Wolfgang Bonhage-Museum Korbach (Home of the Procynosuchus)

[Lanthanotus]

Hello forum,

yesterday I made an important and long awaited addition to my "pets" (the real living ones - will introduce in the next days) and I had to travel a considerable distance to do so. In preparation of this I found, that Korbach (with its Procynosuchus) and Wolfhagen (with its Protochirotherium) are on my way to the destination, so I deceided to visit both of them within the trip.

Easier said than done, cause I found Korbach had weird opening times (12 to 16.30) that conflicted with my designated schedule of the day and I did not intend to have my delicate freight stored in the car while I go for a walk. Luckily I was able to change the schedule in the end and so could see both, Wolfhagen and Korbach before picking up the animals. However, when I reached Wolfhagen I found that it's Friday and the museum isn't open at all, I somewhat felt reminded on my trip to the AAoD, but in this case it was my very own fault as they never are open on Friday - just had missed that. Korbach however was open and it was worth the visit (sorry about the bad quality, just had my outdated smartphone with me)....


The Korbacher Crack in situ, not very spectacular, but paleontological important nonetheless as it is one of only a few localities worldwide that has Permian fossils of land dwelling animals. The signs show images from several museums in the region, the middle sign on the thrid photo shows the tracks of Wolfhagen's Protochirotherium.





The small exhibition in the museum shows a short history of the Korbacher Spalte and a drilling core sample of the crack...




.. aswell as a quite nice (but unfortunately underexposed except for a few seconds after an 8 minute audio tour) diorama of the supposed area back in Permian times when the crevice opens (presumably during an earthquake) and consecutive and excessive rainfalls filled the crack with bones and debris. The Procynosuchus is the most detailed of the models (and Bullyland really made a good copy of it with its figure), but the Gorgonps also looks awesome and lifelike, I especially like that its "canines" are almost completly covered under lips. The carcass is supposed to be a Procynosuchus aswell and they even added the detail of roaches scaveninging it (and did not even just sit them upon it, but formed their legs as if they really would crawl there, that's dedication .






A small educational game invites children (or all people) to suppose and letting themselves explain, how scientists reconstruct animals from bones. The bones of a recent animal are scattered into a small box, they give that much info that the animal is recent and occurs in the area, and the skeleton, in contrast to most fossils is complete. Two models show the skeleton and the supposed muscles on it. The solution in the end is, that the animal is a hedgehog, however, they suppose, if the bones would have belonged to a reptile, the reconstructed animal could have looked as in the last photo (interesting approach, especially when you consider that "reptile" is an ill defined term in paleontology and biology).





Those two are,... well, you know what they are,... the small sign explains the Deinonychus are real dinosaurs in contrast to Procynosuchus and that they had feathers in real and were quite active animals. They are gifts (or leftovers) from a museum that had to close due to financial reasons and just found a new home in Korbach.




Several shelves and displays show true fossils and replicas of tracks, fish skeletons and plants in shale, a reconstructed Procynosuchus skeleton, and skulls of Pareiasaurus, Gorgonops and other animals of the area during Perm.







I did not make a photo of the "shop", but they not only offered their very own Bullyland Procynosuchus, but also the Protochirotherium of Wolfhagen and quite a few other Bullyland figures as Pteranodon, Brachiosaurus etc. and minis.

[Kaprosaurus]

So the Protochirotherium is available in other museums as well? I though it was only available at Wolfhagen.

[Lanthanotus]

Korbach and Wolfhagen are like 40 km from each other and both are joint together somehow under the "Geopark Grenzwelten" label. I doubt the Procynosuchus and Protochirotherium are available in other museums as, let's say the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart which also has dioramas and models of "dinosaurs" Bullyland made into figures.

[Kaprosaurus]

Didn't know that they are actually connected.Guess you learn something everyday 

[Libraraptor]

Only now I see you´ve been there, too! I have been there many times, also at the cleft itself and maybe at another place here on the forum I introduced my visit there, too.
It was this very museum where I first encountered the Procynosuchus and two or so years later the Protochirotherium and the hype around the figures began! Have you been in the tower with the Evolution exhibit,next to the cleft, too?

I live only 80 km away from the crack / cleft, so let´s plan to meet for a coffee or two next time!