fire destroys Tyrannosaurus rex ~ this time at Clive Palmer's resort

Remember Steven Spielberg’s sci-fiction ‘Jurassic Park’ that attracted rave reviews in 1993 Based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Michael Crichton, the movie centered on the fictional Isla Nublar, an islet located off Central America's Pacific Coast, near Costa Rica, where a billionaire philanthropist and a small team of genetic scientists had created awildlife park of cloned dinosaurs. Down under, Palmer Coolum Resort is an iconic resort  on the Sunshine Coast.  The Resort features 324 accommodation rooms placed in small clusters throughout natural bushland.  It has a 18 hole, Par 72 championship golf course and many indoor events venue.

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, 231.4 million years ago, and were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for 135 million years, from the beginning of the Jurassic (about 201 million years ago).  The fossil record indicates that birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs during the Jurassic Period and, consequently, they are considered a subgroup of dinosaurs by many paleontologists.  Aside from being one of the largest of the known carnivorous dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex — [T. rex, in  short] — is the dinosaur that has arguably received the most media exposure. It had a starring role in the "Jurassic Park" movies and has a renowned exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The name Tyrannosaurus rex means "king of the tyrant lizards.  T. rex was a huge carnivore and primarily ate herbivorous dinosaurs, including Edmontosaurus and Triceratops. The predator acquired its food through scavenging and hunting, grew incredibly fast and ate hundreds of pounds at a time, it is believed.

Sixty-five million years ago the last of the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct. What caused this mass extinction ? - Scientists are yet to find an answer. The one that does must explain why these animals died while most mammals, turtles, crocodiles, salamanders, and frogs survived. Birds escaped. So did snails, bivalves, sea stars (starfish), and sea urchins.  Scientists tend to huddle around one of two hypotheses that may explain the Cretaceous extinction: an extraterrestrial impact, such as an asteroid or comet, or a massive bout of volcanism.  Still how others survived ?

Now this post is about destruction of a 10-metre model Tyrannosaurus rex, nicknamed Jeff, that was standing at Clive Palmer's resort on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.  It was ravaged by fire.  Firefighters were called to the blaze at the Coolum resort about 1:30am to find Jeff already well alight.

Police had been investigating whether the fire was started deliberately, but Mr Palmer told the ABC he did not believe arson was involved in Jeff's demise. It is stated to be an electrical fault that caused the fire.  Mr Palmer said he was still deciding whether to bring in a replacement once what remained of Jeff was dismantled.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Service had the unusual call of ‘dinosaur on fire’ and its  Superintendant who attended is quoted as saying - Jeff's rubber and fiberglass coating burnt "very, very quickly". "There was only a small section of the tail left that was unburnt once the first appliance arrived.  The life-size T-Rex has been roaring at golfers on the ninth hole of the Palmer Coolum Resort since December 2012. Its arrival in a prominent position on the golf course was one of several issues that prompted the PGA of Australia to move the Australian PGA Championship away from the resort. The model's nickname was interpreted by many as a slight on former deputy premier Jeff Seeney, following Mr Seeney's falling out with Mr Palmer in the wake of the 2012 election, although Mr Palmer has denied this.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

3^rd Mar 2015.