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(i.e., sets and items added within the last two weeks)

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(i.e., the company that issued and/or distributed the items)

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(i.e., the general type (e.g., cards, stickers) or purpose (e.g., packaging, display) for which the items were produced)

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(i.e., type of merchandise with which the items were produced (e.g., candy/gum, cereal, collector issues)

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(i.e., the subject matter of the items such as dinosaurs, Jurassic Park, Dinotopia)

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(i.e., the country with which the items issuer is associated)

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(i.e., the year in which the items were issued and/or their copyright date)

Explore collectibles by life form
(i.e., the names of the life forms depicted on the items)

View select sets and/or items currencly availble for sale

Explore collectibles by fictional creatures
(i.e., the names of the fictional critters/characters depicted on the items)

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(i.e., items for which I have not been able to identify the issuing company)

An introduction to the Prehistoric Life Collectibles Digest along with some statistics regarding what information is available

The Extinct Life Pictorial Encyclopedia

Explore collectibles by artist
(i.e., the people who bring these extinct beasts back to life)

Return to The Dinosaur Fan home page
Collectibles by Life Form
"I collect these objects to learn from them. In some moment these things are going to teach me something. For me, this is like a library. These are my books."
Jose Bedia in ARTNews, Summer 2000
 
This section of The Dinosaur Fan includes all the life forms (genera) presented in this site*. The life forms are grouped in the order shown below. This section provides a way of viewing all the items (e.g., collectibles) on the site for each life form.

  • Life Group: by Extinct Life Forms, Living Organisms, Cryptids, Imaginary Creatures, Inanimate Objects, Spiritual Entities
  • Aphetically: by the first letter of their names (A through Z). Only applicable letters will be available (e.g., the letter 'Z’ will not show if there are no life forms starting with that letter within the life group)
  • Collectible Availability: life forms with at least one item (e.g., collectible) will be included in the first group (e.g., ‘Extinct Life with Collectibles Listed on this Site’). Life forms that have no items are included in the second group (e.g., ‘Extinct Life Currently without Collectibles Listed in this Site’)
* ‘Life Forms’ include critters from all six of the life groups outlined below.  Also, the database supporting this site contains an additional 69,000 life forms but there is not enough time left for me to include them. If any of these life forms appear on an item (e.g., collectible) in the near future, that life form will be added to the website.
 
Current Life Form Record Totals
                          
Total Life Forms*
8,190
Total Life Forms w. Images**
6,823
Total Life Forms w. Collectibles***
1,855
Total Items w. Life Forms Identified****
43,065

* Life forms include all types of existence such extinct creatures, living organisms w. extinct species, cryptids, imaginary critters, etc.
** Number of life forms which have at least one image (e.g., illustration, photo)
*** Number of life forms which have at least one collectible associated with it
**** Total number of items (e.g., collectibles) with identified life forms

 
Below is a list of the most ‘popular’ extinct life forms based on the number of sets and/or items that contain them which are included in this website. It should be noted that a significant number of items do not have life forms assigned to them. As this information is populated, the ranking below may change. And of course, the rankings may also change as new items are added to the website.
(Click on Life Group links below or scroll down the page)


Extinct Life Forms Living Organisms Cryptids Imaginary Creatures Inanimate Objects Spiritual Entities


Extinct Life Forms
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Total Extinct Life Forms on the Website
5,852

This group includes collectibles of life forms that, to the best of our knowledge, no longer have living representatives on the planet Earth (i.e., all genera and associated species are extinct). Common examples of these are the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and megafauna (e.g., mammoths, saber-toothed tiger). This group contains the most life-form identified collectibles because of the focus of this website.
 
Top 15 Quantity of Sets by Extinct Life Form
 Life FormQty. of Sets *
Tyrannosaurus1,595
Triceratops1,338
Stegosaurus1,278
Pteranodon772
Velociraptor602
Brachiosaurus572
Allosaurus544
Ankylosaurus533
Parasaurolophus523
Iguanodon505
Apatosaurus475
Dimetrodon449
Diplodocus435
Brontosaurus420
Mammuthus405
 
Top 15 Quantity of Items by Extinct Life Form
 Life FormQty. of Items *
Tyrannosaurus2,725
Triceratops1,934
Stegosaurus1,761
Velociraptor1,225
Pteranodon1,058
Brachiosaurus764
Allosaurus736
Ankylosaurus682
Parasaurolophus671
Apatosaurus668
Iguanodon647
Brontosaurus600
Dimetrodon566
Mammuthus565
Diplodocus539


Living Organisms
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Total Living Life Forms on the Website
1,271

This group includes collectibles of existent (living) life forms. Most, but not all, of these life forms have at least one extinct species which is the primary reason for their inclusion on this website. While minimum effort has been made to include living creatures, there are some very important critters that fall into this category including the most popular genera summarized blow.
 
