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Rare museum specimen or another fake?

Hello fossil friends in Germany- A few months ago I started planning a History of Paleontology class/trip which will include the Solnhofen area. Before Christmas, the Eichstatt Wiilibaldburg Castle museum was closed. Now I do not see anything on the web site, which is all auf Deutsch about it being closed. Is it actually re-opened? Thanks jpc

Natural History Museum in London Since most of this has been covered already and recently, I won’t go deep into a tour: What I have here are some pics of what I would consider to be the “gems” of the museum. Some cool things that I hope none of you overlook whenever you visit. Very fun place, I enjoyed it even more than my last visit. Yes I brought a measuring tape with me to the museum... lol. Impressive, remarkably, huge Megalosaurus tooth. Measurement of the replica below.

Hello guys! Today I want to talk to you about an interesting museum situated where you wouldn't be expecting one: Venice, the City of Water. In a place famous worldwide for its architecture, art and food, the natural history theme is left behind, but it is not devoid of surprises. The museum was founded in 1860 and located in a XIII century palace, that served as a private residence and then as a market. The present appearance of the buidling was given by major renovation works that altered the original aspect. Nevertheless, it is an impressive location for a museum!! The area around Venice is an alluvial plain and no fossil can be found. That's why the museum collection are made up of specimens found in other parts of Veneto region, Italy and of the world. the highlight of the whole museum are the specimens collected during explorations that underwent in Africa in the 70's. In particular, the desert of Niger was explored. Back in the Early Cretaceous rivers and forests flourished there, as well as a very rich faunal assemblage. Italian-french excavations have yielded hundreds of dinosaur bones: theropods, ornithischians and sauropds are known. in the exhibits two specimens stand out above all: First the skull, teeth and back plates of "Sarchosuchus imperator", a crocodyliform and one of the largest crocodile-like reptiles that ever lived. (I only took a picture of the skull) Then the mounted skeleton and paratype of "Ouranosaurus nigeriensis", an hadrosaurid dinosar, 6,5 m (21.3 ft) long. Hadrosaurids had an unusual plant-smashing beak, multiple rows of teeth and they were facultative bipeds. Like in the theropod "Spinosaurus aegypticus", the neural spines of "Ouranosaurus" form a sort of "sail" on his back, its function his unclear; a social (display) role is generally more accepted than that of thermoregulation. The Venice specimen lacks the skull, atlas vertebra, ribs, the distal segment of the tail and few other bones. It was not fully grown, but close to adult size. Other exhibits from the Niger expedition include teeth and bones of dinosaur and a turtle shell: Regarding the other collections, they are less relevant and impressive in my opinion. You can see fish and plant remains from the Eocene of Bolca, a world-famous site not far from Venice. A couple of interesting tracks of amphibians and reptiles from the Permian of South-western United States Two amphibian body-fossil from the Permian of Germany Eocene crabs from Veneto A bird from the Cretaceous of China The skull of temnospondyl amphibian from the Permian of Russia The death track of a limulid from the Jurassic Solnhofen lagerstatten of Germany And a sirenid from the Oligocene of France Overall the Museum is interesting and I was satisfied. I didn't know about the African expedition and of a dinosaur paratype!! It was actualy difficult to take decent pictures (for the little lighting) and for most of the exhibits, labels and boards were minimized. Anyway, if you stop by Venice, don't miss it!! P.s.: if you'd like to have any additional information about the specimen that I uploaded a picture of or those that I left out, please ask, I would love the help!

