The only new dinosaur model to be added to the Safari Carnegie Dinosaur Collectibles range this year is a scale model (1:25 scale) of the Early Jurassic carnivore - Cryolophosaurus. This dinosaur is affectionately known as "Elvis". This has nothing to do with the animal's singing voice, as far as we know, and certainly there is no evidence preserved in the fossil record that such a dinosaur would break into "All Shook Up" or "Jailhouse Rock"
The nickname is due to the bizarre forward facing crest, located on the skull just above and in front of the eyes. This crest resembles the "quiff" hair style of the American songster - so Cryolophosaurus acquired the nickname of "Elvis" during the excavation of the first skull material found, a name that this dinosaur has been stuck with ever since.
Cryolophosaurus is one of a very few Theropod dinosaurs (bipedal, meat-eaters) whose fossil remains have been found in Antarctica. During the Jurassic period, the landmass that was to become the frozen wastes of Antarctica we know today, was much further north. It was also joined to Africa, India and Australia, forming the southern portion of a huge super-continent called Gondwana
Although scientists have found no evidence for polar ice caps during the Jurassic Period, the very southerly latitude of the area where the fossils of Cryolophosaurus have been found would have presented dinosaurs living there with some unique challenges. For example, although the climate was much milder, the short days of the polar winter would have meant that plants did not grow, so herbivores would have difficulty in feeding, which in turn may have put pressure on the large carnivores like Cryolophosaurus that hunted them
Cryolophosaurus was one of the largest carnivores of the Early Jurassic, it was formally named and described in 1994. Measuring something like 7 metres from the tip of its thin snout down to the end of its very long tail, this animal was a fast running, bipedal predator
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