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avatar_suspsy

Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Ontario

Started by suspsy, February 22, 2015, 03:39:00 PM

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suspsy

February 22, 2015, 03:39:00 PM Last Edit: July 14, 2017, 09:29:21 PM by suspsy
This is the museum that I grew up with, one that helped immensely to foster my lifelong love of dinosaur and other prehistoric animals. It underwent a complete renovation some years back. If I ever come across any photos of the original gallery, I'll be sure to share them.

To see images from the CMN's warehouse, go to page 5.

First, here's the museum, located right downtown. Don't know why this photo ended up being so small, but you can click on it for a larger view.

Untitled by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

A family of woolly mammoths stand proud on the lawn.

2E72010B-8549-4906-9FFF-2FD61067DDAC_zps3kgejyxg by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

4D0005CB-0FDD-4A7B-A201-62BCE0ED47A7_zpsb50qktwf by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

C2347158-7C28-4A23-9CB4-F18EDE5F26C4_zps3vyq7asm by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

E96D7A0F-55F6-4F7D-810E-B8D1C7D40C68_zpse7bawzym by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

DSCN1453 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

A Vagaceratops and her baby stand guard on the other side of the museum.

Untitled by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

And here's something of a sad sight. Inside this glass structure at the back of the museum hang a couple of life-sized Pteranodon sculptures by Doug Watson. They used to hang proudly in the main lobby; now they languish here. I wish the museum would reinstall them, but my contact there informs me that there are no current plans to do so. :(

C09AB1BA-66D6-402A-BF22-9A29D9F21E6F_zps4mvdfq01 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

90CF40B1-AAF9-4BA5-9E13-E44B24E91F47_zps670ax6wu by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

39C6FFE7-B08A-4826-ABEC-03E0831C0AE6_zpszlncmyqz by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

A790DC3E-B761-456A-A46E-D809E0BC1507_zpshdnwqbqm by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Here are old photos of the Pteranodons in their prime. You'll see more of that Daspletosaurus sculpture later on.

F852CC11-A181-4D27-87BB-E32F0E988B16_zpso53q6sxr by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

291E45DF-B162-41F1-8FE1-8164EE84DE2F_zpssng4zcy4 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

86EB7714-1D30-44A3-8E95-B40BF5635345_zpst8cw0gcm by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Here's a skull of Xenoceratops in the main lobby.

Untitled by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Daspletosaurus

4AF21BE4-8F0D-4BE3-A5AB-503B09E6D504_zpsrjdyfjfh by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Sinornithosaurus

F57462F2-8F7C-4C6A-A2D1-4DD830462C0B_zpswz0enaop by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Dromeceiomimus

F365F444-671B-4AF3-A6AC-2C6F0CCE10C4_zpsdhm1iefv by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Dromaeosaurus

BE531E48-AF28-4B1F-BACA-E17FB0C43BD2_zpsm1mklott by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Carnotaurus

0CD3FDB8-68B8-4B28-AA1C-17ACFC6DD08C_zpsmollliwy by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Untitled by Suspsy Three, on Flickr
Untitled by suspsy3, on Flickr

tyrantqueen

#1
February 22, 2015, 03:40:05 PM
I always liked that Brian Cooley Sinornithosaurus.

suspsy

#2
February 22, 2015, 03:42:00 PM Last Edit: July 13, 2017, 11:01:10 PM by suspsy
Untitled by suspsy3, on Flickr

suspsy

#3
February 22, 2015, 03:44:23 PM Last Edit: July 13, 2017, 11:11:46 PM by suspsy
Untitled by suspsy3, on Flickr
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suspsy

#7
February 22, 2015, 04:09:41 PM Last Edit: July 14, 2017, 04:05:52 PM by suspsy
Untitled by suspsy3, on Flickr

suspsy

#8
February 22, 2015, 04:14:27 PM Last Edit: July 14, 2017, 03:05:58 PM by suspsy
Megacerops family.

084C77D9-D6F2-4BE2-9BEB-CE8831DF161B_zpsg7j22mos by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

E1CA9656-2252-41A7-9CC5-A7BC7B19C19C_zpsmafrbubg by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Archaeotherium.

