Science Museum of Minnesota - 100th Anniversary Objects

100th Anniversary Objects - Paleontology

$<div class="margin-left" style="width: 200px; font-weight: bolder; float:right; padding: 5px 5px 0 5px; border: 2px solid #96ADBF; margin-bottom: 5px;"> Hypselosaurus priscus Rognac, France SMM P88.6.7 </div> Dinosaur eggs in their original nest depression are still intact. The four eggs seen here were evidently addled (rotten) and did not hatch during the late Cretaceous some 70 million years ago. The fracturing seen on the shell surface is due to the fossilization process. There is no evidence of predation by egg scavengers. Dinosaur eggs are most plentiful in China where many different kinds have been discovered, but generally they are not well-documented. Curator’s pick This nest of four is selected as the best example of fossilized eggs in our collections. Specimens of other dinosaur eggs in the museum’s collections are more fragmentary but like these will provide opportunities for study by staff or visiting scholars. – Bruce Erickson, Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology$

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<p>Champsosaurus gigas<br />
Wannagan Creek Quarry, North Dakota<br />
P77.33.24</p>
</div>

<p><em>Champsosaurus</em> is a strange reptile that lived in Cretaceous and Paleocene environments throughout the western US and in Europe. If there is one thing that the Science Museum’s paleontology research program under the 42-year direction of Bruce Erickson in known for (at least in professional circles), it is his work on champsosaurs. Bruce is one of the only people in the world who spent a career getting to know these strange animals inside and out. His work on the group led to one of the best collections of champsosaur material in the world, right here at the SMM. </p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em> The first time that I met Bruce, at an annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, I had just moved to Minnesota and was hoping that he might be interested in letting me work on the dinosaurs in the SMM collection. For good luck, before I introduced myself to him, my husband gave me a pin in the shape of a <em>Champsosaurus</em> skull. I think it did the trick – just a few weeks after meeting Bruce (and sticking the pin on my bag), I began to work at the SMM. We still laugh about that (we think we might be the only two people on the planet with <em>Champsosaurus</em> skull pins!)

<br /> – Kristi Curry Rogers, Curator of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p>Stegosaurus<br />
Painting by Charles R. Knight
</p>
</div>

<p>Charles R. Knight (1874-1953) was among the first artists to give life to dinosaurs and other extinct creatures through painting. His artwork graces the walls of major museums around the US, including the Science Museum of Minnesota. Our Charles Knight is a “sketch” of oil on canvas that Knight used as a guide in constructing a mosaic in the Reptile House of the US National Zoo in Washington D. C. It was painted in 1930, and given to the Science Museum in the early 1970s. </p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em>Charles Knight’s paintings helped bring dinosaurs to life for me when I was a kid. Though many of his paintings depict the old view of slow, dimwitted dinosaurs, he sometimes portrayed the animals in dramatically active poses, at times when such an active view of dinosaurs was outside the norm.

<br /> – Kristi Curry Rogers, Curator of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p><em>Hadrosauria indet. </em><br />
Crow Wing County, Minnesota<br />
P74.28.1</p>
</div>

<p>The only dinosaur yet found in Minnesota is represented by this little tail bone. It is from the base of the tail of a small duckbilled dinosaur, otherwise known as a hadrosaur. That much we can tell from the shape and proportions of the bone. The specimen was brought to the museum a number of years ago without precise locality information, but it’s weathered appearance makes us think it may have been exhumed and rolled around during the last period of glaciation. </p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em>One of the most common questions that kids ask me is “Could I find a dinosaur in my yard?” The answer is ... maybe. There are two tricky things about finding dinos in Minnesota. First, many of the potentially dinosaur-bearing sediments lie deep under glacial till. Second, the environment here in Minnesota in the Mesozoic (when the big dinosaurs roamed the earth) wasn’t great for getting preserved, so a dinosaur’s chance of making it into the fossil record just wasn’t as good as in the western US. That said, this bone tells us that dinos did roam in Minnesota, just as they did in other parts of North America. Keep looking, kids!