Hello everybody This will be a bit longer and I hope you stick with me. So I've planed on opening this topic for quite a while now and I think it's the time to go now. Maybe it's stupid, maybe not. Let's just see where this will go. With 31 and no kids (not yet) it's the best time to do this now. I won't get younger and you never now how long you can just leave for vacation as you like it. I was already three times in the US but never did anything with fossils (as in digging or visiting museums). So why not just go to the US, dig up some stuff and enjoy the most beautiful Dino fossils out there. We have some nice museums in Germany / Europe, but nothing compares to the museums in the US. Inspired by a lot of TFF Members and their great field reports I just want to dig for one time in my life at the Hell Creek Formation and visit some museums there. I'm aware that HC Formation spans mainly across MT, WY, ND and SD. I'm looking mostly for Dino teeth of any kind as they are small enough to actually bring them back to Germany. I have no interest in finding big bones or fossils like that, because 1. I don't know how to recover them correctly and 2. I can't take big and heavy fossils onto a plane back to Germany. I'm planing to do this trip at some point in 2020 and dig for several days and just enjoy the US. I have no problem with driving long distances by (rental) car. So to summarize it: a ) Visting museum with lots of Dino fossils. b ) Digging up Dino teeth at HC and return with them to Germany. So I'm trying to organize this topic with different questions 1. What's the best time? What time of the year has the best weather conditions for going out to dig? And is there a "tourist time" that I should avoid? As in a lot of people digging at the same spot. 2. Where am I allowed to dig? The most difficult and important question. Can I dig as a private person / foreigner on US soil and can I keep these fossils? Do I need specific permission? I'm aware it can depend on the state, the property and who allows it or doesn't allow it. Just seraching the internet is not very helpfull to find specific information at what specific strip of land I am allowed to dig. So the easiest way is that someone just shows it to me like "look, here you can dig and keep your stuff, here you can't do that" In the end I need someone to tell me at what very specific locations I am allowed to dig. 3. Just go with a guided tour? On the web there are several guided tours for digging in the HC Formation. This would sure be the easiest way, but most tours don't allowed you to just keep your fossils. You have to buy your own found fossils in order to keep them. With this I just can buy teeth on the web. Also the trip itself costs money. And the tours are only at specific times. I want more independence deciding the specific date and have just my own freedom (within the law). But maybe someone has a good tip for me. Maybe someone knows someone who does some tours or anyone from there who can help. All legal issus aside, I need to find the actuall HC Formation within the land. Pritty sure I won't find anything if I just get out of the car somewhere and start digging a hole in the ground This would be a rather expensive and big trip for me. With flying across the atlantic I need to know where to go and what to expect. I can't waste any day with searching around where to dig. I need to know this in advance. 4. Where to get proper equipment? I can't bring any big/heavy tools or stuff like this, as I'm traveling by plane. Any idea what to do? Just buy some cheep tools for this tour once I'm in the state? 5. Where in the HC area are the best museums? Simple question. I wonder what great museums are out there. 6. Can I board a plane back to Germany with fossils? All the great fossils don't help much if I'm not allowed to bring them to Germany. I don't know if I could get in trouble at the airport with US border patrol / TSA / Customs if I want to leave the US with fossils. Do I need a receipt? A confirmation of any kind, that I bought / dug up these fossils legally? Or do they just not care? Is it just like a souvenir? Some contries view fossils as a national heritage. How does the US handle this at airports? If you made your way through my sluggish english until this point: Thanks! I hope I didn't make myself a fool with this and the trip is not possible anyway because only scientific people are allowed to dig there, but I just hope this trip is possible in some way for me. Any help and tips are very welcome. I think I'll fly from Munich to Chicago and then start my trip from there to the west. But I'll have to see where I end up with. Maybe I fly somewhere else and head to HC.

3 fossils stolen from KU’s Natural History Museum by Dylan Lysen, LawrenceJournalWorld, October 22, 2019 https://www2.ljworld.com/news/public-safety/2019/oct/22/3-fossils-stolen-from-kus-natural-history-musuem/ Yours, Paul H.

ok to Dinosaur World, Plant City and there is this museum that has load of fossils and also has an exploration cave show in there and has loads of ammonite fossils but for 3 pics of these ammonite fossils is i dont know the species and the genus of them.

so i went to Orlando Science Center today for the Dino Digs exhibition but in Jurassic Ridge dig pit area i know that there is a Camptosaurus, Camarasaurus, Ceratosaurus and a Stegosaurus, but there is some species and genus of dinosaurs and other animals that i dont know what there like take for example the turtle shell, the alligator crocodile like animal fossil, the ankylosaur like fossil and that bone that i dont know what species does it belong to and that nest that i don't know which dinosaur does it belong to.

Researchers discover more male than female mammalian fossils in museum collections by Bob Yirka , Phys.org https://phys.org/news/2019-09-male-female-mammalian-fossils-museum.html The Quirk of Collecting That Skews Museum Specimens Male. Only two orders of mammals—containing bats, anteaters, and sloths—are biased toward females. Rachel Gutman, The Atlantic, Sept. 11, 2019 https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/09/research-specimens-are-mostly-male/597832/ The paper is: Gower, G., Fenderson, L.E., Salis, A.T., Helgen, K.M., van Loenen, A.L., Heiniger, H., Hofman-Kamińska, E., Kowalczyk, R., Mitchell, K.J., Llamas, B. and Cooper, A., 2019. Widespread male sex bias in mammal fossil and museum collections. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(38), pp.19019-19024. https://www.pnas.org/content/116/38/19019.short Yours, Paul H.

This Sunday (4/14) is the opening day of the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor Natural History Museum. I'll be going at 8:45 AM which is when the ribbon will be cut. It looks like it's going to have some great exhibits. Hope some of you can make it, but if not, I'll make sure to post some pictures.

