The World’s Largest Dinosaurs, a new exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History, goes beyond traditional fossil shows to reveal how dinosaurs actually lived by taking visitors into the amazing biology of a uniquely super-sized group of dinosaurs: the long-necked and long-tailed sauropods, which ranged in size from 15 to 150 feet long.
In this video, go behind the scenes with The World’s Largest Dinosaurs curators Mark Norell and Martin Sander and as they explain the science behind the exhibition. Learn how dinosaur fossils are stored and cataloged from Carl Mehling, a scientific assistant at the Museum.
On Wednesday, September 29, the American Museum of Natural History reopened the famous display featuring the skeletons of two long-time combatants—an Allosaurus and a towering Barosaurus protecting her young—after a separation process that began in early August. The reopening introduced a new feature to this iconic display: an eight-foot-wide pathway that allows visitors to walk between the dinosaurs for the first time.
For nearly two months, the Barosaurus, which soars 100 feet above the floor,and Allosaurus in the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda had been surrounded by scaffolding while necessary structural work was performed. By cutting a swath through the fiberglass and steel platform which forms the bottom of the mount, the Museum has provided visitors with a fascinating new perspective on these two old favorites.
T. rex teeth on display in the Museum. Credit: D. Finnin
We’ve all heard this story — about 65 million years ago several large-headed, tiny-armed, bipedal predators, like Tyrannosaurus rex and Tarbosaurus, dominated Asia and North America.
But a decade of new fossil discoveries that have more than doubled the number of known tyrannosaur species has changed this tale. Older and smaller tyrannosaurs have made the evolutionary tree of this group richer and more complex. Furthermore, a series of innovative research projects on topics like bone growth and biomechanics have added an enormous amount of information about tyrannosaurs, so much so that the group could now be considered an exemplar for studying many themes in paleontology research. A new paper describing recent research and a new evolutionary tree appears in Science this week.
“We know more about tyrannosaurs than any other group of dinosaurs—even more than some groups of living organisms,” says Stephen Brusatte, a graduate student affiliated with the American Museum of Natural History.
“T. rex is the most iconic of all dinosaurs,” says Mark Norell, curator in the Division of Paleontology at the Museum. “The work on tyrannosaurs underscores how much can be done using modern techniques to understand the biology of fossil organisms. Many of us in the field now look at ourselves as biologists who just happen to work on dinosaurs.”
The American Museum of Natural History’s popular monthly SciCafe series featuring cocktails, conversation, and cutting-edge science presented by experts, is back at the Museum this fall, following its debut season earlier this year.
Some of the SciCafe events presented last season included a look at the Congo river with Museum curator Melanie Stiassny, who shared her team’s adventures and discoveries in Africa’s waters; a discussion withevolutionary psychologist David M. Buss on human mating strategies in celebration of Valentine’s Day; and Professor Kristin Baldwin’s talk on the future of stem cell research and engineering replacement organs.
Another highlight from last season included a SciCafe with Museum paleontologists Mike Novacek and Mark Norell. They shared their adventures (and misadventures) on the hunt for dinosaur and ancient mammal fossils in Mongolia, China, Mexico, Chile, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa. Here now is the complete video of “SciCafe: Travels with Tyrannosaurus,” recorded on May 5, 2010.
Make sure to check out the fall return of SciCafe on Wednesday, October 6 as Museum curator Mike Shara of the Department of Astrophysics helps celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Rose Center for Earth and Space with a conversation on the next 50 years of space flight.
For more information on upcoming SciCafes, visit amnh.org/scicafe.
Balaur bondoc — the first reasonably complete skeleton of a carnivorous dinosaur from the last part of the Age of Dinosaurs in Europe, a description of which appears as the cover article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today — provides insight into an ecosystem very different from that of today. Europe at the end of the Cretaceous was an island archipelago dominated by smaller and more primitive animals than related species living on larger landmasses. Balaurbondoc, though similar in size to its relative, Velociraptor, has unusual features.
“We’ve all been waiting for something like this,” says Mark Norell, chair of the Division of Paleontology at the Museum. “Balaur bondoc is heavy, with unexpectedly stocky limbs and fused bones. It shows just how unusual the fauna of the area was during the waning years of the dinosaur era.”
Balaurbondoc, whose scientific name means “stocky dragon,” is a partial skeleton that was unearthed in Romania. It has 20 unique features when compared to its nearest relatives, including a re-evolved functional big toe with a large claw that can be hyperextended, presumably to slash prey. This feature, when combined with the large claw on the second toe that is typical of Balaur’s relatives, makes the new species double-clawed. Its feet and legs are short and stocky, with bones fused together, and the pelvis has enormous muscle attachment areas, indicating that this species was adapted for strength over speed. Finally, its hand is atrophied and some of the bones are fused, features that would have made grasping difficult.
“Balaur is a new breed of predatory dinosaur,” says Stephen Brusatte, a graduate student at Columbia University who is affiliated with the Museum. “Its anatomy shows that it probably hunted in a different way than its less stocky relatives. Compared to Velociraptor, Balaur was probably more of a kickboxer than a sprinter, and it might have been able to take down larger animals than itself, as many carnivores do today.”
The fossilized hindlimb Balaur bondoc showing the double sickle claws of the foot, one of 20 unique features found on a Late Cretaceous island in what is now Europe. Credit: Mick Ellison