<br /> – Kristi Curry Rogers, Curator of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p><em>Castoroides ohioensis</em><br />
Ramsey County, Minnesota<br />
SMM No. 62-2001</p>
</div>

<p>Minnesota’s giant beaver, weighing over 300 pounds in life, was discovered in July 1938 by a crew of WPA workers who were building a road in the Mississippi River Gorge, Hidden Falls Park, St. Paul. <em>Castoroides</em> was preserved when it was buried 10, 320 years ago by collapse of a limestone ledge under which it was resting. The limestone ledge was the lip of St. Anthony Falls when it was located 6.3 miles downstream of its present location in Minneapolis.</p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em>The skeleton of the giant beaver holds
special interest for me as it’s description
was the subject of my first scientific
presentation and publication through the
Minnesota Academy of Science, vol. 30,
No. 1, 1962.

<br /> – Bruce Erickson, Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p><em>Laoporus/Permichnium Trackways</em><br />
Area of Grand Canyon, Arizona<br />
SMM P92.3.1</p>
</div>

<p>This sandstone slab contains trackways of two animals: a lizard-like <em>Laoporus</em> and a
scorpion-like <em>Permichnium</em>. The tracks were made about 260 million years ago on
sand dune hills near the south rim of today’s Grand Canyon in northern Arizona. The trackways present an intriguing problem as to what took place when the track makers met and “scuffle prints” resulted.</p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em>The challenge here is to reconstruct the
behavior of the two different animals. Were they walking, running, to avoid danger, in
pursuit of a meal? Most paleontologists
would agree that only Sherlock Holmes
could provide a totally correct solution to
this case.

<br /> – Bruce Erickson, Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p><em>Woolungosaurus sp.</em><br />
Andamooka, South Australia<br />
SMM P 71.1.1</p>
</div>

<p>The name <em>Woolungasaurus</em> comes from an Aboriginal word “Woolunga” meaning mythical reptile animal and “saurus” (Greek for lizard). During the late 1960’s former SMM board member, Richard E. Smith, collected a rare plesiosaur skeleton of early Cretaceous age (120 m.y.) from the opal fields of South Australia. The specimen was presented to the paleontology department in 1971 along with other specimens of precious opal.</p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em>The forearm (flipper) seen here is part of
Smith’s plesiosaur fossil. It is unique
among our reptile collections because it is
preserved as precious opal.

<br /> – Kristi Curry Rogers, Curator of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p>Judith River Formation, Montana</p>

<p><em>Dinosaur teeth</em><br />
Albertosaurus sp.<br />
P 2003.1.2</p>

<p><em>Garfish scales</em><br />
Lepisosteus sp.<br />
P2003.4.9</p>

<p><em>Turtle shell</em><br />
Aspideretes sp.<br />
P2003.2.1</p>

<p><em>Champsosaurus vertebrae</em><br />
P2003.3.4</p>
</div>

<p>These tiny fossils represent a few of the animals that lived in Montana some 75 million years ago. Collected by Science Museum Curator of Paleontology Kristi Curry Rogers, her husband Ray Rogers (a geologist at Macalaster College), and their undergraduate students, they preserve bits and pieces of animals that lived in North America near the end of the age of dinosaurs.</p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p>Though we tend to think of the most interesting or impressive fossils as gigantic skeletons, these small microfossils are just as exciting to professional paleontologists. Just one tooth or a couple of bones is all we need to “flesh out” the different animals living in a region. These partial remains give us a fuller picture of the ancient environment, and tell us how fossilization happens. Not to mention the fact that it is fun to crawl around searching for these beautiful little fossils. Even my four-year old daughter gets into the act!

<br /> – Kristi Curry Rogers, Curator of Paleontology</p>

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<p><em>Eubrontes Dinosaur Trackway</em><br />
Triassic Period, Connecticut<br />
33-2010-2016</p>
</div>

<p>This series of footprints was made by a bipedal, meat-eating dinosaur over 200 million years ago in what is now Connecticut. In fact, trackways of this type represent the first fossil evidence that dinosaurs inhabited North America, as well as England, where their earliest fossils were found. Paleontologists who study fossil trackways specialize in the science of “ichnology.” </p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p>These tracks further document the diversity of the kinds of fossils that are useful to paleontologists – it isn’t all about the most fantastic skeleton (though of course, those “body fossils” are incredibly useful). Trace fossils, like tracks, eggs, nests, and skin impressions can yield a great deal of information about behaviors of extinct animals. For example – from trackways, we can better approximate how dinosaurs moved!

