Dinosaurs are much more than real monsters that fire our imaginations, but, let’s face it, part of their persistent appeal is that many were enormous prehistoric oddities. And it’s just that aspect of dinosaurian nature that is raising ire in a historically-rich California town and on an Australian golf course.

San Juan Capistrano, California is famous for the local cliff swallows and the historic Spanish architecture, but the town has recently been in the news because of an unwelcome dinosaur. According to the LA Times, a huge sauropod statue erected in the town’s petting zoo has drawn the ire of those who seek to retain some semblance of southern California’s past. Where kids and the zoo’s owner sees the dinosaur as a fanciful distraction, local historians argue that the dinosaur is totally out of place with the rest of the town’s decor. The dinosaur is staying put for now, but may yet be removed if the city decides that there’s just no place for a dinosaur in a place where Californian history and modern life already mix.

A different dinosaur is frustrating Australia’s professional golfers. The wealthy owner of the Palmer Coolum Resort has installed a 26 foot long, animatronic Tyrannosaurus rex in the middle of the course. Along with other recent installations, ESPN reports, the dinosaur is expected to adversely affect the games of Australian PGA Championship golfers set to play there. With the resort’s owner promising more dinosaurs on the way, the sports group has decided to move the tournament elsewhere after this year. Whether a sauropod looks out of place is one thing–having a T. rex get in the way of your shot is another.

Not everyone is so bothered by giant dinosaurs, though. A Best Western hotel in Colorado is taking on an entirely prehistoric theme, including fossil casts and dinosaur sculptures. In addition to attracting tourists, the hotel’s owner says he wants to draw attention to Colorado’s exceptional fossil sites, such as the nearby track site at Dinosaur Ridge. Dinosaur sculptures are frustrating eyesores to some and paleo-vacation essentials to others.

Recyclosaurus rex, seen outside the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, Florida. Photo courtesy of reader Wyrmwren.

Last month, we asked readers to vote for their favorite entry from all the weird and wonderful Dinosaur Sightings we’ve cataloged over the past few years. Naturally, though, there are even more roadside monsters out there. Readers quickly responded with a significant omission from our list–Tampa, Florida’s Recyclosaurus.

Reader Wyrmwren sent in this snapshot, writing “With so much to see and all the traffic, we almost missed him and had to go back for a closer look.” But this dinosaurian monument to recycling isn’t looking as good as it did when it was constructed in 1992. The mass of steel beams, plastic fencing and aluminum cans needs some touch-ups, and there’s a campaign to save the Recyclosaurus from extinction.

Have you seen a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature in an unusual place? Please send a photo to dinosaursightings@gmail.com.

Roger Cutler's wire Apatosaurus. Photo by Sarah Zielinski.

Today’s Dinosaur Sighting comes to us from friend of the blog Sarah Zielinski. While visiting the 10th floor of the Artomatic festival in Crystal City, Virginia, where she is an exhibitor, Sarah spotted the wire dinosaur creations of Roger Cutler. Along with an Allosaurus and a tiny Tyrannosaurus, Cutler created an eight-foot-high model of Apatosaurus—a scaled-down outline of the massive Jurassic herbivore.

Have you seen a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature in an unusual place? Please send a photo to dinosaursightings@gmail.com.

A Tyrannosaurus stands over the remains of an abandoned mini-golf course. Photo courtesy Joe Peterson.

Dinosaurs and mini-golf: The two complement each other. Granted, dinosaurs probably wouldn’t have been very good at the pastime—imagine how hard it would be for Carnotaurus to use a putter—but they make for excellent fairway decor. And in some places, the dinosaurs remain even after the mini-golf course has closed. Paleontologist Joe Peterson sent in this example: a Tyrannosaurus standing over a closed course in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Maybe it’s just the position of the hands, but the tyrant seems to be begging. “MOAR TASTY TOURISTS, PLZ?”

Have you seen a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature in an unusual place? Please send a photo to dinosaursightings@gmail.com.

A metallic, skeletal "Brontosaurus" at a Blanding, Utah Sinclair station. Photo by the author.

