I Know Dino

We have one last reveal before our Dinosaur Rookie Cards - Collectibles for Dinosaur Fantatics campaign goes live tomorrow! In addition to the dinosaur trading cards and the stickers, we’re also offering a Styracosaurus enamel pin. The “spiked lizard” Styracosaurus had such a cool frill, we wanted to see it in pin form. Don’t forget to reserve your spot now and we’ll send you a vintage I Know Dino sticker to go with your cards (and stickers and pin)

We’ve got another announcement about our Dinosaur Rookie Cards - Collectibles for Dinosaur Fantatics project.

In addition to the dinosaur trading cards, you can pledge to get a sticker version of all the dinosaurs! It’s a great way to share your love of dinos and let your friends know about some of the coolest new ones.

Don’t forget to reserve your spot now and we’ll also send you a vintage I Know Dino sticker to go with your cards (and stickers)

Our sixth, and last, dinosaur we’re revealing for our Dinosaur Rookie Cards - Collectibles for Dinosaur Fantatics is… Nanotyrannus!

The first bones paleontologists found of this “dwarf tyrant” dinosaur were originally named as a species of the tyrannosaur Gorgosaurus. Decades later some upstart paleontologists re-assigned those bones to a new genus: Nanotyrannus. 

They named it the "dwarf tyrant" because it looked like a miniature Tyrannosaurus. In fact, they look so alike that for decades paleontologists debated whether it was a unique animal or just a young T. rex.

That all changed last year when a team described a whole new skeleton, and it had features showing Nanotyrannus was more than just a baby T. rex.

Even more surprising was when the team studied other controversial tyrannosaur fossils, they found there was not just one, but at least two valid species of Nanotyrannus. 

The original species was named in 1988 (Nanotyrannus lancensis), and it turns out the brand new species, Nanotyrannus lethaeus, had been hiding in plain sight on display at the Burpee Museum in Illinois for 20 years. 

Don’t forget to reserve your spot now and we’ll send you a vintage I Know Dino sticker to go with your cards. And if you’re part of our Patreon community, you can get this exclusive foil Nanotyrannus card

The fifth dinosaur for our Dinosaur Rookie Cards - Collectibles for Dinosaur Fantatics is… Yuanyanglong!

This was a curious dinosaur, built for wading in water (with long legs and rigid ankles) and eating plants. Scientists even fount small stones, or gastroliths, inside its stomach. Those stones would have helped it digest plants.

The genus name Yuanyanglong means “lovebird dragon” and there’s a sweet story behind it. Two Yuanyanglong individuals were found fossilized together, possibly showing a devoted couple preserved together, forever.

Don’t forget to reserve your spot now and we’ll send you a vintage I Know Dino sticker to go with your cards

The fourth dinosaur we’re revealing in our Dinosaur Rookie Cards - Collectibles for Dinosaur Fantatics is… Tameryraptor!

This dinosaur was excavated over 100 years ago in Egypt (its genus name means “thief from the beloved land” and that land refers to Egypt). Its fossils were exported to Germany, and unfortunately Tameryraptor was destroyed by the Allied bombing of Munich during WWII.

Luckily, we still have a cast of its brain case, and paleontologists found it was really similar to its cousin, Carcharodontosaurus (except Tameryraptor probably had a horn on top of its snout).

Don’t forget to reserve your spot now and we’ll send you a vintage I Know Dino sticker to go with your cards

Our third dinosaur in our Dinosaur Rookie Cards - Collectibles for Dinosaur Fantatics is… Zavacephale!

This is the most complete and oldest known pachycephalosaur (the dome-headed dinos).

This “origin head” dinosaur not only had a magnificent dome, it also had teeny tiny hands. They were so small that paleontologists had to make sure they weren’t actually the fossilized remains of another, much smaller, animal.

Don’t forget to reserve your spot now and we’ll send you a vintage I Know Dino sticker to go with your cards

Next up for our Dinosaur Rookie Cards - Collectibles for Dinosaur Fantatics is… Duonychus!

This “two claw” dinosaur had incredibly large claws, just like its cousin Therizinosaurus. Therizinosaurus is famous for having the longest claws of any dinosaur (actually any animal in Earth's entire history).

But unlike Therizinosaurus (who had three-clawed hands), Duonyuchus only had two claws on each hand. Like Therizinosaurus, Duonychus probably used its claws for pulling plants to its mouth (possibly even small tree trunks given the size of the claws).

Don’t forget to reserve your spot now and we’ll send you a vintage I Know Dino sticker to go with your cards

The first card we’re revealing for our Dinosaur Rookie Cards - Collectibles for Dinosaur Fanatics is (drumroll please)… Spicomellus! Of course we had to include the spikiest dinosaur of all time. The genus name Spicomellus means “spike collar” and for a while, all we knew about it was there were spikes fused directly to its rib. Then last year, paleontologists described even more of this armored ankylosaur, including massive spikes that were fused directly to its neck bones!

Don’t forget to reserve your spot now and we’ll send you a vintage I Know Dino sticker to go with your cards

Ready for the big news? We are making dinosaur trading cards!

About 50 new dinosaurs are named every year, and they deserve to be celebrated. What better way than with rookie trading cards?

We’ll be launching a project to fund the cards on BackerKit next month, with an exclusive card available for our patrons.

We’re starting with 6 of the coolest recent discoveries. Throughout this month, we’ll share details about the dinosaurs on each card!

You can reserve your spot now and we’ll send you a vintage I Know Dino sticker to go with your cards. Big thank you to Tara Tassone for designing the cards!

We took some time this week to look back at dinosaur projects we’ve done, and stumbled upon this short video showing our Oryctodromeus drawing in progress (drawing inspired by Oryctodromeus and meerkats, because at the time we were really into the show Meerkat Manor)

So here it is!

Oryctodromeus was the “digging runner” dinosaur, and the first non-avian dinosaur we know of that burrowed!

How do we know?

Well, three of them (one adult and two juveniles) were found packed together in a burrow, which is pretty telling. It also had features that would have helped it dig, such as powerful shoulders, muscly arms, and sturdy hips (all good things to brace itself while digging). And it had a beak it could use as a shovel

It’s a pretty cute, cool dinosaur, and the fact that it burrowed is why we often talk about going down Oryctodromeus holes (instead of rabbit holes) on our show