B046F9ED-0D6D-4B8F-BC90-2A04A96F9247_zpsvzjzwo9o by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Dinictis.

B648E61F-B787-4EC8-8BE5-A22882DFC2BB_zpspbp8qt06 by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Accompanying fossils of the three.

2FD7CB9C-4A07-4516-A7BE-3C972D681AC6_zps5n0pjhaa (1) by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

E18D1AEB-C13F-4598-88EA-7A30653FCB5D_zpscrkluhwe (1) by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

0CFC8396-319B-4FFD-965E-79A666C70C88_zpscwj2a9ds by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

Arsinoitherium and Hyaenodon.

137FD20F-4BC9-40E9-923C-8169A6983931_zpsp3ekgvgm by Suspsy Three, on Flickr

And there you have it. Not the biggest natural history museum in the world, or in Canada, but a good one. My only complaint is that it doesn't have a Tyrannosaurus rex. Ottawa is the national capital, just like Washington DC. We should have a tyrant king. I wish they could acquire a cast of Black Beauty or Scotty.
Untitled by suspsy3, on Flickr

DinoLord

#9
February 22, 2015, 04:46:11 PM
Nice pictures! I was there last summer and really enjoyed it. I must admit I was a bit disappointed with the limited gift shop offerings though.  :-\

suspsy

#10
February 22, 2015, 04:57:10 PM
Don't even get me started on how the gift shop has gone downhill over the years. :(
Untitled by suspsy3, on Flickr

Doug Watson

#11
February 22, 2015, 06:15:37 PM Last Edit: February 22, 2015, 06:18:34 PM by Doug Watson
Quote from: suspsy on February 22, 2015, 03:44:23 PM
Vagaceratops (still labelled as Chasmosaurus)

Great shots suspsy and thank you for the credit on the mammoths, I did do the miniatures that the full sized mammoths were based on and I worked on the big ones but 5 other staff members and volunteers worked on the big ones as well.

That mount labelled Chasmosaurus is actually one of the original two C. belli that used to stand guard at the fossil hall of my youth. They were off display during the period of the hall that you liked and this one was brought back out for this hall. I remember reading that someone was calling into question the validity of C. belli but I don't remember them saying it was Vagaceratops, but I could be wrong.

The Vagaceratops material is at either end of the standing Styracosaurus mount. The restored skull that I did is at the tail end.


The actual fossil material is at the other end and it looks like they have changed their policy about displaying holotype material.


One area where CMN is world class is the paleo collection as in most museums only a fraction of the collection is on display. If you can ever get back to Ottawa and cross the river to Quebec I believe they offer tours of the collection at their building in Aylmer, probably by appointment. Thanks to the Sternbergs and those that followed they have one of the largest collections especially of holotype specimens.

If you can ever find those shots of the last version of the gallery I for one would like to see them. I must have some slides packed away some where too.

Doug Watson

#12
February 22, 2015, 06:26:05 PM Last Edit: February 22, 2015, 06:28:18 PM by Doug Watson
Funny story on that Carnotaurus mount. It is a fibreglass cast and was purchased unmounted from Argentina. Well, one of the usual benefits of a cast is it is light weight. It seems who ever made it wanted it to feel like the real thing and packed the cast with sand of some other heavy filler and when we unpacked it the pieces weighed the same as real fossils so in the end it had to be mounted just like a real fossil to support the weight. The exception being they didn't have to worry about drilling into them, but I imagine they must have gone through a bunch of drill bits.