Dinosaurs are a common sight along Utah’s roadways. Sinclair stations still display their iconic “Brontosaurus” on signs, and a rarer few have a little dinosaur sculpture out front. And one aged station in Blanding, Utah created its own version of the dinosaurian mascot. While traveling from Salt Lake City to Albuquerque, New Mexico by way of Blanding’s Dinosaur Museum, I spotted the skeletal dinosaur browsing from a tree on the sidewalk. I had to stop and snap a photo—I always brake for dinosaurs.

Have you seen a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature in an unusual place? Please send a photo to dinosaursightings@gmail.com.

That sauropod looks quite frustrated. These dilapidated dinosaurs rest at Berlin's abandoned Spreepark. Photo by Flickr user davidrush.

In an abandoned Berlin amusement park, dinosaurs are slowly suffering a second extinction. The creatures, attractions at what was once the German Democratic Republic’s Kulturpark Plänterwald, have toppled over, are decorated with graffiti and are slowly rotting away in a setting perfect for a Scooby-Doo episode or another tedious found-footage horror film (your choice).

A felled Stegosaurus at Berlin's Spreepark. Photo by Flickr user extranoise.

Kuriositas recently laid out the park’s backstory. When the static dinosaurs were put in place, Kulturpark Plänterwald was in Soviet-controlled East Berlin. The theme park was the only one on the communist side of the Berlin Wall. But when East and West Germany reunited in 1989, the park quickly collapsed. Even though the attractions at the relabeled Spreepark were expanded, a lack of parking and an unpopular single-price entry fee rapidly cut attendance. By 2001, the park was mired in a pit of debt with no way out. Spreepark closed, and the dinosaurs have gradually been decaying ever since.

For more photos, see the Kuriositas blog post about Spreepark.

Have you seen a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature in an unusual place? Please send a photo to dinosaursightings@gmail.com.

A miniature Jurassic Park in Nipomo, California. Photo courtesy of reader Matt.

In the books and films, Jurassic Park was permanently shut down. But you can still find facsimiles of the overrun theme park here and there. Reader Matt stumbled across a miniature version of the dinosaur zoo at a flea market in Nipomo, California. “Rain and sun had taken a toll on the whole thing,” Matt writes. The little dinosaurs seem to be doing OK, though. They have taken control of the visitors center and are not giving it back.

Have you seen a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature in an unusual place? Please send a photo to dinosaursightings@gmail.com.

Burning the midnight sauropod. Photo courtesy Cody Burkett.

Dinosaurs are excellent April Fool’s prank inspiration. We want to see a living ceratopsian or tyrannosaur so badly that it’s easy to whip up a fake press report about someone finally finding a surviving non-avian dinosaur. But reader Cody Burkett decided to do something a little different. Burkett explains:

So as an April Fool’s joke this year, I made a sauropod candle, lit it, and put it under the icons at my church, which also happens to be the seminary in which I attend graduate classes.  Everyone seemed to be amused, except for the ecclesiarch, but I suppose that’s to be expected.

Have you seen a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature in an unusual place? Please send a photo to dinosaursightings@gmail.com.

My Allosaurus ink. Photo by Tracey Switek.

I have an Allosaurus on my arm. Heart of Gold Tattoo artist Jon McAffee put it there a few weeks ago. I think the tattoo—designed for me by friend and artist Glendon Mellow—came out beautifully. Contorted into the classic dinosaur death pose, the Jurassic apex predator is an expression of my passions and aspirations.

Paleontologists have uncovered scores of fascinating dinosaurs. I would have been proud to carry almost any dinosaur on my sleeve. But I knew my first science ink had to be Allosaurus. The dinosaur is not only the state fossil of Utah—I moved to the beehive state last year to get closer to dinosaurs—but the familiar predator is also an enigma.

Around 150 million years ago, when Allosaurus stalked across Jurassic Utah, the fern-covered landscape boasted an astounding diversity of huge dinosaurs. This was the time of giants such as Apatosaurus, Camarasaurus, Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, Barosaurus and Stegosaurus, and these dinosaurs were prey for nightmarish carnivores such as Torvosaurus, Ceratosaurus and, of course, Allosaurus. There was scarcely a more fantastic time in the Age of Dinosaurs. But not all these dinosaurs were equally abundant. Among the big predators, Allosaurus is uncovered much more often than any of its knife-toothed competitors. At the Cleveland-Lloyd quarry outside Price, Utah, remains of more than 46 Allosaurus have been discovered so far, while only rare tidbits of other predators turned up. What was it about Allosaurus that made it the dominant carnivore of Jurassic Utah? I love mysteries like this. Allosaurus has been known to paleontologists for more than 130 years, but there are still some things about this creature that we just don’t know.

