As much as I love the mount of Barnum Brown's famous Tyrannosaurus skeleton at the AMNH, one of my absolute favorite reconstructions is the one pictured above from the Maryland Science Museum in Baltimore. While many Tyrannosaurus mounts have their heads high up in the air, perhaps even with jaws agape looking down at visitors, this skeleton's skull is close to the ground and allows for an excellent look at the marvelous osteology of the great head of this dinosaur (as well as giving me the impression that the skeleton is just as curious about me as I am about it, were it alive that is).
- Log in to post comments
More like this
H.F. Osborn and Barnum Brown's vision for "dueling" Tyrannosaurus.
Dawn glows along the shore of a lagoon near the sea three millions of years ago in Montana. The landscape is of low relief; sycamores and ginkgo trees mingle with figs, palms and bananas. There are few twittering birds in the…
The Warren mastodon as originally mounted in the Warren Museum of Natural History. Note the size of the tusks. From The Story of Nineteenth-Century Science.
It is rarely crowded in the "Hall of Advanced Mammals" at the American Museum of Natural History. People stroll through on their way to see…
I was going to title this post 'How a tyrannosaur was mounted', or 'How to mount a tyrannosaur', but that seemed childish. Eventually I went for a title based on a movie, as that isn't at all childish. If I could travel in time, high on the list of things to do would be visits to see dead animals:…
Few dinosaurs are as well studied as the Upper Cretaceous tyrannosaurid theropod Tyrannosaurus rex. It might be easy to assume that this intense focus has been driven by the fame and glory associated with working on this dinosaur. That might be partly true but, in fact, T. rex really is one of the…
When it comes to voracious carnivores, I've always preferred Felis silvestris catus.
It also gives a nice "you're about to be eaten" simulation.
When I was a little kid, I was lucky enough to live near the Smithsonian in DC. My favorite part was (duh!) the hall of dinosaurs. I have a great picture of me at three years old standing by the T. rex skull. I loved that. If I had seen the whole thing like in that photo, I probably would have needed new underwear.
That is a fantastic mount. It really does look (as jeffk said) as if the photographer (and I assume viewer) is about to be eaten.
Run away! It's the Black Beast of Aaaarggghhh!!!
That is one awesome mount.