Dinosaurs in Leeds - Part 2

 

Dilophosaurus

Continuing with the Jurassic Trail 2 in Leeds, after spending 30 minutes at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, the next dinosaur that I encountered was Diplodocus on Briggate. This long necked herbivore lived in the Late Jurassic 155-145 million years ago (mya) and was up to 26 metres long. 

 

Diplodocus

At this point, having seen half of the dinosaurs on the trail, I headed off to get some lunch at Khao Gaeng Thai in Kirkgate Market, a place that I discovered in January 2019, when planning a Sheffield U3A Geology Group field trip to Leeds and have eaten at several times since. 

 

My dinner at Khao Gaeng Thai

Feeling better for having had yet another tasty Thai meal, the next venue on my list was the St. John’s Centre, Here, I encountered Stygimoloch, a pachycephalosaur from the Late Cretaceous (70-65 mya), which probably fed off horsetails, gingkos, cycads and club mosses. 

 

Stygimoloch

Immediately next to this was Pachycephalosaurus, meaning ‘thick headed lizard’, another herbivore from the Late Cretaceous (75-65 mya) that is believed to have fed primarily off plants, fruits and seeds. 

 

Pachycephalosaurus

Moving on to the Merrion Centre, the next dinosaur that I found was the Late Jurassic (155-145 mya) Stegosaurus, a herbivore that I was familiar with during my childhood interest in dinosaurs, but which would have been beyond my abilities to reproduce it in clay – as I had done with Triceratops, which was the next on the trail. 

 

Stegosaurus

 

Triceratops, which was surprisingly fitted with a saddle upon which the children sit would sit for a ride, lived in the Late Cretaceous (68-66 mya). This was one of my favourites as a child and it gained in popularity when appearing in the original Jurassic Park. 

 

Triceratops

Leaving the Merrion Centre, I headed down to The Headrow to see if there was anything worth seeing at the Leeds Art Gallery or the Henry Moore Institute, but I got no further than the magnificent Britain From The Air exhibition. 

A selection of images at Britain From The Air

After half an hour spent admiring these aerial photos, which included views of mountainous landscapes, castles and sprawling country houses, I resumed my search for dinosaurs at The Light shopping centre, where I found the Late Jurassic (156-144 mya) carnivorous Allosaurus. 

 

Allosaurus

Continuing my walk to The Core, the Early Jurassic (190 mya) Dilophosaurus is another of the dinosaurs featured in Jurassic Park, where it is depicted with a frill, which is actually thought not to have existed by palaeontologists. Its bright colours also provided a timely reminder that the colouration of dinosaurs is still largely a matter of speculation. 

 

Dilophosaurus

To see the final dinosaur on the trail, I headed off back toward Leeds railway station to Trinity Kitchen, where there were a couple of Late Cretaceous (74-70 mya) Velociraptors, which appeared in the scariest moments of Jurassic Park.

 

Velociraptors