Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Ontario

[suspsy]

On October 15, the CMN opened up its National Heritage Campus to the public, no charge. What a fantastic experience it was! I got to chat with paleontologists, examine plant, mammal, and insect collections, and of course, view tons of fossils up close. Some were ones that were put in storage after the CMN was renovated. Others were ones I'd never seen before.

Among the more interesting topics I discussed with a couple of paleontologists was that the T. rex specimen known as Black Beauty could possibly be a new species of tyrannosaur, one older than the tyrant king. Intriguing. Also, I showed them photos of the upcoming 2017 Wild Safari toys and the reaction was unanimously positive. The feathered T. rex and the Velociraptor in particular received praise. Way to go, Doug!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specimens_of_Tyrannosaurus#.22Black_Beauty.22:_RTMP_81.6.1

On to the photos. My wife and I were greeted at the entrance by a woolly mammoth.

IMG_2071 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr
IMG_2072 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

An Amargasaurus stands proudly in the cafeteria.

IMG_2073 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr
IMG_2074 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Coelacanth.
IMG_2076 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Dozens and dozens of cabinets containing various fossils.
IMG_2135 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Edmontosaurus.
IMG_2086 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Prosaurolophus.
IMG_2087 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Pachycephalosaurus and Corythosaurus.
IMG_2091 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Saurolophus and another Edmontosaurus.
IMG_2092 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Cast of good ol' AMNH 5027.
IMG_2093 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Gorgosaurus.
IMG_2094 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr
IMG_2095 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

[RaptorRex]

I've always wanted to visit this museum as well as the ROM, but I pretty much always visit the other side of Canada where the Royal Tyrrell Museum is... great pics! First time I've seen an Amargosaurus mount, surprisingly.

[suspsy]

Ceratopsians! Look at all these beautiful skulls! It is downright criminal that these are not on public display!

From front to back: Centrosaurus, Chasmosaurus, Triceratops, and another Centrosaurus. The partial Triceratops skull was part of the original CMN dinosaur gallery. When I was really little, I had trouble relating to it. It looked like just a shapeless rocky lump, not a dinosaur skull.

IMG_2088 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

IMG_2090 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

This skin was also part of the old gallery. Passed my hand over it so many times back in the day.

IMG_2089 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Styracosaurus.

IMG_2122 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Centrosaurus cast from the AMNH.

IMG_2103 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

And check this out! Monoclonius lowei. The validity of this animal remains under debate, with some experts suspecting it is an immature specimen of Styracosaurus. I'd love for it to be legitimate. I've always liked the name Monoclonius.

IMG_2097 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

IMG_2121 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

[Jose S.M.]

All the pictures in this thread have been amazing, thanks for sharing!, and it would be great to get to fell that skin impression. I guess it's the closer one can get to feel an actual extinct dinosaur.

[Doug Watson]

Ceratopsians! Look at all these beautiful skulls! It is downright criminal that these are not on public display!

The partial Triceratops skull was part of the original CMN dinosaur gallery. When I was really little, I had trouble relating to it. It looked like just a shapeless rocky lump, not a dinosaur skull.

The reason most if not all of these aren't on display is the museum has a policy of not displaying holotype specimens. CMN may not have the largest collection but they have one of the largest collections of holotype specimens. The Styracosaurus skull that you also show used to be on display in the old gallery that opened in 1974. It was part of the free standing mount that is still on display in the new hall. When the after hours incident happened where the drunk damaged a mount that was adjacent to the Styracosaurus mount (I detailed that story somewhere else on the DTF) CMN adopted a policy of not displaying holotype skulls. At that time CMN had our Model & Diorama shop mould and cast the holotype Styracosaurus skull and that cast is now on the mount. The Chasmosaurus skull used to be part of two mounted specimens on display when I was kid. They seem to have bent the policy a bit with the Vagacerotops by showing the frill but they don't have the other loose cranial pieces on display. They had me restore the skull using casts of the disarticulated pieces that I made and then I made a mould of the restored skull and that one is on display. So unfortunately in order to display these skulls the museum would have to invest a large amount of money in moulding and casting the skulls. I am guessing it is a budget issue. There is also the issue that moulding the skull also puts the specimen at risk. Some of these specimens are so fragile if damaged they can be reduced to a pile of sand that can't be repaired.

