I tweeted a picture of this bug-eyed beastie this morning, hoping someone could identify it.
We shall name him Toby.
I rescued young Toby from its hellish spinning prison at Giggleberry Farms because it interested me so. Yes, I am the master of the dino-teeth claw game…and apparently the master of spending 50 cents to win 4 cents of prehistorical-themed plastic. I have a general familiarity with dinosaurs, but this guy was new to me. Turns out, that might be because he’s not a dinosaur.
Cartographer extraordinaire and apparent dino afficionado Jim Miller, suggested he is a dicynodont, a type of tusked herbivore that nibbled its way across the Earth back in the mid-Permian era some 280 million years ago. It is, for all purposes, part of proton-mammallian line of reptiles as the more camera-friendly dimetrodon. I look forward to reading more about them. According to the Telegraph, they were very successful and can be found most anywhere on the planet. Good on them.
Also glad to know that whatever factory in Asia churns out plastic dino toys has been looking to represent therapsids. Good on them.