Top 10 Quantity of Sets by Existent Life Form
 Life FormQty. of Sets *
Homo68
Ursus52
Bison30
Equus21
Bos17
Panthera17
Rhinoceros8
Hippopotamus7
Elephas6
Acinonyx4
Canis4
Varanus4
Alligator3
Ara3
Araucaria3
 
Top 10 Quantity of Items by Existent Life Form
 Life FormQty. of Items *
Homo141
Ursus67
Bison36
Panthera32
Equus26
Bos19
Felis11
Rhinoceros8
Hippopotamus7
Lynx6
Elephas6
Canis6
Acinonyx5
Varanus4
Alligator3


Cryptids
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Total Cryptids on the Website
17

This group includes collectibles of life forms whose current existence is disputed and/or unsubstantiated (a.k.a., criptids). The inclusion of these critters is based on the outside chance that they are some remanent of unknown and/or presumed extinct animals. There is a fine line between criptids and folklore. It is generally accepted that all cryptids stem from folklore, but not all folklore creatures are cryptids. A somewhat vain attempt has been made to different between the two, grouping non-criptid folklore-based creatures in with Imaginary Creatures.
 
Top 15 Quantity of Sets by Crypid Life Forms
 Life FormQty. of Sets *
Bigfoot/Sasquatch34
Loch Ness Monster29
Yeti/Abominable Snowman26
Unicorn4
Harry2
Leviathan2
Bunyip1
Champ1
Erymanthian Boar1
Kongamato1
Mngwa1
Nandi Bear1
Nemean Lion1
Ogopogo1
Yowie1
 
Top 15 Quantity of Items by Crypid Life Forms
 Life FormQty. of Items *
Bigfoot/Sasquatch101
Yeti/Abominable Snowman85
Loch Ness Monster48
Harry22
Unicorn11
Leviathan3
Bunyip2
Yowie1
Ogopogo1
Nemean Lion1
Nandi Bear1
Mngwa1
Kongamato1
Erymanthian Boar1
Champ1


Imaginary Creatures
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Total Imaginary Creatures on the Website
564

This group includes collectibles depicting creatures and/or characters modeled after extinct, legendary, and/or cryptozoological animals. It should be noted that creatures with legitimate names (i.e., genera) contained in imaginary/fantasy/pop culture-based sets are NOT included in this group. These creatures are, to one degree or another, a "representation" of real extinct animals and will be included in that group.

A good example of this differentiation is found with the Disney movie, ‘Dinosaur’. While all the characters in the move are based on real animals (e.g., iguanodonts, brachiosaurs), the talking characters (e.g., Aladar, Kron, Neera) are classified as fictional life whereas the two legitimately named dinosaurs in this movie (i.e., Carnotaurus and Velociraptor) are included with the extinct life group. Another example is the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park/World movies. All of these will be found in the extinct life group of this site except for ‘hybrid’ creatures like the Indominus rex and the Indoraptor.

As a side note, this site attempts to associate these imaginary/fantasy/pop culture-based creatures with possible extinct life form inspirations. A goofy example is Barney the Dinosaur which is associated with the Tyrannosaurus. Of course, there is no practical reason for doing this except it’s a fun and interesting exercise. There is no real effort to be "scientific" about this information. Most of the data is gathered from the internet with a minimal amount of validation. In those cases where potential extinct life form inspirations could not be found, liberal guesswork was utilized.

Below is a summary of the findings of a 1998 science-based, tongue-in-cheek analysis of Godzilla by the renowned paleontologist Ken Carpenter which, if nothing else, demonstrates how interesting such ‘research’ can be.

“Godzilla has traits that evolved multiple times among different groups of large carnivorous theropods, creating a strange dinosaurian mosaic. Not to mention all those radiation-spurred mutations.

