2009-05-21 – Cosenza, ITA: Inaugurato il nuovo Museo di Paleontologia

Inaugurato all’Unical il Museo di Paleontologia

E’ stato inaugurato in settimana il Museo di Paleontologia dell’Università della Calabria.

per ulteriori informazioni ecco il link all`articolo,

e soprattutto il link al sito del museo: http://museopaleo.unical.it/index.php

2009-01-25 – Burgess Shale fossils at the Royal Ontario Museum

‘A Fossil Paradise’ At Royal Ontario Museum

One hundred years ago a discovery was made that drastically changed our view of the history of life on Earth. The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) presents A Fossil Paradise: The Discovery of the Burgess Shale by Charles D. Walcott, an exploration of the Burgess Shale’s early excavations, including vintage panoramic photos, site artifacts and a profile of the man who made the great discovery as told by his personal field notes and letters.

Considered one of the most important finds in palaeontology, the Burgess Shale was humankind’s first view into some of the most ancient and bizarre animals to inhabit our planet 500 million years ago. From January 31, 2009 to April 26, 2009, the exhibition will be presented on Level 2 of the Hilary and Galen Weston Wing, next to a display of fossils from the ROM’s own storerooms, the largest and most diverse collection of Burgess Shale specimens in the world.

“The origin of today’s animal diversity can be traced back to half-billion years in the superbly preserved fossils of the Burgess Shale,” said Jean-Bernard Caron, Associate Curator, Invertebrate Palaeontology. “The period when these animals lived shortly followed a time of massive evolutionary changes and experimentations, known as the Cambrian Explosion. Today, these fossils continue to marvel scientists and public alike in providing important clues on this unique chapter in the history of life.”

The Burgess Shale is located in the UNESCO World Heritage Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, near the town of Field, British Columbia. The spot contains some of the world’s most spectacularly preserved fossilized remains of soft-bodied organisms that evolved in the Cambrian Period, 500 million years ago. Concealed within layers of rock are fine details of their anatomy, allowing a greater understanding of the ecology, diversity and evolution of animal communities during that period. American Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850-1927), discovered the most important of the Burgess Shale sites in 1909 while serving as the Fourth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and regularly returned to the Burgess Shale until 1924 when, at the age of 74, he had collected over 65,000 specimens.

Vintage Photography

Walcott used photography to document his scientific work. While this was an important means of documenting scientific findings, field photography in the early 1900s was extremely cumbersome. Walcott preferred glass-plate negatives, which meant hauling heavy glass over the mountains by horse. It was also often necessary to send test photo shots all the way to Washington, D.C. to be developed and back before he knew whether to adjust the camera. Despite these hardships, by the time of his last expedition, Walcott had taken 650 photographic panoramas of the Canadian Rockies.

A Fossil Paradise includes eight of these oversize vintage panoramic photographs that demonstrate the scenic grandeur of the area and document a geologist at work in the early 20th century. Also on display is a 2.5 metre (over 8 feet) wide panorama taken from Burgess Pass by Walcott in 1911, the largest photograph ever published by National Geographic. Visitors can also see a circa 1908 R.B. Cirkut camera of the type used by Walcott. — www.rom.on.ca

source: http://www.huliq.com/13/76678/%E2%80%98-fossil-paradise%E2%80%99-royal-ontario-museum

2009-01-14 – Pisa, ITA: Dinosauri al Museo di Calci

 I dinosauri protagonisti al Museo di Calci (Pisa)

Due grandi scheletri aprono al visitatore una finestra sul mondo di 70 milioni di anni fa: il nuovo percorso paleontologico.

 Al Museo di Storia naturale e del territorio di Calci sono state inaugurate delle nuove sale dedicate alla Paleontologia, introdotte da una vera e propria apparizione: in uno dei cortili interni dell’edificio monumentale, infatti, il visitatore può imbattersi nei grandi scheletri di un dinosauro erbivoro e di uno carnivoro, che lo mettono a diretto contatto con le dimensioni reali di questi antichi rettili, lasciandolo letteralmente “a bocca aperta”.

