Dinosaurs (and other prehistoric creatures) at Fontenelle Forest Nature Center

[Patrx]

Hello, all!
I recently took a trip to Fontenelle Forest Nature Center, a nearby private nature center encompassing about 2,000 acres of forest, wetlands, and prairie. For the summer, they've built up several life-size models of prehistoric animals along a boardwalk, looping through the forest for about a mile. There's also a small exhibit indoors. The models were all sculpted by Guy Darrough. They're really spiffy, and, as far as I can tell, pretty accurate to boot.


Placerias, love the details on this one, but it seemed a little undersized. A juvenile, perhaps?



Postosuchus - neat color scheme, and an unusual skin texture. Most models give it all-over dermal armor like a modern croc.




A pair of Citipati osmolskae. Fantastic models, but they're missing their primary feathers for some reason.





Bambiraptor feinbergi, my favorite model on display. Still, a mite under-feathered, particularly about the face. The primaries, while (amazingly) present, seem a little sparse, as though the sculptor was determined to show off those wing-claws. Despite any quibbles, these seem miles ahead of many dromaeosaurs on display in museums worldwide. Obviously, I want one 




Daspletosaurus torosus. Love the feet on this one, very dinosaurian. Of course, if I had things my way, he'd be decked out in feathers, but then, few dinosaurs wouldn't in that scenario. Like many of the models here, the coloration is top-notch.



Edmontosaurus annectens. Bit on the anorexic side, as are a few of the others. Aside from that, it's really quite spectacular.



Parasaurolophus walkeri. Really nice one, I like the colors.




Sordes pilosus. The name means "hairy filth", but I think they're adorable.



Megapnosaurus attacking a Sordes. The Megapnosaurus is cleverly built supported by its tail, allowing the feet to be frozen in a mid-air leaping pose.


Quetzalcoatlus northropi, here depicted with inexplicably birdlike nesting behavior. Also, the description near the display incorrectly suggests them to have been bipedal walkers that could not fly. Points for including the fuzzy coat, though.



Hypsilophodon foxii - these little guys are fantastic, probably a second-favorite next to the Bambiraptors. I'm not sure about the hand position, though; what's the current thinking on hypsilophodontids and pronation?


Hadrosaur chick in the indoor exhibit. Great details on the face.


An unidentified sauropod hatchling. Saltasaurus, maybe?



A rare sort of exhibit featuring Mesozoic flora, along with a bust of Missouri-native hadrosaur Hypsibema missouriensis.


a skull from Tylosaurus proriger. Observe the terrifying extra set of teeth in the back of the throat.

[Himmapaan]

Wonderful!

I wouldn't say those hadrosaurs were 'anorexic' though. Only their faces are a little too skeletal, but they're quite beefy things on the whole, I think (except perhaps the caudofemoralis ).  I love the Parasaurolophus' colour too.

And no, Hypsilophodon hands oughtn't to be pronated either. But really pretty model!

[postsaurischian]

Very, very BEAUTIFUL !
The tiny Pterosaurs are also adorable!
Great pics - thanks for sharing!

[Gwangi]

Those look fantastic! I wish I had that kind of nature trail in my back yard! The Postosuchus looks a bit off but I love the rest.

[Gryphoceratops]

Awesome models!  What do you mean about the bambiraptors and citipati being underfeathered though?  It looks like he sculpted feathers on the rest of their bodies as well.  As for the bambiraptor face, i really don't think its a dealbreaker for accuracy as long as the animal in question isn't from a fossil where it shows what feathering was actually there like sinornithosaurus.  There are plenty of birds with featherless faces. 

[ZoPteryx]

Really cool place, I'll have to visit someday!  I think the Parasaurolophus is my favorite.  Are the dinosaurs exhibited every summer?

[tyrantqueen]

Awesome models!  What do you mean about the bambiraptors and citipati being underfeathered though?  It looks like he sculpted feathers on the rest of their bodies as well.  As for the bambiraptor face, i really don't think its a dealbreaker for accuracy as long as the animal in question isn't from a fossil where it shows what feathering was actually there like sinornithosaurus.  There are plenty of birds with featherless faces. 

I agree.

These models are really beautiful though I think I like the Quetzalcoatlus and the Daspletosaurus the most.

[Jetoar]

OMG! This is a AMAZING and BEUTIFUL place. Thanks for sharing your photographs. I would like to visit when if I go to America  .

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Pixel are you certain the Tylosaurus isnt a bit underfeathered for you as well? 

