New paleontology wing at Houston museum (56K not allowed!)

[Joel]

I was at the new paleontology wing at the Houston Museum today, are here are the pics to prove it! Prepare to be spammed!






















This is an Edmontosaurus mummy.








This is the Triceratops skin that you all have been hearing about:







Here is some guy that got into my shot:

And he snuck in again!

Smooth move jerk, let the whole world know you're touching the displays! (note: I'm not actually touching it; I just place my hand so it appears that I did)

I have a whole lot more (just different poses of the same displays with the mammals, but who wants to see those). Let me know what you guys think! PS, if you guys reply, please don't quote this, as it will eat up too much bandwidth!

[DeadToothCrackKnuckle]

Wow! Those are sick! Thanks for sharing!!!

[Simon]

So long as they are prehistoric mammals, post them!!

P.S.  Where are the sauropods?

[amargasaurus cazaui]

The duckbill mummy, did they state which one it happens to be? It looks alot Leonardo, and I hoped i might ask, thanks.

[sepp]

Very cool pics, Joel! Thanks so much for sharing, they were really very cool to look through 

[Dinoguy2]

The duckbill mummy, did they state which one it happens to be? It looks alot Leonardo, and I hoped i might ask, thanks.

That's definitely Leonardo.

Great pics, thanks for these! It annoys me though how museums nowadays do the whole 'dark corridor with dramatic lighting on skeletons'. Makes it hard to see the fossils in pics. I will always prefer the AMNH style of having bright lighting on a white background.

Hard to tell how many there are, but I think an alternate name for this should be the "Let's See How Many Tyrannosaur Mounts We Can Fit In One Room" Dinosaur Hall

There's the one posed attacking the Triceratops, one posed attacking the Quetz, one attacking the Edmontonia, one crouched with its mouth closed... did I miss any?

[Arioch]

Very cool pics! I agree, is nice to see such an amount of detail in those.

But dude, a scaly Dimetrodon? that was painful. Nice model, though...

[Sharptooth]

Man, that museum ROCKS!

Love the dynamic poses they've chosen for the skeletons 

[Joel]

So long as they are prehistoric mammals, post them!!

P.S.  Where are the sauropods?

Very well, I'll be posting those pics a little later today! And there was only one sauropod, Diplodocus, but two skeletons. I can't believe I forgot to up load those pics (I took well over three hundred, so I guess I just missed him). I'll upload it soon. I also spoke to one of the assistants about the exhibit (Dr. Bakker wasn't there, so bummer), and he said there will be additions later, so hopefully we'll get some more!

The duckbill mummy, did they state which one it happens to be? It looks alot Leonardo, and I hoped i might ask, thanks.

That's definitely Leonardo.

There was a plaque there explaining it and believe it said the specimen's name, but unfortunately, I don't remember the name nor did I get a picture of it.

Great pics, thanks for these! It annoys me though how museums nowadays do the whole 'dark corridor with dramatic lighting on skeletons'. Makes it hard to see the fossils in pics. I will always prefer the AMNH style of having bright lighting on a white background..

It does make it hard, but I was just so trilled to have an exhibit like this in Texas that I didn't care. The Houston's previous paleontology exhibits were very limited, and the only other one I know of is here in Austin at UT (which the dinosaur specimens comprised of limb bones, a couple skulls, shoved into a corner). I'm so happy that Houston expanded there displays to this degree, and I'll be back there two more times this summer!

Hard to tell how many there are, but I think an alternate name for this should be the "Let's See How Many Tyrannosaur Mounts We Can Fit In One Room" Dinosaur Hall

There's the one posed attacking the Triceratops, one posed attacking the Quetz, one attacking the Edmontonia, one crouched with its mouth closed... did I miss any?

There are "only" three.  The one crouched with its mouth closed is a Gorgosaurus. The other T. rexes are Stan, Bucky, and a newly prepared Tyrannosaurus that had its tail bitten off by another T. rex (there are tooth marks) and also has a more complete forelimb than Sue's.

Very cool pics! I agree, is nice to see such an amount of detail in those.

But dude, a scaly Dimetrodon? that was painful. Nice model, though...

That one is by Keith Strasser, which was made many years ago and was a donation to the museum.

I'm going to resize some more pics, and post some of the Diplodocus, a shot of the T. rex's bitten tail, and the fossil mammals.

Also, when I was taking shots of the hominids' evolution, some woman commented that "they just threw these in there, these were made up, they never found these!", despite the fact that the skulls were next to the face's reconstructions. I had to step away because I was about to die of laughter. I also liked the expressions of the reconstructed faces; they look like they were just whacked over the head with a club!

[Joel]

Are you guys ready for some more? I'll start with the tail of the Tyrannosaurus that was bitten off:



This was the original Diplodocus on display at the old paleontology exhibit:

There's that guy again 












This is a fossil Neanderthal man break dancing with mammoths

[stemturtle]

Thanks for sharing your photos, Joel.  Referring to the 5th photo from the bottom of the second set, is the green animal a Diadectes?  The American Museum has a skeleton, but this would be the first time I have seen a life reconstruction.  Very exciting.  The feet look too big compared to those of the model done by our own razh00 on Shapeways, which I treasure.

[Joel]

Yes, stemturtle, that is a Diadectes. I confirmed  that by looking at the plaque in my full sized photo.

[stemturtle]

Yes, stemturtle, that is a Diadectes. I confirmed  that by looking at the plaque in my full sized photo.

Thanks for checking the ID, Joel.  A photo of the bones shows that the width of the digits spanned about the same distance as the width of the skull.  This was a heavy amphibian, sister group to the amniotes. We lack evidence that it could lay eggs on land. 

[ZoPteryx]

What an incredible place! Another one for my must see list!

Great pics Joel!

[Nobs]

What an incredable amount of mounts!  Is there any other musuem that can match or surpass that number?

[DinoLord]

Looks like an amazing exhibition! Hopefully I'll be able to visit someday.

[Meso-Cenozoic]

Very, very cool museum there! The mounts are great! I love the standing Stego! And I think I saw an Acro that was really impressive too. So many to mention that I was truly impressed with!

It's interesting to see that the tall sail spines on that Dimetrodon aren't perfectly straight, but kind of squiggly. I remember some people questioning David Silva from Creative Beast's Dimetrodon's sail spines, when he also made them kind of curvy too.

Impressive pics, all! Thanks, Joel, for taking the time and taking and posting all these for us!