Gli scheletri rappresentano l’introduzione al nuovo settore espositivo del Museo dell’Università di Pisa, assolutamente da vedere: tutto l’allestimento è guidato da criteri didattici e perché il tracciato espositivo è integrato da attività sperimentali e di laboratorio.

In fondo al cortile si apre una finestra su un mondo di 70 milioni di anni fa che ci mostra i dinosauri, non più come scheletri ma in carne e ossa, impegnati a deporre uova, a prendersi cura dei piccoli e a difendersi dai predatori: è uno sguardo sulla vita quotidiana di un lontano passato. Il percorso continua poi all’interno, mostrando cosa c’è dietro le quinte di un classico reperto da museo qual è lo scheletro di un dinosauro montato in una vetrina. La ricostruzione dello scavo paleontologico che il Museo sta effettuando nella Patagonia Argentina è il punto di partenza del viaggio che il fossile dovrà fare per arrivare alle sale del Museo, percorso che il visitatore segue passo passo attraverso le fasi del restauro e della duplicazione, effettuate sotto i suoi occhi nel laboratorio di restauro situato nella sala stessa.

Il percorso si chiude con una sala dedicata alle estinzioni, a quella tanto discussa dei dinosauri, rappresentati da un terzo grande scheletro, e a quelle meno conosciute di altri animali, senza dimenticare i sopravvissuti. Ultima, ma non certo per importanza, è l’area dedicata agli alunni delle scuole primaria e dell’infanzia, dove i bambini potranno imparare come si scoprono e si studiano i dinosauri, naturalmente giocando.

La sezione che approfondisce il mondo dei dinosauri, realizzata nell’ambito di un finanziamento CIPE concesso dalla Regione Toscana, integra il settore espositivo dedicato all’evoluzione del territorio pisano negli ultimi 500 milioni di anni. Questi scenari erano stati allestiti due anni fa seguendo un criterio narrativo incentrato sulla ricostruzione tridimensionale, in grandezza naturale, dei principali ambienti naturali del passato. Una particolare enfasi è stata posta sulla presenza di tracce fossili di dinosauri sul Monte Pisano, che sono tra le più antiche del mondo.

fonte: http://www.valdelsa.net/det-cy14-it-EUR-19947-.htm

2008-12-11 – Farmington, USA: Mostra: “Baby Dinosaurs” (Dinosaurs, Children’s Museum & Science Center)

Going prehistoric: Interactive “Baby Dinosaurs” exhibit opens Saturday

By Steve Lynn The Daily Times

Posted: 12/10/2008 12:00:00 AM MST

FARMINGTON — From searching for dinosaur bones in a tub to playing with puppets to building their own dinosaurs, children will have plenty to do when “Baby Dinosaurs” opens Saturday.

Mike Short touches up a baby dinosaur with paint in preparation for the opening of the "Baby Dinosaurs" exhibit this weekend at E3 Children's Museum & Science Center. (Lindsay Pierce/The Daily Times)

The E3 Children’s Museum & Science Center will display the new exhibit through March 28 after the museum closed its doors Dec. 1 to set up the exhibit. The exhibit opens Friday for museum foundation members.

“Baby Dinosaurs” includes robotic dinosaurs and a variety of hands-on educational activities for children ages 2 to 8.

A Triceratops that children can control with two joy sticks sits near a larger Parasaurolophus that maneuvers on its own.

Some of the exhibit shows how dinosaurs grew from hatchlings to adults. An approximately 6-foot replica of an adult Brontosaurus’ upper-leg bone sits next to one about a foot long.

“The kids kind of experience it through their own imagination,” said Kelly Hile, the museum’s coordinator.

Children also can attach green, blue and red stuffed legs, heads and claws of dinosaurs to a body to create their own dinosaurs. A table with Tyrannosaurus rex and Stegosaurus stamps will give children a chance to create designs on paper they can take home.

