Glowing Dinosaursby Firoiu Dan Nicolae Reserve a copy
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The atlas

The 101 dinosaurs

From the first small hunters of the Triassic to the last giants of the Cretaceous.

Finished so far

Meet the dinosaurs

Each animal has its own spread in the book: three facts, field notes, its six signs and three glowing plates. These are the first to be finished, shown by chapter; the rest follow as the atlas is completed.

Small Beginnings

N° 001EoraptorThe Dawn DinosaurN° 002HerrerasaurusThe First Big Hunter

I. Hunters

N° 006TyrannosaurusThe Tyrant KingN° 007SpinosaurusThe River Monster

II. Raptors and Feathers

N° 030VelociraptorThe Feathered ThiefN° 031DeinonychusThe Game Changer

III. Giants

N° 054BrachiosaurusThe Treetop GiantN° 055DiplodocusThe Whip-tailed Giant

IV. Horns and Armour

N° 078TriceratopsThe Horned ShieldN° 079StegosaurusThe Plated Giant

Where they stand in deep time

Every entry carries a timeline. Here ten finished animals stand by when they lived, from about 230 million years ago to the end of the age of dinosaurs, 66 million years ago.

The 101

Every dinosaur in the book, by chapter. Names in gold have a finished page you can open here.

    How the atlas is organised

    Glowing Dinosaurs: An Atlas of Glowing Ancient Forms holds 101 dinosaurs, each numbered from N° 001 to N° 101 and grouped into chapters by the kind of animal it was. The book opens with the small beginnings of the Triassic, the first dinosaurs from more than 230 million years ago, and moves through the great hunters, the raptors and feathered dinosaurs, the long-necked giants, and the horned and armoured plant-eaters. Each chapter can be read on its own, so a reader who loves the giants can go straight to them, while the numbering keeps the whole atlas in order.

    Every dinosaur is given the same treatment. On the left-hand page stand its number, its name and how to say it, a short epithet such as The Feathered Thief or The Treetop Giant, three facts, field notes and the six signs: when it lived, how big it was, how dangerous it would have been, where its fossils were found, what it ate and how it fought. On the right-hand page is the full glowing plate. Two more plates of each animal appear elsewhere in the book, making 303 in all.

    Three periods, 186 million years

    The dinosaurs in the atlas span the whole Mesozoic era. The Triassic, from about 252 to 201 million years ago, saw the first dinosaurs appear as small, quick animals in a world ruled by other reptiles. In the Jurassic, from about 201 to 145 million years ago, they became the largest animals on land, among them the long-necked giants such as Brachiosaurus and Diplodocus and the plated Stegosaurus. The Cretaceous, from about 145 to 66 million years ago, brought feathered raptors, horned dinosaurs and the last great hunters, ending with the asteroid impact that wiped out every dinosaur except the birds.

    Checked against the sources

    Every fact in the atlas is traced to a published scientific source, and the sources are listed at the back of the book. Where scientists still disagree, as they do about how Spinosaurus lived or whether Deinonychus hunted in packs, the atlas says so plainly rather than choosing the most exciting answer. The glowing colours are the only invention: no dinosaur is known to have glowed, and the light is the artist’s way of showing bone, muscle and form.

    How to read a dinosaur page

    Each finished dinosaur has its own page on this site, built like its spread in the book. At the top is the glowing plate, with the entry number, the chapter, the name, the epithet and how to say it, followed by the field notes: the full scientific name, what the name means, when and where it lived, its length, its weight and its diet. Below come the three facts from the book, a longer account of when and where it lived, how it was discovered and how it lived, and answers to the questions readers ask most often. Links at the bottom lead to related dinosaurs, so you can follow a chapter or an era from one animal to the next.

    More to come

    The dinosaurs above are the first to be finished. The rest of the 101 are being drawn, written and checked one by one, and each will receive its own page here as it is completed. To hear when the book is ready, reserve a copy without obligation.

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