Webosaurs Blog

Whoa, whatch out for Trilobites!

Hey gang, today’s Weekly Dino Fact question was asked by Ilikebugs. Bugs wanted to know about the one of the most successful animals of all time… TRILOBITES!

Trilobites were amazing creatures because of their longevity on the Earth. They were extremely successful, they roamed the oceans for over 270 million years… mankind has only been on this Earth for 200,000 years. That means that Trilobites were on the Earth over a million times longer than we have been here, that’s an incredibly large amount of time!

Trilobites first appeared in Earth’s Oceans during the Early Cambrian period and they reached their apex during the Paleozoic before finally becoming extinct during the Devonian. After the Paleozoic the only Trilobite to survive was a little bugger known as the Proetida, they managed to stick around until the Permian extinction event when most life on Earth became extinct. There were ALL different types of Trilobites. Some moved over the sea-bed feeding and scavenging for food, others swam around in the ocean feeding on plankton.

Scientists are still not sure as to what modern-day creature is most closely related to Trilobites. At first they thought Crustacea because of the hard shell, but that is no longer considered to be true. In any event Trilobites were weird and crazy creatures, it’s amazing that something so simple was so successful on this Earth for so long. In some ways I’m glad that they’re not still swimming around in the oceans because I wouldn’t want to brush up against one of these guys during my morning swim. What do you think about Trilobites? What would you like to learn about next week? See you on the Island!

-Mio

Hey gang, you may be aware that we have weekly Blogosaur Meetings on Fridays to discuss Blog related issues and to talk to dinos about how to become a Blogosaur. Well, we are going to continue to do this and have Blogosaur Meetings every Friday. This week we’ll only have a single Blogo meeting due to Moon’s Party, but it’ll be a good one!

Where: Tree Fort

When: Friday, April 29th– 12:00 WST

Server: Prehistoric

-Mio

Moon is the STRONGEST!

Hey gang, it’s weekend party time and we’re going to try some new things this weekend! Firstly on Friday, we’re going to be celebrating the birthday of our favorite modosaur… MODOSAURMOON! Happy Birthday Moon! Moon is going to be throwing down with a major birthday feast at the Giant Umbrella this Friday starting at 16:00 WST. Moon is also going to be dropping a very special Moon version of a Scavenger Egg Hunt during the party and just might give out some hints if you ask her nicely! Bring your appetites because this item is going to be delicious AND filling!

Sunday we are going to have a brand new party… something we’ve never tried before… AND we’re going to give everyone an opportunity to win the items that they might have missed last weekend. In case you didn’t know dinos that came to the Island the last couple of weeks got some awesome items Watermelon, Dartboard, Leggy Egg, and Mischief Egg. There was an uproar when some dinos missed the parties and couldn’t collect any of these awesome items, but never fear your opportunity to win is near!! This Sunday we are going to be playing a new game called Emoticon Quick Draw! Here’s how it works… We’ll display 3 emoticons in a row and the first dino to correctly name them in order will win that round! Each time a dino wins they will get an item from last week (limit 3 per dino)! Don’t miss your second chance at winning these items! See you on the Island!

What: Moon’s Birthday Egg Hunt

Where: Giant Umbrella – Understory Layer

When: Friday, April 29th – 16:00 WST

Server: Jurassic

AND

What: Emoticon Quick Draw

Where: Webo Ridge

When: Sunday, May 1st – 12:00 WST

Server: Jurassic

-Mio

The African Lion's Cousin!

Another great Weekly Environmental Fact Question asked by Irvine! This week Irvine asked about the endangered Indian Lion, more commonly referred to as the the Asiatic Lion. Yet again an incredible creature that I did not know about has been brought to my attention by Irvine! I had no idea that there were Lions living in India and sadly that’s probably because there are so few of them left.

The Asiatic Lion is one of India’s five major big cats, the other four being the Bengal tiger, the Indian leopard, the snow leopard and the clouded leopard. Asiatic Lions are ONLY found in one particular part of India called the Gir National Forest located in Gujarat. Here they are protected and their numbers have actually risen, in 2010 there were a total of 411 lions spotted, which is 52 more than were spotted in 2005.