Blade-of-the-Moon

#13
February 22, 2015, 07:30:03 PM
Quote from: Doug Watson on February 22, 2015, 06:26:05 PM
Funny story on that Carnotaurus mount. It is a fibreglass cast and was purchased unmounted from Argentina. Well, one of the usual benefits of a cast is it is light weight. It seems who ever made it wanted it to feel like the real thing and packed the cast with sand of some other heavy filler and when we unpacked it the pieces weighed the same as real fossils so in the end it had to be mounted just like a real fossil to support the weight. The exception being they didn't have to worry about drilling into them, but I imagine they must have gone through a bunch of drill bits.

lol "realistic weight " talk about accuracy...that's a selling point for sure!  :))

suspsy

#14
February 22, 2015, 10:59:33 PM
That sounds pretty stupid. The whole point of cast skeletons, aside from removing the risk of damage to valuable fossil bones, is that you can put them in active poses. I always felt that Carnotaurus looked too static.

And thanks for the Chasmosaurus info, I've edited the post.
Untitled by suspsy3, on Flickr

Doug Watson

#15
February 22, 2015, 11:17:48 PM
Quote from: suspsy on February 22, 2015, 10:59:33 PM
That sounds pretty stupid. The whole point of cast skeletons, aside from removing the risk of damage to valuable fossil bones, is that you can put them in active poses. I always felt that Carnotaurus looked too static.

And thanks for the Chasmosaurus info, I've edited the post.

It was petty stupid I know CMN was expecting a light weight cast.

SBell

#16
February 22, 2015, 11:46:01 PM
Quote from: Doug Watson on February 22, 2015, 06:15:37 PM

One area where CMN is world class is the paleo collection as in most museums only a fraction of the collection is on display. If you can ever get back to Ottawa and cross the river to Quebec I believe they offer tours of the collection at their building in Aylmer, probably by appointment. Thanks to the Sternbergs and those that followed they have one of the largest collections especially of holotype specimens.

As someone that managed a dinosaur facility in southern Saskatchewan for several years, you can imagine the ambivalent attitude that some people in the overall area feel about that particular collection, given that pretty much all of those Canadian specimens came from Alberta or, especially, Saskatchewan (for example, the brontothere diorama--please tell me it isn't still being referred to as Oligocene.).

There was even a short-lived movement in the late 80s-early 90s to try to repatriate the fossil to 'where they belong' but the area lacks the manpower, money or political clout to have gotten far (they were attempting to build on what is now a fairly common occurrence with archaeological materials with First Nations peoples).

Doug Watson

#17
February 23, 2015, 12:03:40 AM
Quote from: SBell on February 22, 2015, 11:46:01 PM
As someone that managed a dinosaur facility in southern Saskatchewan for several years, you can imagine the ambivalent attitude that some people in the overall area feel about that particular collection, given that pretty much all of those Canadian specimens came from Alberta or, especially, Saskatchewan (for example, the brontothere diorama--please tell me it isn't still being referred to as Oligocene.).

There was even a short-lived movement in the late 80s-early 90s to try to repatriate the fossil to 'where they belong' but the area lacks the manpower, money or political clout to have gotten far (they were attempting to build on what is now a fairly common occurrence with archaeological materials with First Nations peoples).

Well at least they didn't end up in another country or worse been allowed to erode into dust.

suspsy

#18
February 23, 2015, 01:26:14 AM
Quote from: Doug Watson on February 22, 2015, 06:15:37 PM
One area where CMN is world class is the paleo collection as in most museums only a fraction of the collection is on display. If you can ever get back to Ottawa and cross the river to Quebec I believe they offer tours of the collection at their building in Aylmer, probably by appointment. Thanks to the Sternbergs and those that followed they have one of the largest collections especially of holotype specimens.

Never left Ottawa, Doug, so I'll certainly keep that in mind.
Untitled by suspsy3, on Flickr

Doug Watson

#19
February 23, 2015, 01:50:25 AM
Quote from: suspsy on February 23, 2015, 01:26:14 AM
Quote from: Doug Watson on February 22, 2015, 06:15:37 PM
One area where CMN is world class is the paleo collection as in most museums only a fraction of the collection is on display. If you can ever get back to Ottawa and cross the river to Quebec I believe they offer tours of the collection at their building in Aylmer, probably by appointment. Thanks to the Sternbergs and those that followed they have one of the largest collections especially of holotype specimens.

Never left Ottawa, Doug, so I'll certainly keep that in mind.

I know at least once a year they used to have an open house.

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