Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Ontario

[Doug Watson]

I believe it is a genuine fossil, but Doug Watson would probably know better than me. The slab is around six and half feet by two feet, so the Leptoceratops would be about the size of a husky.
You can see the fossil on the wall behind the Styracosaurus. Again, the old exhibit had it at eye level, which was nicer.

My recollection is that it was the actual fossil. I have never seen a mould or casts of it when I was working there and the fact that it is behind glass now lends credence to the idea it is real. I have sent a note to the head of the fossil collection asking him to be sure.
suspsy for your next visit, if you check the text for the displays it will usually say "cast" beside the dinosaur name for a cast and nothing for a real fossil (or a specimen that is mostly real).

[Doug Watson]

I just received this response in reference to the Leptoceratops display at CMN.

"Hi Doug,
Great to hear from you! You are correct, it is fossil (with some plaster reconstruction) and the glass was placed to protect it.
Kieran"

[suspsy]

Good stuff!

I probably won't be returning to the CMN anytime soon. The only reason I went yesterday was to check out the special exhibit, Arctic Voices. They pulled their old polar bear mount from the original mammal gallery out of storage, which was a pleasant surprise. I really miss those old galleries.

Oh, and naturally, I peaked in the gift shop. Dismal. They had but a handful of WS dinosaurs from around 2011 (T. Rex, Triceratops, Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Dilophosaurus)  and a single Carnegie 10th Anniversary T. Rex.

[Doug Watson]

I probably won't be returning to the CMN anytime soon. The only reason I went yesterday was to check out the special exhibit, Arctic Voices. They pulled their old polar bear mount from the original mammal gallery out of storage, which was a pleasant surprise. I really miss those old galleries.

Since they decided they no longer needed an in house display department with model makers or a taxidermist you will probably see more recycling. I haven't been in there since they redid the other side of the museum. I'll have to check it out on a free Thursday one of these days. I still love the collection and I am still friends with the working staff but since our parting wasn't amicable I still have an issue with management so I hate to leave any of my hard earned money there.

[HD-man]

Oh, and naturally, I peaked in the gift shop. Dismal. They had but a handful of WS dinosaurs from around 2011 (T. Rex, Triceratops, Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Dilophosaurus)  and a single Carnegie 10th Anniversary T. Rex.

What about books? They're the most important part of any gift shop.

[amargasaurus cazaui]

I just received this response in reference to the Leptoceratops display at CMN.

"Hi Doug,
Great to hear from you! You are correct, it is fossil (with some plaster reconstruction) and the glass was placed to protect it.
Kieran"

Ah thanks Doug, that makes much more sense. It looked like the original fossil as I remembered it, but a bit too perfect and complete still, so I wasnt sure. The plaster reconstruction comment makes things much clearer . What an amazing piece. Thanks for checking on this for me.....I wish one of our forum sculpters would take on the idea of making a really nice model of this animal....There just isnt much out there for this one, and it was so unique, and we have some pretty good remains for it, to work with.

[suspsy]

Oh, and naturally, I peaked in the gift shop. Dismal. They had but a handful of WS dinosaurs from around 2011 (T. Rex, Triceratops, Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Dilophosaurus)  and a single Carnegie 10th Anniversary T. Rex.

What about books? They're the most important part of any gift shop.

They had a decent selection of dinosaur books, but frankly, most Chapters stores (Canada's equivalent of B&N) have a better selection.

And yeah, I totally hear you, Doug. I've been meaning to say too, I hate that they removed the two Pteranodon sculptures you made from the main lobby.

[SBell]

Good stuff!

I probably won't be returning to the CMN anytime soon. The only reason I went yesterday was to check out the special exhibit, Arctic Voices. They pulled their old polar bear mount from the original mammal gallery out of storage, which was a pleasant surprise. I really miss those old galleries.

Oh, and naturally, I peaked in the gift shop. Dismal. They had but a handful of WS dinosaurs from around 2011 (T. Rex, Triceratops, Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Dilophosaurus)  and a single Carnegie 10th Anniversary T. Rex.

It's 'good' to know that every Cnadian dinosaur museum is about equally poorly stocked then.

[suspsy]

Yes, if only my online store of preference would get new items in stock, I would so very, very happy!

Well, it was nice out today, so I went for a walk and ended up taking a photo of the museum exterior. I've added it to the original post.

[suspsy]

And here's an impressive but sad sight. These Pteranodons were sculpted by Doug Watson. They originally hung proudly from the ceiling in the main lobby for all to see. But they were taken down during the renovation and for reasons I cannot fathom, they were never reinstalled. Instead, they've been relegated to a make-shift atrium behind the building that isn't even accessible to museum visitors. It strikes me as a terrible waste of some wonderful sculptures.

Sorry about the quality of the photos, but at least one of them came out fairly nice.

[Doug Watson]

And here's an impressive but sad sight. These Pteranodons were sculpted by Doug Watson. They originally hung proudly from the ceiling in the main lobby for all to see. But they were taken down during the renovation and for reasons I cannot fathom, they were never reinstalled. Instead, they've been relegated to a make-shift atrium that isn't even accessible to museum visitors. It strikes me as a terrible waste of some wonderful sculptures.
Sorry about the quality of the photos, but at least one of them came out fairly nice.

