Giganotosaurus was a member of the carcharadontosauridae family, which includes the previously mentioned Carcharadontosaurus. Unlike tyrannosaurids, Giganotosaurus appears not to have simply crushed prey in its jaws, but may have inflicted heavy wounds with its slicing teeth and let the prey bleed to death. Considering that it shared its ( Read more... )

Lugia is one of the legendary Pokémon. It is the ‘leader’ of the legendary bird trio of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, and is often said to be the guardian of the seas (this appeared to be later contradicted by the existence of Kyogre, but that Pokémon was the creator of the sea, not its guardian). Lugia lives in the Whirl Islands, a small group ( Read more... )

Despite advances in special effects making more monster designs possible for a TV budget, the new series of Doctor Who hasn’t really created many memorable creatures (some, like the Azorbaloff, I would rather forget). The Weeping Angels, though, are the exception for one reason-they are nightmare fuel incarnate. First appearing in the episode Blink ( Read more... )

If you recall the entry for number 23 (the Night Stalker), I implied that flightless predator bats from the future would reappear on this list. Well, they have, in the form of Primeval’s Future Predator. The predators are to Primeval what the Daleks are to Doctor Who, being the most notorious of the creatures on the show. They are also one of only ( Read more... )

Australia doesn’t have as many fossils from the age of dinosaurs (225-65 million years ago) as, say, North America, but this doesn’t make what we know of Australian fauna back then any less interesting. The gigantic pliosaur Kronosaurus queenslandicus is a very good example, holding the title of largest pliosaur known until rather recently. It ( Read more... )

Anguirus and Rodan constantly switch places on my favourite monster list depending on how I’m feeling about them. Anguirus, for me, has much the same appeal as Rodan-he’s the least fancy monster in Godzilla’s rogues/allies gallery, with no laser beams or anything, just teeth and claws and spikes. There’s also something of the underdog in Anguirus ( Read more... )

I briefly flirted with the kaiju (giant monster, basically) fandom in 2007, prompted by the game Godzilla Destroy All Monsters Melee. It didn’t exactly work out because of how often flame wars broke out over just about anything. Nonetheless, I still have a fondness for giant monsters, Rodan being one of them. Aside from being just plain cool, Rodan ( Read more... )

I think part of the reason that Pokémon was (and still is) such a success is that there is literally a mon for everyone. This is also true for me. I was delighted to find out about the existence of the fossil Pokémon, who were not only based on prehistoric organisms (as I have said before, palaeontology is one of my great loves), but were unique in ( Read more... )

The standard modern fantasy clichés are a combination of Tolkien’s writings and several elements of Greek mythology, particularly in Dungeons and Dragons, where every mythical monster is pressed into service as a possible encounter. Of these immigrants, the hydra has managed to become one of the most famous, appearing everywhere from film to games ( Read more... )

Cryptozoology is one of my many interests. It’s fascinating to think of all the strange creatures that may be remaining undiscovered. Considering that there’s some talk of surviving dinosaurs in remote areas of the world, this intersects neatly with my dinomania, and no cryptid does this more than the mokele-mbembe. The mokele-mbembe (the name ( Read more... )