Museum of the Rockies photo gallery

[ZoPteryx]

Located in the rapidly growing town of Bozeman, Montana, the Museum of the Rockies (MOR) houses the United States' largest collection of dinosaur fossils.  The museum also features permanent exhibits on local Native American culture, the lives early pioneers, regularly hosts traveling exhibits, and has a planetarium.  That being said, MOR is dominated by its star attraction, the Siebel Dinosaur Complex, which displays fossils (including many real specimens) from the region with an understandable heavy emphasis on Late Cretaceous dinosaurs.  For a paleonerd such as myself, it's perhaps most notable for its large number of famous specimens, such as the Tenontosaurus that was eaten by a group of Deinonychus, the Edmontosaurus with skin impressions known as "X-rex", the holotype of Daspletosaurus horneri, and the largest Tyrannosaurus skull ever found.

Apologies for the quality of some of these photos. 

"Big Mike" greets visitors at the front entrance






The first section of the complex is called "Landforms and Life Forms" and focusses on the early development of Earth and the progression of life through the Paleozoic.  Though fairly small, it has a number of nice dioramas and a viewing laboratory where visitors can see fossils being prepared.

Cambrian Burgess Shale diorama.



Silurian diorama.



Devonian Bear Gulch diorama.  Forgot to take a wide shot, there's just so much to look at in this one.  If only there were figures of these fish!










Permian diorama.  Although I'm pretty sure those insects are from the Carboniferous.




And finally, a perhaps somewhat out of place Hesperornis diorama.


Oh, and there's some easy to miss stairs in this section that lead to an overlook of the next section and a small selection of Cenozoic mammal fossils.



Next up, the "Hall of Giants", with its focus on Jurassic and Early-Mid Cretaceous dinosaurs.

Diplodocus adult vertebrae, juvenile hind limb, hind limb growth series with an adult's rib, and a mass of juvenile bones still in their matrix.





"Big Al" the famous Allosaurus, real fossils and a mounted cast.




Camarasaurus bones and skin impression.



The "Livingston sauropod", an undescribed diplodocoid.




Deinonychus remains.


"Exploded" Tenontosaurus skull.


The famed Tenontosaurus specimen that shows evidence of being fed upon by Deinonychus.  Note the scattered Deinonychus teeth around the carcass.



Somewhat outdated diorama of an attack.



Some marine life of the Cretaceous inland sea.  Reconstruction and fossil of the polycotylid plesiosaur Edgarosaurus, an indeterminate polycotylid, and the excellently preserved large marine crocodile Terminonaris.






And finally, a diorama of the little burrowing ornithischian Oryctodromeus, found in the Wayan Formation.  I anticipate many further discoveries from this formation.  While Oryctodromeus is the only named dinosaur from this area, other remains indicate the presence of nodosaurids, iguanodontoids, and various theropods including a very large oviraptorosaur, an allosauroid, and some sort of large piscivorous species.



Next up, all those big famous Late Cretaceous dinosaurs!

[Lanthanotus]

Thanks for sharing,... looks like a very interesting and lively exhibition. Man I'd like to visit Montana once and hunt for some dinosaur scraps.

[Halichoeres]

WOW, that Bear Gulch diorama! I haven't been to Bozeman in years, but that alone is reason to go back.

[Sinornis]

Great photos! Thank you for sharing!

[Ravonium]

Good display, especially those Paleozoic dioramas and the T-rex. Thanks for sharing.

[ZoPteryx]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!    And now we continue the tour:

While not listed on the map, I specifically remember seeing this next section labelled as the "Hall of Growth and Development".  Its focus is primarily on non-Hell Creek Late Cretaceous taxa, such as those of Egg Mountain and the Two Medicine Formation.

Maiasaura growth series


Avaceratops partial skull


Brachylophosaurus skull


Hypacrosaurus skull


The now well-known Daspletosaurus horneri holotype skull



Juvenile Daspletosaurus skull (probably D. horneri) and an Albertosaurus jaw (interior view)



Stegoceras skull


Achelousaurus holotype skull



Troodontid reconstruction, egg clutch, and embryonic bones




Elasmosaurid and Tylosaurus skulls



And finally, the main attraction: "The Hall of Horns and Teeth"!


The hall is dominated by MOR 980, Montana's Rex, the most complete Tyrannosaurus specimen ever found in Montana.  Everything but the skull is real bone, the actual fossil of which resides nearby.





There's also an impressive growth series of Triceratops skulls, from a little baby to "Torosaurus" morphs.  The last one is a rear view of a huge skull!  Most of them are the real specimens.  I took photos of the info plates for each skull as well, so if you have questions about a specimen just let me know.







Not to be outdone, the T. rex's have their own growth series of skulls.  They are, from smallest to largest:  Chomper Rex (MOR 6625), Jane Rex (BMRP 2002.4.1), B-Rex (MOR 1125, the one that had soft tissue recovered from its leg), Montana's Rex (MOR 980, formerly Peck's Rex), Wankel Rex (MOR 555), and finally Custer Rex (MOR 008), the largest Tyrannosaurus rex skull ever found.





