Senckenberg Museum of Natural History, Frankfurt (2014)

[DinoToyForum]

Here are some images of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures on display in the Senckenberg Museum of Natural History, Frankfurt, taken on my trip to Germany this summer. There is so much more besides, but these are some of the highlights. Sorry, this is quite an image heavy topic so I'll split the images across two posts.



(yeah, the boy was hiding under the bench. Don't know why!)

[DinoToyForum]

continued... enjoy!

[Z-Ray]

I am super jealous, that is an awesome looking museum
The last museum I went to had a Godzilla style Allosaurus mount, a diorama of a croc skinned Mosasaur (complete with saw-toothed fin running down its spine) attacking a swan-necked Plesiosaur
and coincidentally a cast of the exact same Triceratops skull that is on that full mount.

I have a few of questions about the mounts,
The Diplodocus in the second picture is shown with digigrade feet instead of plantigrade, I assume this is just the mount, or am I over-generalising sauropod feet?
The Supersaurus in the 3rd picture has claws on all of its long wiggly toes even though the silhouette behind shows  the more familiar stumpy columnar manus.
and lastly the Triceratops has four big strong toes on its manus instead of three + two reduced nubby ones (something that gave me worlds of trouble to get right in my reconstruction)

I don't mean to sound critical, just interested in making sure I'm correct in my knowledge

*edit I'm not sure why I felt bad asking about errors (or not) it's not Like it's your fault or anything.

[tyrantqueen]

Some museums are slow to update their mounts. When I visited the Oxford Natural History, their Iguanodon was still in a tripod posture, with a tail dragging on the ground. Here it is:



Or maybe they intended for it to be rearing up?

[Gwangi]

Apparently the Yale Peabody Museum also has tail dragging mounts but is working on it. It has to be a lot of work to reposition those things but jeeze, it's been over over 30 years since the "Dinosaur Renaissance".

That Senchenberg Museum looks awesome, I can't believe that kid in the second picture is sitting under the bench instead of look at all the cool dinosaurs! That would not have been me at that age.

The Triceratops and Stegosaurus mounts look VERY similar to those in the "American Museum of Natural History". I wonder if they are casts of the same mounts?

[Z-Ray]

The Triceratops and Stegosaurus mounts look VERY similar to those in the "American Museum of Natural History". I wonder if they are casts of the same mounts?

Very likely as I said the Canterbury Natural History Museum in Christchurch NZ has a cast of the exact skull and I have collected 2 photos off the web from other museums with the same full mount and have 2 more that very much look like it but are from the other side so I can't be sure.

[DinoLord]

Very nice photos. Seems like a lovely museum; I'll have to visit if I'm ever in the area.

The AMNH mounts seem to make their way into quite a few museums. Growing up in the shadow of NYC, I'm quite familiar with how they look and see them not infrequently in other museums.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

And there is my world famous psittacosaurus bringing up the rear. I assume that is the actual fossil as the colors look close to be a cast . So far he has not managed to be repatriated back to China apparently

[docronnie]

An awesome museum indeed. Gorgeous fossils... 😊

[DinoToyForum]

And there is my world famous psittacosaurus bringing up the rear. I assume that is the actual fossil as the colors look close to be a cast . So far he has not managed to be repatriated back to China apparently

Yes, it is the real fossil. The museum interpretation distinguished between casts and originals on the labels. At the bottom of the Psittacosaurus label it says "original", you can just about make it out in the photo. Here is a close up view of the tail.



They also had a life restoration alongside the fossil:

[postsaurischian]

  Beautiful pictures!
I recognize I havn't been there for too long. A lot of things have changed.
And a lot more Dinosaur species too ! Triceratops, Euoplocephalus or Parasaurolophus weren't there when I last visited the museum.
The glass fiber Diplodocus and Tyrannosaurus are the ones I saw 2 years ago at an exhibition in Zürich / Switzerland. They got a repaint .

[tyrantqueen]

Is it my eyes, or is that Tyrannosaurus holding a German flag in its hand? I wonder how it does it when it lacks opposable thumbs... 

[DinoToyForum]

Yes! It was the day after Germany won the World Cup!

[John]

That museum has impressive fossil mounts.I like the variety from Tyrannosaurus rex to Placodus gigas.

[postsaurischian]

I visited the museum yesterday. I hope it's okay to contribute some pics .

[ITdactyl]

Is that the Supersaurus foreleg behind Steggy?  Wow... suddenly ol' Dippy seems so small(ish).  Thanks for sharing these.

[HD-man]

Some museums are slow to update their mounts. When I visited the Oxford Natural History, their Iguanodon was still in a tripod posture, with a tail dragging on the ground. Here it is:

Problem solved: http://morethanadodo.com/2015/08/07/bringing-dinosaurs-to-life/

[LophoLeeVT]

OH THATS GREAT

[amargasaurus cazaui]

Love that psittacosaurus...but it isnt the star of that museum !!

[Viking Spawn]

This place looks amazing!