I am pretty sure that partial Triceratops skull has been moulded and a cast was incorporated into the skull being used on the free standing mount. I can only guess because after I did the Vagaceratops skull they got me to give an estimate on a similar Triceratops restoration using that partial skull. I know it was P.A.S.T. that did the skull for the triceratops so I guess my estimate was too high. It would have been a bugger to mould because that piece is huge and heavy and I priced it accordingly. I wish I had been able to do it because the reconstructed part of that skull looks off to me.

[Doug Watson]

Gorgosaurus.

Wow, talk about a trip down memory lane. Thank you for posting this one. When I was kid in the sixties and used to go to the old dinosaur hall at CMN there was no mounted Daspletosaurus or any other big mounted theropod. The best we had was this Gorgosaurus in a full panel mount. It was in the middle of the hall up about waist height for an adult and laid out on about a 30 degree angle. At the back of the panel they had a separate skull of Gorgosaurus mounted on a post in a glass case.
Funny when I worked at Paleo on the mammoths and then later when I was waiting for my new shop in Aylmer and they housed me at Paleo I would take my lunches or any other spare time wandering through the paleo collection and I could never get a good look at this one on the shelves so this is a treat. I feel like I am six again.

[suspsy]

Happy to oblige, Doug. It's fun learning all this history about the museum.

Here's a Spinosaurus tooth alongside my hand.

IMG_2102 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Deinotherium. Never knew the CMN had a cast. I sure don't recall ever seeing it on display.

IMG_2100 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

IMG_2101 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Borealonectes.

IMG_2105 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

IMG_2107 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

CollectA and Safari are clearly popular with the museum staff!

IMG_2108 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

A fine but woefully outdated life-sized sculpture of Troodon/Stenonychosaurus.

IMG_2117 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Tarbosaurus.

IMG_2113 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Castoroides.

IMG_2110 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Here's another old friend, Smilodon. This bad boy spent many years on display in the tiny prehistoric mammal hallway, but now it's relegated to a shelf in the back of the warehouse. I heard talk that the current mammal gallery may be revamped in the future, so perhaps the Smilodon will return.

IMG_2111 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

And check this out! This Ankylosaurus skull is around the size of a manhole cover! Imagine what the entire animal was like!

IMG_2118 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

IMG_2120 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

IMG_2137 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

[suspsy]

Moeritherium and Phiomia. Never seen a skull of the latter before.

IMG_2114 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Some excellent proboscidian scultures.

IMG_2112 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

A trio of naked Troodon, improved over that other spindly model, but still outdated.

IMG_2123 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

A magnificent sculpture of Tyrannosaurus rex ruthlessly taking down Edmontosaurus. I'm sure some of you recognise it from the Ely Kish painting.

IMG_2124 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

IMG_2127 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

IMG_2125 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

A Lego chasmosaur. Because why not?

IMG_2126 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Blowup of one of several dinosaur-themed stamps for Canada Post by Julius Csotonyi.

IMG_2128 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

And finally, we come to the fossil preparation lab. Here are parts from the skull of Centrosaurus.

IMG_2132 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

The massive nasal of a Pachyrhinosaurus.

IMG_2133 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

And just look at how massive that tail club is!

IMG_2134 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

This doesn't look like much, but it's a section of frill from possibly the largest Triceratops ever found. The famous Joseph Tyrrell was the discoverer.

IMG_2131 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

That's the end of the tour. Thanks for following!

[MLMjp]

There´s skin-wrapping and there is that! Not even the skeletons could fit inside those bodies, especially the Edmontosaurus.

Wonderfull specimens suspsy. I envy you a lot.

[Jose S.M.]

Thanks you for sharing! I would love to see specimens in a preparation lab like that.

[suspsy]

There´s skin-wrapping and there is that! Not even the skeletons could fit inside those bodies, especially the Edmontosaurus.

Indeed. Ely Kish, bless her, was one of the biggest offenders when it comes to shrink wrapped dinosaurs.

[suspsy]

I've replaced all the CMN photos on the first page. Will replace the warehouse photos on this page next.

[suspsy]

And now the warehouse photos at the top of this page have been replaced as well!