Houston Museum of Natural Science (Houston, Texas)

[Loon]

In late 2018, I went out to Texas to see my sister. Since we were near Houston, I figured I had to go to the museum out there. And, boy, was it worth it.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science recently spent $85 million on revamping their Morian Hall of Paleontology and it shows. The entire museum was fantastic, but this area was the best. It had the best selection of prehistoric animals I'd ever seen, and was filled with Julius Csotonyi art. And, on top of all that, it's curated by Robert Bakker himself!

So, I got a lot of pics of this place, but not enough, unfortunately. There are quite a few things I really regret not taking photos of, so, hopefully, I'll get to do that one day soon. Even worse, I'm in a lot of these, I don't know why. So, if you can stomach an overweight nerd in an ill fitting Jurassic Park shirt, hopefully you'll enjoy the pics.

Dunkleosteus


Jaekelopterus model


Eurypterus


Plesiosaurus


Pregnant Icthyosaur


Tylosaurus


Gorgonopsid


Dimetrodon


Placerias and Smilosuchus


Postosuchus and Desmatosuchus


Allosaurus and Stegosaurus



Diplodocus


Caudipteryx & Sinosauropteryx


Psittacosaurus


I don't really remember what this was.


Deinonychus



Acrocanthosaurus glam shots




Triceratops skin impressions


I like to call this part, "Tyrannosaurus All the Way Down".

Stan!!!


Stan and Triceratops


T. rex and Denversaurus


Gorgosaurus and Edmontosaurus


"Diatryma" (Gastornis)


Some of the coolest and craziest taxidermy I've ever seen.




They also had a lovely Butterfly pavilion.



And finally, a Stegosaurus in the gift shop. Sounds like a children's book title. The gift shop was amazing, btw.


I've tried my best to keep everything in the order I remember it being, but, keep in mind, it's been a while since I went. Thanks to @Nanuqsaurus, whose recent thread inspired me to finally share these pictures.

[triceratops83]

Awesome displays! I would dearly love to visit a museum of this calibre.

[BlueKrono]

The gorgonopsid pic made me giggle. 

[irimali]

Great pics!  Their skeletal mounts are so lively

[Shonisaurus]

It is a Beautiful Museum. It has a very varied set of fossils. The one I like the most of all is the smilosuchus, one of my favorite prehistoric animals. Thanks @Loon  !!!!!

[ceratopsian]

Very impressive displays. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

I don't think I have ever seen a Stegosaurus mounted as standing it on its hind legs.

I presume a lot of the mounts were casts?

[Nanuqsaurus]

I've tried my best to keep everything in the order I remember it being, but, keep in mind, it's been a while since I went. Thanks to @Nanuqsaurus, whose recent thread inspired me to finally share these pictures.

Happy to help! Seems like an amazing museum, I love the dynamic poses of the skeletons on display there, makes them look very natural. Thanks for sharing these pictures with us!

[suspsy]

Three Tyrannosaurus rex mounts! Awesome!

[indohyus]

Great looking museum! What did you get in the gift shop?

[Libraraptor]

Looks like an awsome place to be!

[Loon]

Thanks everyone, I can't claim credit for all the pics though, my sister's boyfriend was responsible for quite a few, including the ones I was in, obviously.

...I presume a lot of the mounts were casts?

I can't really say for sure. But even still, they're display is incredible.

Three Tyrannosaurus rex mounts! Awesome!

Actually, I was wrong. It was only the two. The first and third picture in the Tyrannosaurus segment are the same mount.

Great looking museum! What did you get in the gift shop?

Just a shirt and that bag in the picture. I only took a backpack on the flight, so I didn't have a ton of space.

[Halichoeres]

I've been to Houston multiple times, but always for very short visits where I couldn't squeeze this in. Gotta get back one of these days. Ideally in winter.