It’s starting to feel a lot like springtime, which for us usually means trips to western Kansas to our Niobrara chalk localities. We haven’t made it out yet (still waiting on that first downpour to wash the winter fluff off of the rocks… it may be a while with this drought) so instead I’ll write …
Small projects
Yep we all have them. In addition to the decades of prep backlog of big, complete and interesting specimens there is always that nagging pile of individual bones and small specimens that gets collected then sits as priority number 12 on the shelf. Sometimes it’s a good organizational effort (and therapy) to get these things …
More Lambeosaur Fun
This week we’ve had a chance to begin work on the skull material recovered from RMRDRC 07-020 “Joyce”, from the upper Judith River Formation of Fergus County, Montana. The material is typical for the Judith river… SOFT. We’ve begun utilizing the technique that I wrote about for the first FPCS at Petrified Forest National Park, …
Freaking huge lambeosaurs of the Judith River Formation
It’s always an exciting time when we come to the end of a project. Mostly because it’s one of those rare times where we’re finished with something. This week we’re finishing the right leg from an exceptionally big lambeosaur (crested duckbill dinosaur) that was discovered this past summer in the Judith River Formation by Dr. …
Termonaris: Now with skull… sorta
Assembly of the body of the first cast is done! Just detailing and the skull to go. Today we decided to see what it looks like with the skull on the body. Let’s just say we were a bit surprised with the size of the animal that resulted. Here April and Todd do the honors!
Terminonaris is coming together!
A quick update from the last post. Progress on the Terminonaris is being made on the two prototype articulated mounts. All molding except the skull is finished and all parts are poured. The first mount even has an arm! That should get people excites, since we all know people love pointy bits. Just legs, coracoids …
Terminonaris restoration project
For the past month or so we’ve been working hard on restoring a specimen of the extinct crocodilian Terminonaris, in collaboration with the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM) in Regina. We were supplied molds of the original slightly crushed specimen, which provide the basis for our restoration. It’s been a long but fun process. As of …
Viral Post: "What Should Everyone Know about Paleontology"
Dr. Thomas Holtz, who visited our lab last year, recently shared his insights in a response to a question posted on the Dinosaur Mailing List. I muddle through their archives online a bit, and there are sometimes some good posts, but this one seems to have taken on a life of its own, being featured …
Joyce the Lambeosaur
Things are moving along well in the lab this winter, and one of our long term projects that we hope to tackle soon is the removal of the huge field jacket of RMDRC 07-022 “Joyce”, a medium-sized crested duckbill from the Judith River Formation of central Montana. Joyce was discovered by rancher Larry Tuss on …
Dinosaur Wars: Tonight on American Experence, PBS
The Victorian age was the first boom of American paleontology, which coincided with the opening of the west with rail travel. Many of us learned in school of Paleontologists E. D. Cope and O. C. Marsh, and their bitter “Bone Wars” that were fought both in the press and across the badlands, but the extent of the …