Asiatic Lions are slightly smaller than their African cousins, but they are equally aggressive (keep all hands and feet inside the vehicle!) and this aggression has caused them to clash with humans. Like many of the endangered species that exist on this Earth, the Asiatic lion is getting forced out of it’s habitat by growing numbers of humans and increasing populations. Lions are poisoned for eating livestock and they fall into wells that farmers build to water their crops; they are confined to a very small space and if they venture out they encounter their biggest enemy, humans. As deadly as lions can be they are no match for  mankind. Luckily there are a few of these magnificent creatures left and hopefully we can take care of them and keep what we have left. What do you think of the Asiatic lion? Leave your comments here.

-Mio

Hey gang, just a reminder that the Blogosaur Contest is coming to an end. This Thursday MasterMarksy will be sitting down to judge all of the entries and pick a winner. Keep in mind that the winner will be receiving a free Six Month Membership and that is going to result in a lot of fun for the winner! If you haven’t entered yet, you’ve got a couple of days to write out what you would like to see happen in the new Webosaurs or what you think will happen in the new Webosaurs and submit it as a comment here. If you’ve already written one, you’ve got a couple of days to make a couple of changes and re-submit! Don’t delay, MasterMarksy can’t wait to judge the entries!

PS: A couple new Blogs will be added to the Blogroll today, so look out for that too!

-Mio

Better start practicing for Parks!

Hey gang, it’s Game of the Week time! Last week we got our information upload on with a Quizbo GOTW, this week we’re going to get our Paleontology on. I know that most Dinos are very interested in Paleontology and Archeology here on Webosaurs Island and no better way to exercise your love for finding fossils than by heading over to Dino Dig and excavating some fossils of your own! You may remember a couple of weeks ago I leaked onto the blog that a new character was coming to Webosaurs. If you remember him you’ll remember that his name is Parks and he’s a Paleontologist… I’m not sure what he’s going to be doing on the Island, but it can’t hurt to brush up on your digging skills!

Who is PARKS?

Also, remember that for this week only Dino Dig in Sanoran Sands will be handing out double the amount of coins that it usually does. Don’t miss this opportunity to become a Paleontology expert AND bankroll on your Webosaurs Bank Account! See you on the Island!

-Mio

If you aren’t familiar, we encourage our Protectosaurs to meet up as a group once a week to discuss issues on the island and other items of interest. However, the meetings aren’t closed off to only Pros – they are more like Town Hall style meetings for everyone to discuss island business. Everyone has an equal stake in Webosaurs and we would love to hear what is on your mind.

This Week’s Topic: Top Pros

Where: Dr. Nanosaurus Secret Lab

When: Tuesday, April 25th – 12:00 WST and 16:00 WST

Server: Prehistoric

New Pros: Caitlino

-Mio

TWO HUNTS ARE BETTER THAN ONE!

Hey gang, PERcY had a great idea, to remind everyone to make sure you finish the first hunt that was released earlier today! The item is awesome and you’ll definitely want to have it for your cave, but it will only be around for another 48 hours! That’s because a SECOND EGG HUNT, with and even cooler item will be released by Bunnysaurus this Sunday at 14:00 WST. This is awesome because Sunday’s hunt is going to be epic, but also means that there is a very short time-line to finish the first one. Happy Hunting!

-Mio

Hey gang, Weekly Dino Fact time. Today’s fact comes from a question asked by Irvine. Irvine asked, “What dinosaurs survived the great extinction or the great dying?” Very interesting question because 90% of all life on Earth was wiped out by this catastrophic event; whoever survived had to be a seriously tough animal. Well here is his, the scary, the intimidating Lystrosaurus!!! Actually… he’s kind of cute!

Lystrosaurus was roughly the size of a pig and was the most common terrestrial species in the Early Triassic period. They only had two tusk-like teeth (that make them look kind of like a giant green chipmunk) and a horny beak that helped them bite off pieces of vegetation. They were extremely close to the ground and are believed to have been powerful burrowers. They were herbivores and were something like a mixture between a lizard and a shell-less turtle. It is not clear how the Lystrosaurus was able to survive the extinction event. The most popular theory suggests that they were able to survive because they had big lungs and were accustomed to living in burrows with stale air which made them best suited to adapt to the low levels of oxygen. Another is that they were semi-aquatic and that they could retreat to the water. All of these theories have several holes which leads us to believe that they simply survived out of sheer luck! However they did it, the Lystrosaurus was the ultimate survivor! What do you think about Lystrosaurus? Cute right? How do you think they were able to survive?

-Mio