Still, the monster’s anatomy holds enough clues to place him within a particular part of the dinosaur family tree. Godzilla’s long arms and four fingers on each hand indicate that the “Big Guy” is a basal theropod, or, in other words, belongs to one of the early branches of the group’s family tree. And even though the bony fins along Godzilla’s back are reminiscent of the herbivore Stegosaurus, Carpenter pointed out that some theropods–such as Ceratosaurus–had less-flashy bony armor along their spines. Perhaps the prominent ornaments on Godzilla were highly-modified versions of body armor that was more subtle among his ancestors.

More than anything else, though, Carpenter pointed to Godzilla’s head as the key to the mutant dinosaur’s identity. Godzilla has a short, deep skull reminiscent of a group of theropods called abelisaurids–dinosaurs such as Carnotaurus and Skorpiovenator that were cousins of Ceratosaurus. (In fact, the abelisaurids were a subgroup within the Ceratosauria.) Combined with the finger count and osteoderms, Carpenter noted, the creature’s skull suggests that Godzilla is some sort of ceratosaur–perhaps even a form that smooths the transition between more archaic ceratosaurs and the deep-skulled abelisaurids. Exactly how such a strange dinosaur survived to the modern era, and how radioactivity created such a monstrosity, are questions best left in movie mythology.” (Source: Smithsonian.com, What Kind of Dinosaur is Godzilla?)

 
Top 15 Quantity of Sets by Imaginary Creatures
 Life FormQty. of Sets *
Dino51
King Kong48
Aladar46
Devil Dinosaur36
Godzilla29
Rex (Toy Story)28
Indominus Rex27
Indoraptor26
Baylene24
Kron23
Neera23
Suri22
Baby Puss20
Eema20
Barney18
 
Top 15 Quantity of Items by Imaginary Creatures
 Life FormQty. of Items *
King Kong348
Godzilla187
Dino175
Aladar151
Rex (Toy Story)146
Baby Sinclair131
Devil Dinosaur114
Earl Sneed Sinclair109
Yazoo100
Barney87
Indominus Rex69
Arlo69
Denver66
Robert "Robbie" Mark Sinclair64
Indoraptor57


Inanimate Objects
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Total IInanimate Objects on the Website
474

This group incorporates collectibles of natural non-living substances. Things like rocks, minerals, and meteorites may not be directly related to the topic of this website, however trace fossils such as footprints, coprolite (fossilized poop), and eggs do have a certain level of applicability.

As to the assumption that objects are ‘non-living’, the late, great author Michael Crichton provides some ‘food for thought’.

"Finally, they came to the granite. 'This is alive,' Leavitt said. 'It is living, breathing, walking, and talking. Only we cannot see it, because it is happening too slowly. Rock has a lifespan of three billion years. We have a lifespan of sixty or seventy years. We cannot see what is happening to this rock for the same reason that we cannot make out the tune on a record being played at the rate of one revolution every century. And the rock, for its part, is not even aware of our existence because we are alive for only a brief instant of its lifespan. To it, we are like flashes in the dark.'” (Michael Crichton, The Andromeda Strain)

 
Top 10 Quantity of Sets by Inanimate Elements
 Life FormQty. of Sets *
Lava3
Ocean3
Volcano3
Aquamarine2
River2
Amber1
Anomoepus1
Asteroid (generic)1
C/1975 V11
Clouds1
Earth1
Emerald1
Erythrite1
Gold1
Halite1
 
Top 10 Quantity of Items by Inanimate Elements
 Life FormQty. of Items *
Ocean9
River5
Lava5
Volcano3
Earth3
Clouds3
Tornado2
Snow2
Aquamarine2
Erythrite1
Emerald1
C/1975 V11
Asteroid (generic)1
Anomoepus1
Amber1


Spiritual Entities
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Total Spiritual Entities on the Website
12

This group incorporates collectibles of entities or beings that are, or were, believed to exist which cannot be explained by the laws of nature including faith-based and mythological beings. These are differentiated from folklore entities which are grouped with Imaginary Creatures based on the global impact some of these beings may have on culture and society. This group was included simply because it probably represents a different kind of ‘existence’.

 
Top 10 Quantity of Sets by Ethereal Entities
 Life FormQty. of Sets *
Angel1
Archangel Michael1
Dryad1
Jesus1
Zeus1
 
Top 10 Quantity of Items by Ethereal Entities
 Life FormQty. of Items *
Archangel Michael2
Zeus1
Jesus1
Dryad1
Angel1