Marcellus firm retires 'friendly fracosaurus'

Talisman Terry, the "friendly Fracosaurus," is kaput.

Talisman Energy USA Inc., the natural gas producer active in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale, has discontinued distribution of its dinosaur-themed coloring book, which became a nationwide object of ridicule after comedian Stephen Colbert lampooned it Monday on his Comedy Central show.

Talisman Terry was removed from the Canadian company's website because of the unwanted media attention, said Natalie Cox, a spokeswoman for Talisman, whose U.S. headquarters are in Pittsburgh.

Talisman created the coloring book two years ago as part of its community outreach in rural areas of Pennsylvania and New York. The "Fracosaurus," depicted in hard hat and work boots, presented a simplified version of natural gas extraction that anti-drilling activists criticized as propagandistic.

"Our focus is not to combat the media," Cox said. "Our focus is on safe drilling operations and to put efforts to help people understand it's just a coloring book. It's not the Encyclopedia Britannica. It's . . . just . . . a . . . coloring book."

Though Talisman Terry is dead, he is not extinct, living on in a digital Jurassic Park.

Several versions of the coloring book are posted online, including one at Le Devoir, a newspaper in Montreal.

Watch a clip of Stephen Colbert on hydraulic fracking at http://is.gd/mwSFFT

See the comic book at http://is.gd/dXMeuF

EndText