RMDRC News

Welcome Spring Breakers and local visitors! It's always nice to get a little time off from school for a brain break. If you have time, come up and relax with us and learn a few facts about dinosaurs while you are at it.

April, in most states, brings the budding of spring as the first flowers crack the winter soil. Here in Colorado, April means unpredictable weather and confused flowers! We received another dusting of snow this morning along with a temperature of 21 degrees. A few days ago, it was 65 degrees. More importantly, April is sometimes when we get our first chance to get out of the office and head to the hills -digging up new discoveries. Depending on the weather, we may be heading out to Kansas first for new marine specimens.

Here at the RMDRC, April brings in our "Boy & Girl Scout Day" and the continuation of our poster contest. If you like dinosaurs, and like to draw or paint, throw both together and enter our 2007 Dino Art contest. Who knows, you could be a winner.

If you happen to visit, peek into the paleo lab here. You will see our latest monster project, a 80+ foot Apatosaurus. We obtained this from the University of Wyoming and will be making repairs and a new mount for them. Eventually we will add this as a new cast to our Specimen Catalog for customers around the world.

Hope to see you here!

Sincerely,
Dave Ehlert
RMDRC Director
dave@rmdrc.com
 

Family FUN STUFF

Here are some NEWLY ADDED Dino Activities to keep those young paleontologists thinking!

A Dinosaur Story Activity
Allosaurus Connect Dots
Apatosaurus Coloring Page
 

RMDRC Upcoming Events

Saturday, April 14 / Boy & Girl Scouts
RMDRC invites all scouts to join us for our Annual Scout Day.  Scouts of all ages are welcome. Scouts dressed in uniform will receive FREE admission with a paid adult admission.  See you here!
 

Dino Art 2007 - Prehistoric Poster Contest

All ages, all skill levels! Show off your dino talents for our "Dino Art 2007" Prehistoric Poster Contest. Entry deadline is May 29th so continue reading here to get all the details to enter!
 

NOTE: Originally Posted On The University of Wyoming's Web Site

"Apatosaurus Display Goes on Sabbatical from UW Geological Museum"

March 20, 2007 -- A prominent member of the University of Wyoming Geological Museum is on a year-long sabbatical.

The 80 foot plus long fossil display of the Apatosaurus (Brontosaurus) a sauropod dinosaur that roamed Wyoming 150 million years ago, has been dismantled except for a one-ton section of its upper hip area. The dinosaur fossil will return with its display updated to reflect the latest paleontological research findings, says Brent Breithaupt, UW Geological Museum director.

“This is our first opportunity to enhance the fossil display since it was established by Samuel H. Knight in 1960,” says Breithaupt. “Professor Knight did a wonderful job of putting the Apatosaurus together based on the resources and knowledge of the times. We will be able add some of the dinosaur’s bones that Professor Knight didn’t have at the time to improve the display’s looks, such as posing it with its tail in the air instead of dragging on the ground.”

This month, Triebold Paleontology, Inc., of Woodland Park, Colo., took the Apatosaurus display apart. Triebold is a professional firm with expertise in casting skeletons and fossil mounting. The company will make a cast of the Apatosaurus fossil that will be available for other museums to use for displays, Breithaupt says.

The Apatosaurus fossil was approximately 60 percent bone, with the rest of the display cast from molds created by Knight. Triebold will take those pieces and make them more bonelike in appearance. The company will use a form of resin to create the new casts that will make those sections, such as the tail, lighter and easier to manipulate for display.

“This will be a 21st century dinosaur display when it’s unveiled next year,” Breithaupt says.

The dismantling project also gives researchers worldwide an opportunity to study the Apatosaurus fossils close-up.

“It’s kind of difficult to take measurements or do close inspections on a ladder 15 feet in the air,” Breithaupt says.

While the Apatosaurus is gone, new displays featuring duckbill dinosaurs and a sea reptile on loan from Triebold will be displayed, Breithaupt adds.

UW’s Apatosaurus is one of only six such displays in the world. In 1901, members of an expedition from the Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh, Pa. found the fossil 70 miles north of Laramie. The fossil was shipped back east with the anticipation it would by mounted.

However, another skeleton of the dinosaur was discovered in northern Utah and the museum chose to mount that specimen instead.

In storage for 50 years, the Wyoming Apatosaurus was brought back to the state by Knight as part of a fossil exchange. Assembling the fossil was a work of love for Knight, who died in 1975. Knight, a UW professor of geology for almost a half century, elevated the UW Department of Geology and Geophysics to one of the nation’s best. Among his many contributions to UW are designing the S.H. Knight Geology Building, working to rebuild the Geological Museum after it was nearly destroyed by water damage in the late 1920s, painting large murals of prehistoric life still on display in the UW Geological Museum, and creating the life-size, copper-plated statue of Tyrannosaurus rex that stands adjacent to the museum. Knight taught more than 15,000 UW students during his career.

Bob Wallin (B.S. geology, 1960) was an undergraduate student who worked in the geology preparation room while Knight assembled the Apatosaurus.