Isn't that hilarious, it looks like a makeshift storage area judging by the plants on dollies but to tell you the truth it is better than I feared. I thought they were being stored at the warehouse at the Aylmer collections facility and I have witnessed some impressive damage inflicted on some of "our" larger models there. They actually contacted me a while back about helping to put them back up in the main atrium but when I said I expected to be paid I never heard from them again. The person in charge was actually from security and disagreed with me that I should inspect them for cracks before hoisting the 200 lb models above the heads of the public. Amazing. Thank you for letting me know where they are.

[suspsy]

My pleasure. And yeesh. They wanted you to help reinstall them for free? What kind of cockamamie is that? No wonder you dislike their management.

[Doug Watson]

My pleasure. And yeesh. They wanted you to help reinstall them for free? What kind of cockamamie is that? No wonder you dislike their management.

From one of the images it looks like they haven't used all of my support attachments and the left wing of the one with the enchodus has an extreme downward bend. If there weren't cracks before I am betting there are now. They may have also bent the internal metal support.

[SBell]

Yes, if only my online store of preference would get new items in stock, I would so very, very happy!

I'm sure that store has been trying very hard to get things going, but when even the president of the actual source company can't seem to move things along, you know there are issues...

And that's terrible about the museum sculptures--but at least they haven't wound up like they often do--trashed in a dumpster or brought home by staff from said dumpsters.

It reminds me of the original Calgary Zoo dinosaur park--they had some massive, old-school statues, and when they changed over, one of the construction workers took it home--it is now on the lawn of his house somewhere in town. My sister has a picture somewhere.

[Doug Watson]

And that's terrible about the museum sculptures--but at least they haven't wound up like they often do--trashed in a dumpster or brought home by staff from said dumpsters.

Back in 2005 we visited the Field Museum and I got a behind the scenes tour of the model shop and the new dinosaur gallery which was still being built. The shop supervisor showed me a life sized Megacerops that used to be part of a family group in a diorama. He said he didn't know what would happen to it and it might just get thrown out. He was unhappy with the situation as well but didn't have anywhere to store it. I was racking my brain trying to come up with a scenario where I could end up with it. It was one of those times when you wish you had more money than brains. I was reminded of it when I got my copy of the new Charles R. Knight book and there is a shot of it in the book. It pains me when works of art like that just get tossed to the dumpster. I often wonder what happened to that Megacerops, there was a baby and a female as well in the diorama but I didn't see them at the time. Maybe if there is someone here on the forum that lives in Chicago area and has room for it they could contact the Replications Shop and see if it is still up for grabs. I fear it is no more. Here is a shot of the original diorama.

[suspsy]

Yes, if only my online store of preference would get new items in stock, I would so very, very happy!

I'm sure that store has been trying very hard to get things going, but when even the president of the actual source company can't seem to move things along, you know there are issues...

I have complete faith in that store.

I've seen plenty of dinosaur statues on lawns in Alberta. It beats having them thrown in a dump at least.

[Concavenator]

@Doug Watson:That Pteranodon is gorgeous!It's sincerely the best one I've ever seen.I love the colors,and the sculpt too,it looks so gracile!

[stargatedalek]

We should petition the Canadian Museum of Nature to end pterosaur abuse!
[/innerchild]

Honestly though, those pteranodon are so amazing, its such a shame they aren't in a better area. If they really wanted to I bet that storage building could easily be converted into a very novel 'Aviary' display for them. Some better ceiling attachments, a bit of redecorating, some pterosaur information signs/posters/etc. and a public entrance to walk through it.

[suspsy]

Well, I was going through some old albums last night and I found these photos. Here are the Pteranodons when they were in their glory. I'm even more irritated than ever now about the fact that museum hasn't taken the effort (or offered the sculptor the money) to remount them. Anyway...







My memory's fuzzy, but I think these were taken back in 2002.

I have to say, Doug, if Safari asks you to do a Pteranodon for 2016, it would be fabulous if you used this colour scheme.

[grantharding]

Cool to see this thread! I'm an Ottawa kid too. I really like the new fossil gallery, but the old one is the one I grew up with.

I managed to track down a bunch of photos of the old fossil gallery, and I used them to accompany this article by Asoka Weerasinghe that I reprinted on my museum blog: http://museumdreams.blogspot.com/2013/12/life-through-ages.html

Here are two videos that used to be on display in the old fossil gallery: http://museumdreams.blogspot.com/2015/01/life-through-ages-videos.html

And here's a post about the Pteranodons: http://museumdreams.blogspot.com/2014/06/pterosaurs-in-atrium.html. It's interesting to hear that they did actually consider remounting them in the atrium after the renovation; I wish they had.

Doug Watson, it's cool to know that you sculpted the Safari mammoth toy! It's so similar to the lifesize bull mammoth that you did, I figured that either you sculpted it, or someone was ripping you off. Have you ever considered selling casts of your mammoth miniatures, the way you did with your Pteranodon miniatures?