Hello friends! Thix summer, after visiting the Orton Geological Museum (you can find my post about it), I paid a brief visit to another museum in Columbus, Ohio. It was the Ohio History Center, that featured an extensive history of Ohio from the geological past to present. Focusing on the fossil exhibits, they are predominantly educational, for children I'd say and sadly most of the label lack specific informations (scientific names, origin). Nevertheless, there are some very peculiar fossils, that I'm going to show you now. Let's start with one of the highlights of the whole museum, the Conway Mastodon, a complete skeleton found in 1887 in the Ohio countryside. The Ice age exhibit features three other bone remains: those of a stag moose, a flat-head peccary and a woodland muskox skull. The other cases display fossils from the Palaeozoic. the Ordovician section consists of an Isotelus trilobite (state fossil of Ohio), a large crinoid slab and other fossil taxa (like bryozoans and nautiloids). From the Devonian you can see large colonial corals, nautiloids and a huge trunk (or branch, I'm not sure) from a tree of the genus "Callixylon". The Carbonferous section features fossil plants, like the well-known calamites, sigillaria and the fern "Pecopteris". Finally a huge fossil tree stump of the genus "Lepidodendron" concludes the exhibition. Overall I was satisfied, for you have an overview of all the kinds of fossils that you can find throughout Ohio, from the Ordovician trilobites to the Pleistocene proboscideans. the exhibition is rather small and labels and boards are far from being techincal, but fossil enthusiasts won't be disappointed, at least I was not! So tha's it, Let me know your impressions!

We just arrived back from my wife's family reunion held in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. In the past, during such trips, my goal has always been to check out a few fossil spots while visiting kinfolk. This trip was no exception. Unfortunately, the weather was trying to be uncooperative so we visited a few museums and arboretums during some of our down time. The Delaware Museum of Natural History was average at best but was air conditioned!!! Just the right size for children (see the T Rex pic) but not truly stimulating for adults. Longwood Garden was our next stop. It , on the other hand, was absolutely WONDERFUL!!!! Beautiful landscapes, festive fireworks alternated with fountain displays at night. A strong recommendation to visit if in the area. My favorite area was the water gardens and some lovely pics have been added to the forum's "Nature Photography" post. Take a look if interested. Here is @snolly50's favorite. One more floral picture that I liked. Next on the itinerary was Sunnybrook Creek. Due to the heat, I thought a wade in the water would be nice. However, upon arrival, I found the creek to be dry!!! So my desire to cool off was shot down. I did spend about 30 minutes in the creek bed before it became uncomfortable. The creek has many minerals in it but botryoidal goethite is the common thing found.

Hello everybody So this is another Museumreport from Germany. This time the famous Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt. I would say this is one of the best Collections in Germany. One important note: They have a lot Cast Skeletons. I will lable every picture indicating if its a real fossil or "just" a cast. All Casts are copies of real fossils. I labled as many fossils with names as possible Enjoy Tyrannosaurus Rex Cast Triceratops horridus Cast Triceratops prorsus Real Supersaurus vivianae Cast Stegosaurus stenops Cast Iguanodon bernissartensis Cast Diplodocus longus Real (mounted skull is a cast, real skull at the bottom to see it better) Plateosaurus engelhardti Real Giraffatitan brancai Real (still labled in the museum as Brachiosaurus) Euoplocephalus tutus Cast Quetzalcoatlus northropi Cast Psittacosaurus mongoliensis Real Parasaurolophus walkeri Cast Archaeopteryx lithographica Real (a welcome suprise, I wasn't aware they got the real 11th Archaeopteryx) Edmontosaurus annectens Real (very impressive fossil, parts of the skin is still visible) Anhanguera santanae Real (there is a cast of the position it was found, but the single skull and bones on the right are the real ones) Some eggs Oviraptor is a cast Archaeopteryx lithographica and Compsognathus longipes both Cast (very nice modells) Rhamphorhynchus indet. Real Xiphactinus audax Real Tylosaurus proriger Real Varanus komodoensis and Platecarpus coryphaeus both Real Peloneustes philarchus Real Placodus gigas Real Cryptoclidus oxoniensis Cast Simosaurus gaillardoti Cast Metriorhynchus superciliosus Real Ophthalmosaurus icenicus Cast Temnodontosaurus trigonodon Real Sclerocephalus haeuseri Real Nothosaurus mirabilis Real Eurhinosaurus longirostris Real