Allosaurus science ink. Photo by Tracey Switek.

I asked Glendon to create the dinosaur in a death pose for a similar reason. (You can see Glendon’s step-by-step process at his blog.) If you ever find a near-complete, articulated dinosaur skeleton, chances are that the dinosaur is going to have its head thrown over its back and tail arched up. My Allosaurus got a little extra contortion for artistic purposes to bring the tail up to my shoulder, but you get the general picture. No one is entirely sure why this happens. Everything from a dinosaur’s final spasms before perishing to dessication after death have been implicated as possible causes, but the reason for the prevalence of the phenomenon is still hotly debated. Something so simple—the contortions of skeleton—is a thread leading back to unresolved questions about what happened to dinosaurs between death and discovery.

I can’t help but wonder about the life and death of an animal as beautiful and deadly as Allosaurus. And my tattoo is a reminder to keep chasing those mysteries. I do not talk about this very often—the memory is intensely embarrassing—but I never received my bachelor’s degree. After spending the better part of a decade working towards a degree in conservation ecology, I left Rutgers University just a handful of courses short of completing my program. Discouraged, disheartened and defeated do not even come close to describing how I felt. But paleontology gave me an outlet for my love of science, and writing about what I learned somehow came together into a career expressing my enthusiasm for creatures that flourished and vanished while our own ancestors were still scurrying through the undergrowth. Someday, I hope, I will go back to school and eventually commit myself to a graduate program in paleontology, but no matter what I do, I want to keep following the tales fossils have to tell. Though they might seem to simply be petrified bits of dead tissue, dinosaur bones are alive with stories about evolution and extinction. Even the most mundane bone fragment underscores powerful truths about the way life on earth has changed in an ever-evolving story of life. That’s what keeps me going back to the journal articles, museum collections and field sites where dinosaurs and ideas about dinosaurs thrive—puzzling over the long-lost life of Allosaurus enriches my own existence.

[My heartfelt thanks to Glendon for the wonderful design, and to Jon at Heart of Gold for his delicate hand realizing the tattoo. Stay tuned for a Science Ink sequel featuring another predator from Jurassic Utah.]

A trio of Pittsburgh dinosaurs - from the left, Philiposaurus, Ketchupsaurus, Mr. Dig. Photo by Traci Suppa.

Eight years ago, 100 dinosaurs roamed Pittsburgh. They trod into town as part of the DinoMite Days event. Many have since disappeared, but a few—including a Tyrannosaurus posing as Batman—have recently been spotted. Reader Traci Suppa sent in a snapshot of an additional three decorative dinosaurs. A Stegosaurus (“Philiposaurus”), Torosaurus (“Ketchupsaurus”) and Tyrannosaurus (“Mr. Dig”) still stand outside the Wintergarden building at PPG Place in the middle of the city. I especially like the Ketchupsaurus—if only condiments actually came in Torosaurus-shaped bottles.

Have you seen a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature in an unusual place? Please send a photo to dinosaursightings@gmail.com.

Trixie the Triceratops. Photo courtesy 'deep.

This is a Dinosaur Sighting first: One of the photos we shared on this blog inspired the creation of another public dinosaur.

While mulling over what kind of topiary he wanted in his parklet, reader ‘deep saw a photo of a snow Triceratops I posted two years ago. “Boom! Immediate win!!” he thought—the “serious cuteness” of Triceratops made the dinosaur the top pick for the garden sculpture. The process from clay model to finished dinosaur took about three weeks, and while Triceratops were not composed of lots of tiny plants, ‘deep is right that the sculpture is technically a “real, live dinosaur.” You can see the dinosaur—named “Trixie”—along Valencia Street in San Francisco, California.