“Children need to be able to interact and imagine to learn,” Hile said.

The museum also will display murals from New Mexican dinosaur artist Karen Carr, Hile said.

Carr’s work appears at museums throughout the country and the children’s museum is “very lucky” to have the murals, Hile said.

Though many of the museum displays are replicas or casts from real dinosaur bones and fossils, Hile said the museum will display a few real ones.

People have found dinosaur fossils and bones in the nearby Bisti/De-na-zin Wilderness Area, making Farmington an ideal city for the children’s dinosaur exhibit, Hile said.

Regular exhibits at the children’s museum remain free, but for “Baby Dinosaurs,” adults pay $5 admission, senior citizens $4 and children 12 and under $3. Children 2 years old and younger and museum foundation members are free.

Other exhibits, such as “Tots Turf,” designed to help develop motor skills of children age 5 and younger, will remain free. Activities such as instruction on how to sketch a dinosaur are free though they do not include admission to “Baby Dinosaurs.”

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

 

Upcoming Baby Dinosaurs’ events

The following activities will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. in December and January at the E3 Children’s Museum & Science Center, 302 N. Orchard Ave. in Farmington.

“The Dinosaur Prophecy”: This movie discusses how dinosaurs lived and died. The film will be shown Dec. 20, 26, 27 and Jan. 31.

“Sketch a dinosaur”: Children can learn how to sketch dinosaurs with pencils Jan. 3.

“Draw future dinosaurs”: Children can learn how draw dinosaurs in color Dec. 30.

“Mold it!”: Children can create their own fossil, and learn how fossils are made, discovered and identified Jan. 31.

Call the museum at (505) 599-1425 for more information.

 

Steve Lynn: slynn@daily-times.com

source: http://www.daily-times.com/ci_11181309?source=most_emailed

2008-11-24 – Philadelphia, USA: Hadrosaurus foulkii on shown (mostra)

In mostra uno dei primi dinosauri trovati e che ha contribuito in maniera determinante alla conoscenza dei dinosauri ai primordi del loro studio.

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Posted on Fri, Nov. 21, 2008

Hadrosaurus foulkii, the fossil phenom

By Kristin Granero – For The Inquirer

The Academy of Natural Sciences will open its newest exhibit, “Hadrosaurus Foulkii: The Dinosaur That Changed the World,” at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The exhibit will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the scientific recognition of the Hadrosaurus foulkii, the most complete dinosaur skeleton found to that time.

Discovered in Haddonfield in 1858, the fully mounted skeleton of the 23-foot-long plant-eater will be displayed at the academy for the first time since the 1930s.

Three scenes will tell the story of Hadrosaurus foulkii. Visitors will learn about the discovery of the fossilized bones, the role of academy curator and University of Pennsylvania anatomy professor Joseph Leidy in identifying them, and the efforts of artist and naturalist Benjamin Hawkins to first capture what the dinosaur looked like.

Through April 19, the academy will host Hadrosaurus foulkii-themed events and attractions, including Dino Weekend beginning next Friday through Nov. 30, and Dinosaur Day on Dec. 27. Paleopalooza, Feb. 14 to 16, will feature presentations by scientists and fossil experts.

 

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“Hadrosaurus Foulkii: The Dinosaur That Changed the World,” 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (exhibit opens at 9 a.m. Saturday for members and will be on display until April 19) at the Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Admission: $10, $8 for children ages 3-12, seniors, college students, and military members, and free for academy members and children younger than 3. Information: 215-299-1000 or www.ansp.org.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/weekend/20081121_Hadrosaurus_foulkii__the_fossil_phenom.html

2008-10-16 – Melbourne, Australia: Nel museo nuova sala per i dinosauri (Museum,Dinosaur Walk)

Nel museo di Melbourne si inizia a preparare la nuova sala he ospiterà le collezioni di geologia, paleontologia e zoologia.

Sono stati investiti 7 milioni di dollari australiani e la “Dinosaur Walk” sarà pronta nell Aprile 2009.

