Dinosaur fossil images source?

[Brontozaurus]

Hi all,

So I'm still working on Taronga Zoo's dinosaurs, and today I was asked if I knew anywhere they could acquire (for free or for a fee) images of dinosaur fossils. I'm a little vague on this, and google isn't helping much, so I wanted to ask if anyone here knew a source for dinosaur fossil images.

Thanks in advance!

[stargatedalek]

well if these are for references than you could see about using some of Scott Hartmans skeletal references, it would be a lot easier than using fossils directly (but if its for profit I recommend asking for permission)
http://www.skeletaldrawing.com/

[Yutyrannus]

For pterosaurs, you could always use the references in this book (which I still need to get myself):
http://www.amazon.com/Pterosaurs-Natural-History-Evolution-Anatomy/dp/0691150613

[Brontozaurus]

Thanks for the suggestions, but I meant more like photos of fossils. It's for the exhibition I mentioned in the original post.

[stargatedalek]

Again I ask, what do you plan on using them for?

[Yutyrannus]

Thanks for the suggestions, but I meant more like photos of fossils. It's for the exhibition I mentioned in the original post.

If you're going to use photos of actual fossils then beware: certain bones can become crushed or skewed during fossilization so if you do not correct this you will have inaccurate dinosaurs. To be honest you would be much better off using the skeletals provided.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Thanks for the suggestions, but I meant more like photos of fossils. It's for the exhibition I mentioned in the original post.

If you're going to use photos of actual fossils then beware: certain bones can become crushed or skewed during fossilization so if you do not correct this you will have inaccurate dinosaurs. To be honest you would be much better off using the skeletals provided.

To be more accurate MOST fossils are crushed, compressed badly or distorted to some degree during pre-fossilization as well as afterwards, and also during the erosional processes. People forget that once it is a fossil and is eroded from the ground it can crumble and be destroyed quite quickly by mother nature. This aside from the various things that can happen to a dead dinosaur before burial...scavenging, trampling, fire, earthquake, flood and wind, all can destroy or damage a skeleton before it is even covered.

[tyrantqueen]

Another member (wings) helpfully pointed out to me the idea of using Japanese expo catalogues. They have lots of images of fossils in them. I buy them off Yahoo Japan. I understand that you might not be willing or able to purchase from Japan, but that is the only thing I can suggest right now.

Here are some examples:







Some of the old ones tend to have outdated mounts, but overall they are really good for finding photos of real fossils. There is a language barrier, but most of the time it isn't a problem, because the dinosaur names are always written in english, and photography is a visual medium.

[tyrantqueen]

Oh, I forgot to mention- Siri scientific press released Dinosaurs of the British Isles recently, which was a really good resource for photographs of British dinosaur fossils. Every dinosaur species has its fossils photographed.

SSP has a website here: http://www.siriscientificpress.co.uk/Pages/default.aspx

For someone who is looking for images of fossil specimens, their books are really helpful. But unfortunately, they rarely publish anything related to dinosaurs. It's mostly arthropods and the like. Hopefully they will include more dinosaur related volumes in their line-up for the future.

[Dinoguy2]

You might want to try searching wikimedia commons, which has thousands of fossil photos usually under an attribution license or even public domain.