“He was completely focused on that dinosaur,” recalls Wallin of Shell, now a retired realtor. “He would turn up his hearing aid when he saw me and say hello, then back to work he went. He spent hours on that project. I worked at the museum for two years, and left before he finished. You could tell he loved every minute of it.”

The only modification of the display was in 1981 when Breithaupt replaced the Apatosaurus head to correct a mistake made when the dinosaur was first discovered in the 1870s. Based on findings at the time, paleontologists mistakenly placed a head from another dinosaur species, Camarasaurus, on the Apatosaurus skeleton. In addition, they also renamed the dinosaur Brontosaurus, leading to many years of confusion over the dinosaur’s correct identity.

Although the mistake was rectified in the early 1900s, it wasn’t until the 1970s, it was proven that the traditional "Brontosaurus" image known to all was, in fact, an Apatosaurus excelsus with the wrong head.

Follow this story over the course of the next year by visiting the UW Geological Museum Web site at www.uwyo.edu/geomuseum. For more information, (307) 766-2646.

Fossil Work -- John Bennit, left, and Jim Gordon of Triebold Paleontology, Inc., dismantle the 80 plus foot fossil display of an Apatosaurus at the University of Wyoming Geological Museum. Triebold will make molds and casts of the fossil display over the next year. The Apatosaurus display will be updated when the casting is completed to reflect the latest in dinosaur research, according to Brent Breithaupt, UW Geological Museum director. (UW Photo)
 

Prehistoric Paradise Store - NEW Arrivals
 

Vet Kit ($9.99) - Your very own veterinary kit, complete with all the tools you need to tend to any sick or injured dinosaur.

Basketball set ($8.99) - Dino dunking with our dinosaur basketball and hoop.

Paint your own Pen ($3.99) - Paint your own dinosaur pen! Comes with paint, brush, and a stand to set your pen on.

Click here to start your shopping experience!
 

March "Dinosaur Talks"

On Saturday, March 10, we held our first “Dinosaur Talks" of the year. We started this program when we opened and we have had some fantastic speakers since then. This time around, we had an opportunity to listen to Mike Triebold, world renowned paleontologist and owner of RMDRC, speak about how we get dinosaurs out of the ground and into our exhibit halls where the public can enjoy them and learn more about paleontology. Mike also spoke about our international business, Triebold Paleontology which works out of the lab at the RMDRC. Following Mike was Anthony Maltese, our Curator. Anthony discussed the amazing discoveries being worked on in the paleo lab as well as what we are planning for our 2007 field season.

This event produced a nice gathering for those interested in a behind the scenes look at paleontology.

Mike Triebold, RMDRC Owner and Founder shows visitors how skeletons are found, cleaned, and put on display

Anthony Maltese, RMDRC Curator discusses specimen projects
 

Lab & Field News
 

RMDRC Curator, Anthony Maltese, is currently heading up to the University of Wyoming with fellow Triebold Paleontology, Inc. employees to continue working on the amazing Apatosaurus. In just a few weeks, we do plan to head out to Kansas and will share with you any new discoveries from the Niobrara chalk.

In the lab, we have virtually run out of space due to the large bones of the Apatosaurus waiting their turn as restoration continues, bone by bone. You can easily see the progress through our paleo lab windows. Before the next next issue of the newsletter, Anthony will prepare an Apatosaurus project page that will include pictures and a writeup on the progress of this very large specimen.

Remember to continue to watch the Paleo Lab News page for the latest updates on all of our current projects.

Regards,
Dave Ehlert
RMDRC Director
dave@rmdrc.com
 

From the Education Desk 
 

The study of dinosaur footprints and trackways has developed into a dynamic branch of paleontology. Dinosaur footprints and trackways have been discovered on every continent, and new sites are still being discovered today. Dinosaur footprints and trackways are forms of trace fossils. Unlike body fossils, which are the remains of dead bodies, trace fossils record active movement while the animal was alive. Some of the most direct information available from studying dinosaur tracks relates to locomotion. Trackways can indicate whether a dinosaur was walking, trotting, running, or wading in water. Trackways also provide clues about the social behaviors of dinosaurs, and the environment in which they lived. For example, from fossil trackways paleontologists can tell that some dinosaurs were social animals that traveled in large herds across the Mesozoic landscape. As more footprints and trackways are uncovered, there is no telling how far they may take us in our efforts to learn more about dinosaurs and their ancient world.

The study of dinosaur footprints and trackways is fascinating. You can find more information about fossil footprints in the books “Dinosaur Tracks and Other Fossil Footprints of the Western United States” by Martin Lockley and Adrian Hunt, and “Fossil Footprints of the World” by Martin Lockley. On your next visit to RMDRC, I hope you will take a few extra minutes to study the interesting footprints and trackways on display.

Happy Spring!

Regards,
Pat White
Education Director
pat@rmdrc.com
 

Dinosaur News

Two NEW Raptor species have been discovered in Mongolia.

Scientists in China suggest that a new species of lizard called Xianglong zhaoi, from the Early Cretaceous, glided from treetop to treetop.