Intanto si comincia a smontare gli scheletri ………………

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Museum no architectural dinosaur

THE dinosaurs will soon walk again, and they will do so in Melbourne.

October 15, 2008 12:00am

 

Museum staff dismantle a Mamenchiasaurus dinosaur in preparation for upcoming exhibition Dinosaur Walk, opening April 2009. Picture: Melinda Iser/Museum Victoria

Melbourne Museum is about to embark on a $7 million refurbishment that will include a dinosaur walk exhibit and room for more than 3000 never-before-seen objects from the Museum’s collection.

The new Science and Life Gallery will cover palaeontology, geology, bird and mammal collections.
The Dinosaur Walk is due to open in April next year, and will be followed by an exhibit on Victoria’s biodiversity, one presenting 600 million years of evolution, and the final display will address the Earth’s formation.

Museum Victoria CEO Dr Patrick Greene said the work is an enormous undertaking.

“This is the largest gallery redevelopment ever planned by Museum Victoria. When completed, the Science and Life Gallery will be one of the most comprehensive natural sciences galleries in Australia,” Dr Greene said.

The Museum’s head of sciences Dr John Long said the new exhibits will contribute to the public’s knowledge of the natural world.

“The diverse displays in the galleries will be united by one theme – change: changing climates, changing landscapes, changing life forms – which will tell the story of evolution,” he said.

source: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24501053-24331,00.html

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Links:

Museum Victoria

2008-10-10 – Oklahoma USA: Mostra sulle cure parentali dei dinosauri (Dinosaur, eggs, hatchling)

Museum hatches dinosaur-era exhibit
Displays provide opportunity for hands-on exploration

Published: October 9, 2008

NORMAN — Dinosaur eggs, nests and embryos will be featured in “Hatching the Past: The Great Dinosaur Egg Hunt,” an exhibit opening Saturday at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, 2401 S Chautauqua Ave. The exhibit will be on view through Jan. 19.

Included in the exhibit are authentic dinosaur eggs and nests collected from all over the world. Eggs from each of the major plant- and meat-eating dinosaur groups are represented.

Linda Coldwell, museum spokeswoman, said visitors will be able to touch real dinosaur bones and reconstructed nests, dig for eggs, experience hands-on exploration stations and view animated video presentations featuring well-known dinosaur experts. Different sections of the exhibits will include life-like models of embryos and hatchlings, colorful illustrations of dinosaur family life and photographs of dinosaur hunters and their discoveries, she said.

Highlights of the exhibit are:

• A bowling ball-sized egg laid by a long-necked, plant-eating titanosaur that lived in what is now Argentina 75 million years ago.

• A large cluster of eggs laid by a duck-billed dinosaur.

• The longest eggs ever discovered — almost 18 inches long — laid by a giant species of oviraptor, an ostrich-like dinosaur.

• A presentation about the discovery of “Baby Louie,” a nearly complete skeleton of a dinosaur embryo discovered by Charlie Magovern in 1993.

Museum hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. The museum also will be open with free admission from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Nov. 1. For more information about the exhibit or other events and programs at museum, call 325-4712 or go to www.snomnh.ou.edu.

source: http://newsok.com/museum-hatches-dinosaur-era-exhibit/article/3308841

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museum link: http://www.snomnh.ou.edu/exhibits/hatchingthepast.htm#

“Leonardo” (Brachylophosaurus) ancora in mostra allo “Houston Museum of Natural Science”

Meet Leonardo, the dinosaur mummy

By EILEEN MCCLELLAND For The Chronicle

Sept. 30, 2008, 2:30PM

I was alone with Leonardo for at least a minute, when his entourage slipped into an adjacent room to see a chicken.

Leonardo’s local handler, Robert Bakker, who has known him since 2002, had said the meeting would be a moving experience because Leonardo is both vivid and eloquent.

And I did fall under Leonardo’s spell, awed both by his advanced age and his immense significance.