[s.foulkes]

Nope not all sculpted by Guy Darrough at all. Guy Darrough ,who i know quite well, hired other sculptors to do work for him then he had his staff we will call them , mold and cast them. SOme paint work and sculpting was done by Guy but not all. He owns them but did not make all of them. Charlie McGrady from CM studios sculpted the Placerias ,Daspleto body, Edmontosaur body (originally created as a Miasaura ) the small Pterasaurs were done by Allan Smith from Fossil smith studios and the life size Head of the Edmontosaurs was done by me-Shane Foulkes as well as the Kritosaurus which Guy calls Hypsibema! He added the Ultraman style fin on top of its head .Im not sure who sculpted the Parasaurolophus thinks it was Keith Strasser. Keith did the Syntarsus too but Guy changed it to megapnosaur. Not sure who did the Citapati pair or the Hatchlings, maybe Jerry Finney but not sure. The very first image of Bambi raptor was painted by me for Guy years ago.THe others he tried to copy the color scheme himself.People often ask him did you do all these dinosaur models? and his answer is always yes i own all of these, well he does but the answer is also misleading because people think he is the artist responsible for what you see.He basically hire others to sculpt and paint alot of the displays for him then does some paint work himself as well as change others original work to try and make it his own. Like i said he owns them so they are his. Last i heard he was trying to open up a small museum in Festus Missouri.Not to high jack this thead ,just thought i'd mention the facts since i was looking at it.

[radman]

Fascinating!

[Patrx]

Wonderful!

I wouldn't say those hadrosaurs were 'anorexic' though. Only their faces are a little too skeletal, but they're quite beefy things on the whole, I think (except perhaps the caudofemoralis ).  I love the Parasaurolophus' colour too.

And no, Hypsilophodon hands oughtn't to be pronated either. But really pretty model!

Good point! I suppose I was just distracted by those hollow fenestrae. I wish more models existed of hypsilophodontids, they're lovely little creatures.

Very, very BEAUTIFUL !
The tiny Pterosaurs are also adorable!
Great pics - thanks for sharing!

They are absurdly cute. And thanks, I am pretty happy with the photos myself I have some others from the state museum, I shall endeavor to share those as well soon.

Those look fantastic! I wish I had that kind of nature trail in my back yard! The Postosuchus looks a bit off but I love the rest.

You and me both! Someday, if I win the lottery, hah. You're right about the Postosuchus. For one, it looks to have an unusual skull shape. Hmm, I wonder if it was originally meant to be something else?

Awesome models!  What do you mean about the bambiraptors and citipati being underfeathered though?  It looks like he sculpted feathers on the rest of their bodies as well.  As for the bambiraptor face, i really don't think its a dealbreaker for accuracy as long as the animal in question isn't from a fossil where it shows what feathering was actually there like sinornithosaurus.  There are plenty of birds with featherless faces. 

Ah, I do think I should clarify here - I meant to imply that I was expressing my personal tastes and opinions, rather than a genuine scientific critique. For a number of reasons, I prefer dinosaurs to be portrayed as birdlike as is feasible. For one thing, it helps to break down the imagined barrier between avians and "proper" dinosaurs. There's still this vestigial image of dinosaurs as draconian fantasy monsters, all gnashing teeth and scales - fine for movies and so forth, but not exactly naturalistic. Not to say I dislike scales, all dinosaurs have those somewhere, hah. Specifically, with, say, the primary feathers of Citipati, it simply seems unlikely to me that they'd begin past the wrist. No dinosaur has ever been seen to have such a configuration - if there are vaned feathers on forelimbs, they start at the second digit, unless I'm mistaken. If Citipati's wing feathers did begin behind its wrists, this would make it unique among all known dinosaurs, right? Possible, but, to my mind, unlikely. Addressing Bambiraptor, the more I read about deinonychosaurs (my favorite group of extinct dinosaur) the more they seem to me to have been birds with teeth. Most birds are pretty fluffy about the neck and head, so I tend to like that look on deinonychosaurs. As you mention, though, some birds have naked heads - but these Bambiraptor models have scales on their faces, meaning (once again, unless I'm wrong) that they'd have had to evolve scales all over again, which, from what I read, is unlikely.
Bear in mind, I don't intend to start a feather argument here, we've probably got dozens of threads better suited to that sort of thing. I certainly don't mind if you've got different thoughts regarding dinosaur integument anyway XD

Really cool place, I'll have to visit someday!  I think the Parasaurolophus is my favorite.  Are the dinosaurs exhibited every summer?

This was my first visit to the center, and the second time they've done this sort of summer dinosaur display. It seems to have been pretty popular, so I imagine they'll do something similar in the future. At least, I hope so

OMG! This is a AMAZING and BEUTIFUL place. Thanks for sharing your photographs. I would like to visit when if I go to America  .

Of course! Unfortunately, aside from a few nifty things like this, this part of the country is generally considered rather dull, though I like it.

Pixel are you certain the Tylosaurus isnt a bit underfeathered for you as well? 

Hah! You know, now that you mention it, a big aquatic lizard with a crazy feathery mohawk trailing behind it would be pretty spectacular, if thoroughly infeasible

*SNIP* (This post is getting rather long as it is)

Wow! Thanks for the clarification, Shane! Credit where it's due, after all Unfortunately, none of you other artists' names appear on the Fontenelle site. It's funny, though, I thought a few of these looked an awful lot like the CM Studios models I'd seen before. I wonder, is there any evidence for that thing on Hypsibema's head, or is it just a way to differentiate it from your original Kritosaurus?