<br /> – Kristi Curry Rogers, Curator of Paleontology</p>

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<p><em>Triceratops horridus</em><br />
Garfield County, Montana<br />
SMM P60.20.1</p>
</div>

<p>The field expedition to recover <em>Triceratops</em> lasted three seasons 1961-1963. Two vertebrae found by Lois Erickson led to it’s discovery. The skeleton was prepared and mounted by staff, volunteers and students during 1964 and 1965. In 1966 during ceremonies at the museum <em>Triceratops</em> was dedicated by Friedelind Wagner, granddaughter of famous German composer, Richard Wagner, and named “Fafner” in honor of the dragon in his famous cycle of four operas, <em>Der Ring des Nebilungen</em>. <em>Triceratops</em> has become a museum icon.</p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p>Triceratops <em>is my first dinosaur – it evokes
thoughts and images of museum expeditions and long hot days in the Badlands.

<br /> – Bruce R. Erickson, Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p><em>Goniopholis sp.</em><br />
South Central Wyoming<br />
P2003.20.1</p>
</div>

<p>A new crocodile specimen from the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation is the same age as our <em>Diplodocus</em> and <em>Camptosaurus</em> mounts. It represents a carcass that was stranded on an ancient beach and quickly buried by sand to remain intact. A cast of the articulated skeleton in it’s “death pose” was made in the museum lab prior to preparing the bones. The cast is now available as an exact copy of the original to be used for exhibit or
exchange with other museums.</p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em>As a new research challenge the skeleton of
<em>Goniopholis</em> will provide new knowledge
about” 1) The skeleton itself; 2) The
environment in which it lived; and 3)
Events that changed it from a living
crocodile to a fossilized skeleton during the
past 150 million years.

<br /> – Bruce R. Erickson, Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p><em>Diplodocus sp.</em><br />
Poison Creek Quarry, Wyoming<br />
SMM P84.15.8</p>
</div>

<p>The museum’s Poison Creek Quarry in Johnson County, Wyoming yielded a number of Jurassic dinosaurs including <em>Diplodocus</em>. This is one of the great long-neck, long-tail,
sauropods which required seasonal excavations from 1977-1990. During this period
over 15 tons of crated dinosaur bones were shipped back to the museum from the Wyoming site. Other sauropod dinosaurs collected at Poison Creek are complete or partly complete skeletons of two <em>Haplocanthosaurus</em>, <em>Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus)</em>, and
<em>Camarasaurus</em>, in addition to two specimens of the Iguanodont <em>Camptosaurus</em>.</p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em>Poison Creek Quarry became a full-time
commitment for me involving some 60
students, volunteers and staff. Eventual
assembly of the <em>Diplodocus</em> skeleton was a
major task completed!

<br /> – Bruce R. Erickson, Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p><em>Coprolites (fossil dung)</em><br />
Badlands, South Dakota<br />
SMM P81.8.1</p>
</div>

<p>The bottom of a small coulee in southwestern South Dakota is covered with thousands of
Depressions from animals hooves. Several hundred of these depressions ( hoof prints) were filled with “cow pies” deposited by a herd of grazing titanotheres (rhinoceros – like mammals) which made the original depressions some 35 million years ago. Recently about 360 of these fossilized “titanothere pies” were removed from the depressions for study at the museum.</p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em>These stony “cow pies” contain many fossil
plant remains as well as insect trails which
speak to the diet of the titanotheres that left
them and to the insects that visited them
before they were fossilized.
<br /> – Bruce R. Erickson, Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p><em>Borealosuchus (=Leidyosuchus)</em><br />
Wannagan Creek Quarry, North Dakota<br />
SMM P75.22.29</p>
</div>

<p>This skull represents one of 80 individual crocodiles that were collected by the paleontology department during the Wannagan Creek Expeditions between 1970 and 1996. Crocodiles were only part of the assemblage of 8,800 specimens recovered for the museum. Numerous other previously unknown species of alligator, turtle; fishes, a bird, and mammals were also discovered in addition to new species of fossil plants.</p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em>Due to the large number of bones of
Borealosuchus the opportunity to describe
every aspect of the skeleton made that a
very important and interesting study.
<br /> – Bruce R. Erickson, Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p><em>Aspideretes sp.</em><br />
Garfield County, Montana<br />
SMM P67.15.1</p>
</div>

