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Posted by: jhorner 12/31/2007 4:45 PM

New Years is a funny time for a paleontologist since we generally think in terms of millions of years.  What's another year, other than a time to be thinking about what we collected last summer, or what we might find next summer?  This year (2007 for the next 10 hours) was my 25th year at the Museum of the Rockies, and it is kind of fun to think back on all the specimens that my field crews have collected over two and a half decades.  We have more than a dozen T.rex skeletons, two dozen Triceratops, and nearly fifty skeletons of dinosaurs like Maiasaura, Hypacrosaurus and Einiosaurus.  We have the world’s only Triceratops growth series, the best known specimens of Tenontosaurus, Einiosaurus, Achelosaurus, Thescelosaurus, Orodromeus, Hypacrosaurus stebingeri, and Troodon. MOR also has the only dinosaur egg clutches known from the United States.  I think it’s pretty cool that 25 years ago a person would have to go to New York City to see fossils from most of the dinosaur species found here in Montana. Now we have them on display right here at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana.  In 2008 we'll go out and find some more--we'll probably ship some of them off to the Smithsonian so they too can have some Montana dinosaurs for people to see.  

Above image: Egg clutches on display in the Hallway or Growth and Behavior at MOR.

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Re: A New Year for Paleontology    By Ricardo Ely on 1/2/2008 8:43 AM
2007 was an awesome year for you guys at the MOR I bet! Hopefully 2008 is even better. Keep up the good work, because by far your one of the best paleontological research museums in the world1

Re: A New Year for Paleontology    By Kennedy on 1/2/2008 8:42 AM
Very interesting, but are all the specimens displayed at the Museum of the Rockies, or are they still shipped to places like New York?

Re: A New Year for Paleontology    By Jack Horner on 1/2/2008 12:03 PM
Obviously not all these specimens are on display, as like any other museum, the bulk of collections are in storage where researchers can examine them. Any museum that can display all of their specimens doesn't have many specimens as it always takes a great deal more room to display a specimen than to store one. We do have many specimens on display, and out of all the specimens we've collected, only one skeleton, that of a juvenile Hypacrosaurus has been loaned to the natural history museum in New York. There is also one specimen at the Smithsonian. Some specimens are also on loan to other museums here in Montana.

Re: A New Year for Paleontology    By Anita Welych on 1/9/2008 12:10 PM
Wow! What a job you've done in your 25 years... Congratulations!
my husband went to Bozeman for undergrad, and (I just did the math) just missed the MOR.
Your work is fascinating, and we're hoping to visit with our son Martin next summer. His goal is to study under you...but since he's only 7 he says he wants me to go with him. I'd be glad to!
What do you plan to be working on in 2008?

Anita


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Crowds gather around a model of Deinonychus and Tenontosaurus at the Dinosaurs under the Big Sky exhibit opening.

 

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