Leonardo, aka Brachylophosaurus canadensis, is a rock star in the world of paleontology. Although he may look like he is just sleeping, as Bakker points out, the 6-ton, duckbill dinosaur, complete with mummified soft tissue, has been dead for 77 million years. Bakker is curator of paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

The museum, in association with the Judith River Foundation, has developed a world-premiere exhibition featuring Leonardo, the most completely fossilized plant-eating dinosaur yet discovered, with almost all of his skin, as well as bones and internal organs, intact. He is what Bakker refers to as an “inside-outside mummy.”

“He glows. He really does,” Bakker said. “The light penetrates the skin, which has an impression of scales and fine, golden sandstone. Visitors will see every wrinkle and scale popping in the light and then discover the internal organs of a creature that’s been dead for millions of years. “They will leave convinced that these animals were very much alive.”

So much for vividness. But how can the 77-million-year-old mummy of a duckbill dinosaur be eloquent?

It’s not as crazy as it sounds. Studying the creature has been a revelation to paleontologists. Leonardo’s stomach contents, for example, speak volumes.

Before digital technology was applied to this particular mummy, paleontologists could only guess at the internal structure of a vegetarian giant like Leonardo. The data is still being analyzed, but much of what has been discovered so far has to do with what Leonardo ate, Bakker says.

“Inside the rib cage you can see his intestines and stomach and see what he was eating in the weeks before he died,” Bakker says.

“For 180 years, we have been saying that duckbills and their relatives were designed to shred the toughest vegetation in the world. Their teeth look like cow molars. They were made for pulverizing really tough plants.

“The biggest surprise is that science works. What we’ve been concluding from looking at the bones and the teeth was correct. He was designed to chop plants like a zebra or a wildebeest does. Leonardo was eating conifer needles and conifer bark, the toughest common plants in his world. By gum, we were right!”

Leonardo also swallowed a dusting of pollen from flowers, trees and shrubs, providing more clues to the nature of his environment.

Bakker says Leonardo’s cause of death is a mystery, but that he likely perished from natural causes.

“That’s a tough one. There are no wounds on his carcass. His intestines survived because something sealed him off so nothing ripped him up. It was probably a peaceful death on a sand bar in a river, then he was covered by a thick layer of sand. And then, he was mummified under layers of sediment.”

Although Leonardo is not the only duckbill dinosaur mummy with preserved skin, he is unique in retaining his innards.

“The first good one was found in 1908. It’s a fine mummy … but no insides,” Bakker says. “Leonardo is absolutely one-of-a-kind unique.”

Discovered in 2000 by a Judith River Foundation expedition on a cattle ranch north of Malta, Mont., Leonardo was named after graffiti on a nearby rock that read: “Leonard Webb loves Geneva Jordan 1916.”

Leonardo now belongs to the town of Malta, where he lives when he’s not on the road.

“I’ve watched kids in the museum in Malta, and some want to pet him,” Bakker says.

HMNS has constructed a life-size sculpture of Leonardo that people will be able to touch, since the mummy is protected by a glass case.

The exhibition features several other specimens including another duckbill named Peanut, a teenager that illustrates the species’ body structure; an ichthyosaur (or fish lizard) mummy, which has the contents of her intestines and four babies preserved inside her body; and the only mummified triceratops skin ever found, which will also be on display for the first time.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/6032254.html

Resources

DINOSAUR MUMMY CSI: CRETACEOUS SCIENCE INVESTIGATION

• Where: Houston Museum of Natural Science, 1 Hermann Circle

• When: Continues through Jan. 11

• Tickets: $15, $12 for ages 3-11, $10 for ages 62 and older, and college students with a valid ID; $8 members; 713- 639-4629 or www.hmns.org .