For the whole story, including photos of the process, see ‘deep’s blog. Many thanks to ‘deep for this huge compliment to Dinosaur Tracking!

Have you seen a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature in an unusual place? Please send a photo to dinosaursightings@gmail.com.

Newlyweds Scott and Amanda Peters inside the mouth of Cabazon Dino Park's Tyrannosaurus. Photo courtesy Scott Peters.

Every now and then, someone comes up with an idea that makes me smack my foreheard and say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Getting married inside a dinosaur is one of them.

Newlyweds Scott and Amanda Peters selected one of the world’s most recognizable dinosaurs for the site of their wedding: the huge concrete Tyrannosaurus at Cabazon Dino Park in California. Remember the roadside dinosaur that comes to life in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure? That’d be the one. And while getting married anywhere inside the digestive tract of a huge theropod is not typically advisable, in this case it made for some great photos. Congratulations, Scott and Amanda!

A polka-dot Triceratops in Jordan, Montana. Photo by Vladimír Socha.

Last week, we met the dinosaurian equivalent of a shar pei. This week, we meet a Triceratops that looks as if a clown exploded all over it. Submitted by reader Vladimír Socha, this clearly bewildered dinosaur resides in Jordan, Montana—a sparsely populated place the dinosaur must have escaped to out of embarrassment.

Have you seen a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature in an unusual place? Please send a photo to dinosaursightings@gmail.com.

A very wrinkly dinosaur outside California's Jurupa Mountains Discovery Center. Photo by Troy Britain.

A few weeks ago I posted as list of bad roadside dinosaurs submitted by readers. The photos continue to trickle in. Today’s entry, sent to us by Troy Britain, is a strange wrinklesaurus which stands outside the Jurupa Mountains Discovery Center in Jurupa, California. If you put the dinosaur through the wash, I’m sure those wrinkles will come right out.

Have you seen a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature in an unusual place? Please send a photo to dinosaursightings@gmail.com.

Dinosaur, Colorado's bizarre, long-snouted Triceratops. Photo by author.

Last week I asked you submit your favorite atrocious roadside dinosaurs. While the sculptures along the main drag of Dinosaur, Colorado come close to the top of the list, my vote last week went to the ugly, ugly dinosaurs outside Stewart’s Petrified Wood near Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park. Readers sent in a few additional contenders for the title.

Photo by Mark Ryan.

Reader Mark Ryan sent in this sad, decaying dinosaur that stands near Interstate 15 in the vicinity of Victorville, California. No wonder the dinosaur needs those metal rods to support itself—its legs look like they’re made of cooked noodles.

Cowboys and dinosaurs, spotted in Natural Bridge, Virginia. Photo courtesy Kathy Krein.

A regular favorite of Dinosaur Tracking readers is the truly strange Dinosaur Kingdom in Natural Bridge, Virginia. Suggested as a top choice for weird dinosaurs by reader Laura Wilson, this tourist trap features a peculiar southern mash-up of dinosaurs and the Civil War—Union Soldiers are chomped on and terrorized by Mesozoic monstrosities. This particular shot, sent in last year by Kathy Krein, features a rather surprised looking cowboy who looks as if he’s only just begun to realize that riding a deinonychosaur was a horrible decision.

Photo by Kelly Enright.

Reader Kelly Enright sent in a set of several dinosaurian abominations from around the country. This one, complete with glowing eyes, stands guard over Goony Golf in New York.

Photo by Kelly Enright.

While not actually a dinosaur, this boxy mosasaur outside Big Mike’s Rocks & Gifts in Kentucky deserves an honorable mention, especially since the poor thing is stranded hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean.

Photo by Kelly Enright.

While not the absolute worst dinosaur I have ever seen, this Tyrannosaurus at the entrance to Kentucky’s Dinosaur World is one of the creepiest. So if the head is up there, and the legs are on either side, what part of the dinosaur am I walking into, exactly?

Photo by Kelly Enright.

We may have a new winner! While this automotive Triceratops—I think?—from Hanksville, Utah does win some bonus points for recycling, my first thought when I opened the image was “Oh geez! Kill it with fire!” This dinosaur is a junkyard nightmare, and surely a top contender for the worst roadside dinosaur ever.