<p>This nearly complete soft-shell turtle is an exceptional fossil collected during the Hell Creek Expeditions to Montana 1961-1963. This specimen is still in the original plaster field jacket which it was collected in and brought from the field to the museum. Preparation which will free it from the matrix will take many months – its study will take even longer.
</p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em>As with any exceptional well-preserved fossil this turtle is important because it will undoubtedly yield new knowledge.
<br /> – Bruce R. Erickson, Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p><em>Fossil Leaves </em><br />
Late Cretaceous Period, Minnesota<br />
P81.12.912</p>
</div>

<p>These fossil leaves shaded dinosaurs living on beachfront property in Minnesota nearly 100 million years ago. These leaves are among the few dinosaur-age fossils from Minnesota. They fell into still water near the shore of an ancient seat that covered the western regions of Minnesota. Elizabeth Hajek, an undergraduate student from Macalester College collected these fossils from claypits near New Ulm and studied their preservation for her senior honors thesis!</p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em>These fossil leaves shaded dinosaurs living on beachfront property in Minnesota nearly 100 million years ago. These leaves are among the few dinosaur-age fossils from Minnesota. They fell into still water near the shore of an ancient seat that covered the western regions of Minnesota. Elizabeth Hajek, an undergraduate student from Macalester College collected these fossils from claypits near New Ulm and studied their preservation for her senior honors thesis!

<br /> – Kristi Curry Rogers, Curator of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p><em>Grypania spiralis </em><br />
Negaunee Iron Formation, Michigan, 2.1 Billion years old<br />
P94.12.1</p>
</div>

<p>The oldest known fossils on earth are stromatolites (blue-green algal mats) and microbial body fossils that around 3.5 billion years old. Among the oldest macro-scale body fossils are these from the Negaunee Iron Formation from Michigan’s Upper Pennisula. These are among the earliest eukaryotes found in the fossil record, and date to ~2.1 billion years old.</p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em>The Science Museum’s paleontology collection literally spans the history of life on earth – there is virtually no better demonstration of this than our collection of </em>Grypania spiralis<em>. Imagine a world where these tiny filaments are among the most complex creatures around.

<br /> – Kristi Curry Rogers, Curator of Paleontology</em></p>

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<p><em>Heliobatis radians</em><br />
Green River Formation, Wyoming <br />
P83.2.4</p>
</div>

<p>This fossil stingray was found in the ~50 million year old Green River Formation of Wyoming. You might recognize it’s stingray shape, and you’d be right – it is just a fossil relative of modern stingrays! Like the other animals preserved in the Green River Formation, this is an incredibly well-preserved fossil, due in large part to the lack of oxygen in the preservational environment (no oxygen = no scavenging).</p>

<strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br />
<p><em>I chose this specimen of </em>Heliobatis<em> for one simple reason – it has claspers! You can easily recognize the long spike that is similar to that of modern stingrays, but look for the other two, smaller spikes – those little bony spikes are called claspers. They are the copulatory organs in male chondrichthyans (including sharks and rays). That little anatomical insight allows us to say, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this </em>Heliobatis<em> was a male.

<br /> – Kristi Curry Rogers, Curator of Paleontology</em></p>

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100th Anniversary Objects - Paleontology $<div class="margin-left" style="width: 200px; font-weight: bolder; float:right; padding: 5px 5px 0 5px; border: 2px solid #96ADBF; margin-bottom: 5px;"> <p>Hypselosaurus priscus<br /> Rognac, France<br /> SMM P88.6.7</p> </div> <p>Dinosaur eggs in their original nest depression are still intact. The four eggs seen here were evidently addled (rotten) and did not hatch during the late Cretaceous some 70 million years ago. The fracturing seen on the shell surface is due to the fossilization process. There is no evidence of predation by egg scavengers. Dinosaur eggs are most plentiful in China where many different kinds have been discovered, but generally they are not well-documented.</p> <strong>Curator’s pick</strong><br /> <p><em> This nest of four is selected as the best example of fossilized eggs in our collections. Specimens of other dinosaur eggs in the museum’s collections are more fragmentary but like these will provide opportunities for study by staff or visiting scholars. <br /> – Bruce Erickson, Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology</em></p>$ 1 2 next › last »	100 Objects Archaeology Biology Ethnology Paleontology Research Station 100th Anniversary History & Mission Resources Directions & Parking Museum Accessibility
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100th Anniversary Objects - Paleontology

100 Objects

100th Anniversary

Resources