Exhibition Highlights
Part of the Fighting Dinos exhibition.
Never before seen in North America, the two Fighting Dinosaurs are a fierce Velociraptor that died apparently locked in combat with a plant-eating, shield-headed Protoceratops. Also on view were many new specimens from Mongolia, some of the most complete theropod dinosaurs ever found, nesting dinosaurs, and some of the finest lizard and mammal fossils ever discovered. These specimens, discovered in Mongolia's famed Gobi Desert, have enhanced our understanding of life there 80 million years ago, and they shed new light on the rise of modern bird and mammal groups.
The exhibition showcased research by Museum and Mongolian Academy of Sciences paleontologists from 1990 through 2000, and reflects the current thinking on dinosaur traits, behavior, and evolutionary links to birds. A few specimens, including Velociraptor and Oviraptor, were on view near fleshed-out models, complete with feathers -- the presence of which is based on discoveries in China in 1998.
