, Aurorus, and the real dinosaur it's based on, Amargasaurus, opposite each other where visitors can compare them side by side. Amargasaurus is known for the long, bony extensions growing from the top of its neck vertebrae, which may have formed a sail or hump in life. Aurorus design took this feature and turned it into an aurora borealis-like structure that ripples like a flag. The signage explicitly mentions that the structure on the Pokemon has no bones supporting it, but the skeletal model has pieces for it. I'm assuming to keep the skeleton recognizable especially to younger visitors. Makes me think of how some skeletal mounts of real dinosaurs include physical outlines of soft parts, like wings or even attach real arm feathers to the bones to showcase structures that would have been present in life.
I was impressed by how much attention was given invertebrate fossils in this exhibit, particularly ammonites. In fact, the most extensive collection on display in the exhibit was of ammonites, which were of course shown alongside their Pokemon counterparts, Ammonite and Omastar.
Other invertebrate Pokemon were represented, including the flying bug-type Pokemon, Yanmega, alongside casts of the real prehistoric flying insect, Meganeura. Fossils of crinoids alongside models of the Pokemon Lileep were present, and of course horseshoe crabs alongside the Pokemon, Kabuto and a skeleton of its evolved form, Kabutops.
One very entertaining aspect of this exhibit for Pokemon fans was the models of the fossil items obtained in the video game that can be turned into Pokemon on display. My favorite example of this is the "old amber" fossil item, used to resurrect Aerodactyl in the game, displayed alongside real pieces of fossil amber.
I've seen museum exhibits based on fictional entertainment franchises before, but the first thing that I noticed about the Pokemon exhibit, was how the visitor is immersed between two worlds, the real world, and the fictional Pokemon world. The signage talks to you from both places, so you can imagine yourself as a real Pokemon trainer in that fictional world part of the time. The biggest example of this was how the exhibit acknowledges the difference in the meaning of the word "evolution" between the real world and the Pokemon world. They explain how actual evolution is a process that typically takes many generations or millions of years to observe and how fossils play a part in our understanding of it. Then they compare to how in pokemon "evolution" is more like metamorphosis, individual animals changing their form drastically at specific points during their life. Below is a translation from the signage for this section of the exhibit.
"As your Charmander accumulates experience in battles and other tasks, it evolves into a Charmeleon, and eventually into a winged Charizard. It becomes a different kind of Pokemon with a very different appearance, but as an individual it is still the same you got from Professor Oak. It may sound a lot like 'growth' in our world, although the change is perhaps more than just growth, and it is seemingly not related to the passage of time.
In our world, 'evolution' doesn't happen to an individual, but occurs as a group, over the course of generations. For example, we say 'life evolved from fish to amphibians, and eventually began to live on land' to describe an evolutionary course. But this does not mean that one fish acquired feet instead of fins and began to walk on the ground. First, amongst fish there were some individuals that had 'slightly harder fins'. These were advantageous for survival in certain circumstances, so later generations had more individuals with those 'slightly harder fins'. This was repeated over a long enough time to reach individual obtained 'much harder fins' that we would consider a different species."
Lastly the gift shop was full of all sorts of exclusive goodies. This was of course dangerous for my wallet. The haul you see her was me showing restraint. I especially love the skeletal art keychains.
Overall I'm thrilled I finally got to visit this delightful exhibit after only reading about it for years. It was a once in a lifetime experience that my whole family thoroughly enjoyed. I especially appreciated how it was not short on real fossil displays or actual science education, despite the Pokemon theme, so even people who aren't fans of the franchise could enjoy it. I highly recommend visiting for any Pokemon or paleontology fan. If you want more prehistoric Pokemon content from me or want more info on the various Pokemon mentioned in this post, make sure to check out when I broke down which real animals all the prehistoric Pokemon are based on in three parts 1 through 3. Here, here, and here.
Dinosaurs are the environment modifiers of Jurassic Marsh in Plants vs. Zombies 2. They are invulnerable creatures which appear on their own as the level progresses, and will be triggered upon meeting zombies which they find nuisances, unleashing special abilities that will usually aid the horde. They can be turned against their former allies with the use of the Perfume-shroom, which will cause the dinosaurs to attack the zombies by using a separate set of attacks. Meteor Flower will also scare away all dinosaurs on board when Plant Food is used on it. All non-charmed dinosaurs will leave after 30 seconds of inactivity.
In the Chinese version, there are eggs that will hatch baby variants of some of the dinosaurs when destroyed which will call in the adult variant of them to unleash abilities in order to save the babies. There is also an additional dinosaur, the brontosaurus, which is called in during the surprise attack or when a baby variant of it hatches from an egg. Another surprise attack called the "Dinosaur Stampede!" appears in this version as well.
Dinosaurs act in place of special zombies in other worlds by aiding normal zombies when encountering them. However, dinosaurs will prove to be much more significant threats than special enemies, as not only are the dinosaurs' abilities quite powerful, almost every zombie are eligible targets for their boosts - this means that backward moving Jurassic Fossilhead or Jurassic Bully can become a common sight in La Brainsa Tarpits, while even Jurassic Gargantuar can be kicked by raptors or flung by stegosauruses or ankylosauruses. Additionally, dinosaurs cannot be killed or even harmed, which means that the player will have to deal with the dinosaurs until they leave. While the dinosaurs can also be used to dispatch priority targets with Perfume-shroom, this will give the player little comfort in the long run, due to Perfume-shroom's long recharge time and the dinosaur's limited lifespan, especially if the pterodactyl had picked up zombies beforehand. Placing a Primal Wall-nut on the ninth lane can prevent raptors and stegosauruses from using their abilities. Meteor Flower is also vital, as its Plant Food ability will forcibly remove all dinosaurs on-screen.
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