Inspirations

Andy the Anomalocaris (Paleo Pals)

plasticozoic:

Prehistoric animal toys can be a fun tool for science education. They’re a way to get closer to an extinct animal than most museum exhibits. But more often than not it’s the big exciting creatures, like dinosaurs, that get all the toys, leaving smaller and potentially more evolutionarily significant animals to languish in obscurity. This is where Paleo Pals comes in. Created by natural history illustrator Chenoa Ellinghaus and funded via Kickstarter in 2015, Paleo Pals is a line of scientifically accurate plush toys representing fossils often eclipsed by more marketable names. The very first Paleo Pal is Andy the Anomalocaris, an appropriate choice considering its place as history’s first known apex predator.

Being just under a metre long means that Anomalocaris replicas don’t need to be that scaled down that much, and indeed Andy is just about life-sized. I’ve seen Anomalocaris reconstructions in museums all over the place but I’ve never really appreciated how big it was for its time (back in the Cambrian, most everything was under 10cm long) until Andy arrived in the mail last week. Adding to this is how incredibly accurate Andy is to the fossil data. Aside from the eyes there’s no stylization at all. Minus the spikes on the claws, everything is present from the fins to the disc-shaped mouth. Kids can inspect Andy’s features at their leisure, and best of all there’s no parts to choke on. And in more generic toy terms, Andy’s very visually appealing. The toy is mostly maroon with a white underside and a red and white pattern running along the back. Andy’ll stand out in any collection, for colours as well as being the only stem-arthropod.

Honestly, I can’t recommend Andy enough. It’s suitable for collectors, kids and educators alike. You can buy your own here.

• Reblogged from Proper Paleoart

• December 10, 2016, 1:00pm

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