Dinosaurs in Colorado!

[Patrx]

Hey folks! A few months ago, my dad and I took a trip to Colorado, to explore some of the myriad paleontological attractions therein.
First up was the Morrison Natural History Museum, a small but excellent showcase of prehistoric North American fauna.



I think this is a cast of Stan's skull?


Does anyone know who sculpted this scaly T. rex? I don't recognize it.


Big Al Two's rather boxy skull.



Fantastic Allosaurus illustration by Fabio Pastori. He did several similar drawings for the museum. I love the description of Allo's manual claws as "talons".



Evidently they're still working on the skull of this Apatosaurus, and will probably use a cast to finish the display.


This is part of the Apatosaurus skull, still being extracted from the matrix. I think it's a jugal?



Camptosaurus bits.





Stegosaurus bits and fossilized trackways, adult and juvenile, with some lovely restorations by Shane Foulkes.




These tracks show evidence of bipedal running by juvenile apatosaurs! Illustrations by Fabio Pastori and sculpture by Shane Foulkes.


I really like this illustration, but it's not labeled. Heterodontosaurus, maybe?


Another fantastic Shane Foulkes Stegosaurus. I'm not sure if this model was done prior to the discovery of Steogosaurus' gular osteoderms, or if they were omitted intentionally for some reason.



Ceratopsian skulls! It was really fascinating to just walk up and touch the the trike skull to really observe just how big and impressive it is. The other one is referred to as Ceratops, but that's a dubious genus. Some kind of big chasmosaur, anyway.




Mosasaurs! The big one is, of course Tylosaurus, and the little skull belongs to Platecarpus. They also have this live water monitor; serving as a great illustration of the relationship between the mosasaurs and their modern sqamate relatives.


A Deinonychus leg accompanied by another splendid Pastori drawing.


Pteranodon/Geosternbergia sternbergi.

Next was the remodeled Best Western Denver Southwest. The owner of this hotel spent millions of dollars to renovate the place into a natural-history themed psuedo-museum.





This is the real centerpiece of the Dino Hotel - the lobby. Fossils, casts, and antique furniture, and assorted knicknacks give this place the air of an old study the likes of which Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger might have envied.









There's also a swimming pool, designed to resemble the shape of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway. It's heated, giving off a cool-looking mist in the cold weather.

Finally, we visited the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, to which I've somehow never been in all my years of visiting the state.



This dynamic but improbable T. rex greets visitors with its broken hands a-waving merrily.



Two titanic plesiosaurs identified as Thalassomedon.







The main prehistoric exhibit is arranged chronologically, starting with a video of the beginning of Earth, and these displays about early invertebrates. The "underwater" dioramas are very convincing.





Finally, reptiles and amphibians! Dimetrodon, Eryops, and an a small sphenacodontid. Synapids are, interestingly, referred to here as "protomammals".


Dinosaurs!


Fantastic Coelphysis display.


A plaque about dinosaur reconstructions. This Coelophysis has weird, rubbery-looking skin, and the display does not mention feathers. 

More photos to come! This post is long enough as it is.

[Gwangi]

They got a lot packed in that little place, looks like a fun trip. I would love a study designed just like that!

[Takama]

Great to see someone elses photos of the morrison and denver mjuseums besides my own

I see there a lot of new things(or things I missed) in the morrison museum, like that pterosaur. 

BTW did you stay at that hotel. Or did they let you visit?

[SpittersForEver]

Good photography! I love Shane Foulk's models as well, they are very detailed. I wish I could go there!

[Patrx]

I would love a study designed just like that!

As would I! I absolutely adore the aesthetics.

Good photography! I love Shane Foulk's models as well, they are very detailed. I wish I could go there!

Thanks! You're right about Shane's work. His dinos always seem very lifelike.

BTW did you stay at that hotel. Or did they let you visit?

We stayed for a night. Here are a few more photos of the rooms and such:


For the most part, the rooms are typical chain hotel fare - but there are a few neat details, like the room labels and paleo-themed paintings.




Each stairwell has a section of mural.

Now, back to the museum in Denver!



A really incredible Jurassic diorama.


A bizarrely outdated mural about the development of flight in pterosaurs and birds.



I was told that this hadrosaur mount is about 80 per cent complete - its skull, interestingly, is a cast, but the real one is on display separately. Perhaps they used the cast for the mount because the original lacked scleral rings?



The rest of the display features an assortment of "tools" with which various dinosaurs were equipped - a thagomizer, a tail club, big claws, big teeth, and so on.




The Cretaceous period is well-known for its ladders, right?





This Stygimolochskull looks like it was sculpted from clay or something.




The fossil prep lab, a very busy place. The bearded fellow by the window was working on a fossil from a Pentaceratops limb.







Some boring mammals.

That's all! I have some photos from other trips to other museums that I might share one of these days, too.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

I have noticed that often the original skull will be displayed seperately like that. If you refer to Sue in the Field museum, same thing. One large factor in this determination has to be weight.....that duckbill skull has to weigh a fairly hefty amount and then placed on rods several feet off the ground it would be tempting fate. Add to that the necessity for mounting hardware against the bone and the damage that would be necessary. Many museums seem to be moving to using casts and displaying the original material seperately.

[tyrantqueen]

Looks like it was an enjoyable visit. I liked the photos of the Shane Foulkes models. And lol at the mammal comment

I also see the AAA monitor lizard inside the cabinet in the study.

[Patrx]

I have noticed that often the original skull will be displayed seperately like that. If you refer to Sue in the Field museum, same thing. One large factor in this determination has to be weight.....that duckbill skull has to weigh a fairly hefty amount and then placed on rods several feet off the ground it would be tempting fate. Add to that the necessity for mounting hardware against the bone and the damage that would be necessary. Many museums seem to be moving to using casts and displaying the original material seperately.

That makes sense - fossils are heavy. Perhaps it's just too risky to mount them on full skeletons, high above the floor. 

Looks like it was an enjoyable visit. I liked the photos of the Shane Foulkes models. And lol at the mammal comment

I also see the AAA monitor lizard inside the cabinet in the study.

It certainly was! Colorado is a great place to visit in general. Camping, scenery - and lots of dinosaurs. As cool as the big museum in Denver was, I preferred the one in Morrison. I didn't feel so rushed and was able to take my time examining the exhibits and chatting with the curators.
That study was just excellent. One really gets a sense for the owner's passion for prehistory there.