Triceratops vinto all’asta in mostra la Museo di Boston, USA

World’s First Triceratops Sold at Auction Will Be Unveiled in Boston

Museum of Science, Boston to open new exhibit, Colossal Fossil: Triceratops Cliff November 15, 2008 Anonymous donor provides extremely rare and mostly complete, 65-million-year-old dinosaur fossil to Museum on long-term loan

Last update: 10:40 a.m. EDT Sept. 22, 2008

BOSTON, Sep 22, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — The Museum of Science, Boston today announced that it will unveil an extremely rare dinosaur fossil for the first time to the public this fall — a skeleton of Triceratops horridus that was auctioned at Christie’s in Paris earlier this spring. According to Christie’s, the fossilized Triceratops skeleton is mostly complete, making it one of the world’s rarest paleontological finds. There are currently only three other largely complete Triceratops fossils on public display in the world. To present the fossil, the Museum has developed a new exhibit, Colossal Fossil: Triceratops Cliff, which will open November 15, 2008. Named after the donor’s grandfather, Triceratops Cliff is the fossilized remains of a real Triceratops who lived and died over 65 million years ago. The exhibit will allow visitors to imagine Cliff’s life and death in the age of the dinosaurs, as they examine evidence found in this extraordinary fossil, including large scars on its massive, three-horned skull.

The fossil made international headlines in April 2008 when it became the world’s first Triceratops to go on public auction. The only other dinosaur ever to be auctioned is Sue, a Tyrannosaurus rex that sold in 1998. The highly coveted Triceratops fossil was purchased for $942,797 by an anonymous American collector. Wishing to have the fossil displayed for the education and enjoyment of the public, the collector generously offered the fossil on long-term loan to the Museum of Science.

“The Museum is honored to be the new home for Triceratops Cliff, where it will be available to students, researchers, and the general public for the first time,” said Paul Fontaine, Museum vice president of education. “We are grateful to the donor, who was committed to sharing this amazing discovery with as many people as possible. The Museum looks forward to opening the new exhibit in November, which we hope will inspire future paleontologists and dinosaur enthusiasts of all ages.”

Triceratops Cliff was discovered in the Hell Creek Formation of the Dakotas in 2004. This is an area comprised of sedimentary rocks that formed during the Cretaceous period, which ended about 65 million years ago. The “colossal fossil” measures approximately 25 feet long and weighs about two tons. The specimen bears two large gashes in the frill surrounding its head, suggesting a possible battle with a Tyrannosaurus rex or another triceratops.

In Colossal Fossil, visitors will learn about the Hell Creek Formation and discover why the area is so rich with fossils. Visitors will explore other fossils from the Cretaceous period, such as fish and turtles, learning about flora and fauna that existed in Cliff’s lifetime. Virtual exhibit interactives will allow visitors to zoom in for a closer look at Cliff–right down to the bone, and compare a model to the real fossil.

Colossal Fossil: Triceratops Cliff will open Saturday, November 15, 2008. The exhibit is ongoing and included with regular Exhibit Halls admission: $19 for adults, $17 for seniors (60+), and $16 for children (3-11). For more information, the public can call 617/723-2500, (TTY) 617/589-0417, or visit www.mos.org.

About the Museum of Science:

One of the world’s largest science centers, the Museum of Science takes a hands-on approach to science and technology, attracting approximately 1.5 million visitors annually with its vibrant programs and over 700 interactive exhibits. Highlights include the Thomson Theater of Electricity, home of the world’s largest air-insulated Van de Graaff generator; the Charles Hayden Planetarium; the Mugar Omni Theater, New England’s only 180-degree IMAX(R) domed screen theater; and The Gordon Current Science & Technology Center (GCS&T), which offers breaking news stories to the public with interpretation by Museum staff. In 2004, the Museum launched the National Center for Technological Literacy(R) (NCTL(R))–helping facilitate a nationwide expansion of technology literacy by working with regional schools, offering educational products and programs for pre-K-12 students and teachers, creating curricula, and supporting an online resource center. For more information, visit www.mos.org.

SOURCE: Museum of Science

Museum of Science 
Sofiya Cabalquinto, 617-589-0251 
scabalquinto@mos.org 
or 
Mike Morrison, 617-589-0250 
mmorrison@mos.org

from. link