Now back to Triceratops, with two skulls of T. prorsus and one of T. horridus.




And here we have X-rex, the tail end of a very large Edmontosaurus, complete with detailed skin impressions and dorsal "frill".  The nickname comes from its initial misidentification as a T. rex.






Two large Edmontosaurus skulls.  The red arrow on the first denotes an embedded Tyrannosaurus tooth.



Thescelosaurus body with skin impressions around the legs.


Pachycephalosaurus skulls growth series.


Ornithomimid remains


Ankylosaurus tail club and skull.




Mounted partial skeletons of adult and juvenile Triceratops.  The adult has some of the longest brow horns on record!



Young Edmontosaurus skeleton


Montanoceratops skeleton


The femur of B-rex, indicating where the soft tissue was recovered.


The skeleton of the Cretaceous crocodile Borealosuchus and the skull of a champsosaur.



And that concludes our journey through the MOR's Siebel Dinosaur Complex!

But just because we're through with the main attraction doesn't mean we're done with the MOR.  Up next, some shots of a very cool travelling exhibit featuring some of nature's greatest predators and a special behind the scenes look the country's largest collection of dinosaur fossils!

[ZoPteryx]

The MOR regularly hosts travelling exhibits, and during my visit the focus was on "Crocs: Ancient Predators in a Modern World".  It was really neat, with a combination of taxidermy crocodilians, interactive displays, and LIVE crocodilians on display!

Behold Gomek, one of the largest Saltwater Crocodiles ever to be kept in captivity.  This is a cast of the actually taxidermy specimen that resides at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, Florida.  I saw the real deal there years ago, so I was really surprised to see this old friend.



Taxidermy Indian Gharial


Taxidermy Freshwater Crocodile


Taxidermy Dwarf Caiman


Live hatchling American Alligator


Live African Slender-snouted Crocodile species


There was also live African Dwarf Crocodiles and Chinese Alligator, but my photos of them didn't come out. 

Naturally, there was also a section on prehistoric crocodilians.  This family portrait looks awfully familiar. 


Little Steneosaurus skeleton


Big Thecachampsa skull


Next time, a look behind the scenes. 

[suspsy]

Cool photos! Methinks it's high time they stopped trying to claim that Triceratops and Torosaurus are synonymous!

[Halichoeres]

Surprised they had a live Chinese alligator on display! I suppose by now their population must be almost completely in captivity.

[ZoPteryx]

I just realized I forgot to finish this gallery!

First, as promised, here are some behind the scenes photos from the MOR fossil storage rooms.

A portion of "B-rex", the famous Tyrannosaurus fossil that yielded apparent soft tissue.


Thescelosaurus specimen preserving skin impressions around its hind leg.  A replica is on display for the public, but this is the real deal!  That's MOR curator of paleontology Dr. John Scannella at the right.  It was really cool seeing the actual specimen, including the skull, which, according to Dr. Scannella, was almost accidentally thrown off a cliff!



There were many more specimens that I unfortunately neglected to take photos of, including more Daspletosaurus horneri remains, mosasaur remains, a Triceratops horn core collected by Marsh himself, and the holotype humerus of Montanazhdarcho.  There was also some things we weren't allowed to photograph. 

And I'll leave you off with a few photos of the public exhibits, starting with three new ones:

Squashed Einiosaurus skull.


Hatchling/juvenile Maiasaura bonebed.


Hatchling Hypacrosaurus bonebed and long bone comparison.


And now some repeats:

Big Al cast.


"Livingston diplodocid".


Fossil prep lab.



Triceratops juv. vs adult nasal horn comparison.


Finally, MORe Rexes!!!



If you'd like any specific photos or info on the exhibits, just let me know!  I hope you've enjoyed this tour and I encourage you to drop on by next time your in the Yellowstone area.  I'll try to keep this thread updated as new fossils are put on display, which is rumored to be happening later this year.  Oh, and if you're wondering why I'm there so often, full disclosure, I work there now! 

[Jose S.M.]

Nice photos! Thanks for sharing.

[Gwangi]

Cool photos! Methinks it's high time they stopped trying to claim that Triceratops and Torosaurus are synonymous!

I was thinking the same when I saw the side-by-side picture. They really don't look much alike.

What a great opportunity! Thanks for taking the time to share all of these pictures with us, it's really appreciated.

[ceratopsian]

Thanks for showing your photos.  I'd love to visit this museum some day.  And congratulations on working there!

[Nimravus]

Yeap, the museum looks amazing! Thanks for sharing the photos!

[ZoPteryx]

Glad everyone enjoyed the tour! 

And congratulations on working there!

Thank you!  It's super exciting to work in a place where all most folks want to do is talk about dinosaurs! 

Cool photos! Methinks it's high time they stopped trying to claim that Triceratops and Torosaurus are synonymous!

I was thinking the same when I saw the side-by-side picture. They really don't look much alike.

If memory serves, the signage leaves it a bit more ambiguous than the skull lineup would suggest.  I'll need to double check though.