Hi all! Here is a list of Russian paleontological museums with a short description, impressions and a single photo ( made by myself, later). I have not visited all of them, but hope to do so step by step in the future. Most museums hosting paleo exibitions are organised as "local history museums" - everything from minerals to folk costumes. They do sometimes have good paleontological material. If you are in a big city, why not visit the local history (краеведческий) museum - there's a chance to find a good collection. There's only a handful of dedicated paleontological museums. That's what I've found so far: Moscow: 5 museums. https://www.paleo.ru/museum The biggest museum with a good collection, but unfortunately many replicas and material from abroad. Emphasis on Permian reptiles, Gobi dinosaurs and big mammal skeletons:) http://www.darwinmuseum.ru/projects/constant-exp/razvitie-organicheskogo-mira?eng The museum concentrates on evolution concept, but (and that's why) features some good paleo material. The paleontolgical hall is situated on the top floor and thus not much visited after all the taxidermy. I advise you to begin with the top floor then descend. https://www.fmm.ru/Main_Page?setlang=en Fersman mineralogical museum (with atacamite pseudomorph after a mouse) http://mgri-rggru.ru/fondi/museum/mineral.php Mineralogical museum of Sergo Ordzhonikidze Russian State University for Geological Prospecting (MGRI) http://sgm.ru Vernadsky State Geological Museum Saint Petersburg: 3 museums, all of them free (at least for Russian citizens, so you'll need to enquire), limited access and have very few visitors. https://spmi.ru/gornyi-muzei Mining museum http://www.paleostratmuseum.ru Stratigraphic museum, home to the oldest Russian paleocollection (sold by K.Eichwald, also authentic XiX century displays). Situated in SPb university http://www.vsegei.com/ru/about/museum Very nice one-hall museum with countless mineral and fossil specimens from different Russian locations and the oldest dinosaur skeleton in Russian expositions (the only one in SPb) Kazan: http://kazan-kremlin.ru/museums/muzej-estestvennoj-istorii-tatarstana/ Good collection. Nice Jurassic marine life hall. Samara Oblast: http://alabin.ru/sobytiya/prirodnaya-ekspozitsiya Alabin museum - features a good Mezozoic marine hall (also trilos,mammals, etc). Toliyatti (Samara Oblast): https://sites.google.com/site/ievbmuseum/nasi A restricted access museum for professional geo/paleontologists, visits by appointment Nizhny Novgorod: http://www.turionn.nnov.ru/muzei_mineralogicheskiy.html The museum is now situated in State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (NNSAGU). Free, requires advance registration Ulyanovsk Oblast: http://www.uokm.ru Local history museum with a small paleontological hall on the ground floor. Still nice Jurassic marine material and a cave bear skeleton http://www.simbircit73.ru/salon-muzej Simbircite private museum, features some nice heteromorph ammonites, holotypes included Undory (Ulyanovsk Oblast): https://undor-muz.ru A small museum devoted to Jurassic-Cretaceous marine life Perm Oblast (Kray): http://museum.perm.ru/filiali/muzey-permskih-drevnostey Permian reptiles, etc. Looks good http://museum.psu.ru/museum/muzej-paleontologii-i-istoricheskoj-geologii/ Visits by appointment, probably small Volgograd: https://museionsajtyarkova.ru/katalog/katalog-muzeya-evolyuczionnoj-ekologii-i-arxeologii.html Yakutsk: https://www.s-vfu.ru/universitet/rukovodstvo-i-struktura/vspomogatelnye-podrazdeleniya/muzei/detail.php?SECTION_ID=162&ID=13263 Mammoths and associated fauna Yekaterinburg: http://ugm.ursmu.ru Mostly geological Ivanovo: http://www.ivmk.net Museum of stone (combines mineralogical and paleontological expositions) Kirov, Kotelnich (Kirov Oblast): http://suminia.com/ru/About_the_Museum.htm Kammenomostsky (Adygea Republic): http://worldroads.ru/muzey-ammonitov-adyigei Dedicated to ammos Stary Oskol (Belgorod Oblast) https://www.ammonit.ru/text/2257.htm Museum of the local mining plant - marine reptiles, etc Shestakovo (Kemerovo Oblast): http://brend.visit-kuzbass.ru/shestakovskii Not a museum in a proper sense, but some kind of tourist route around dinosaur excavation sites Nizhniye Chugli (Dagestan Republic): https://www.ammonit.ru/text/1691.htm A small private ammo museum

Hi everyone, Last Thursday I had a school trip to the harbor of Rotterdam, the biggest harbor in Europe and 10th biggest in the world. We were specifically in the Maasvlakte 2 area, the newest addition to the harbor to accommodate larger ships and more containers. There's a small museum there which we visited. The intent of the trip was to discover more on how the harbor evolved to fit the needs of the world in the ever-growing globalization of the planet. However what no one else in the class knew (because no one else in the class is as crazy as we all are ) is that the sand used to make the artificial beach of the Maasvlakte 2 is full of fossils. Same story as for the Zandmotor (and many other fossil-containing beaches in the NL), the sand used to make the artificial beaches is extracted from the North Sea floor, which is very rich in fossils, especially of Pleistocene age. I was really hoping to be able to have some free time during the trip in order to go on the beach and hunt a little bit (I've already been there once, some 4-5 years ago), but that unfortunately didn't work out. Luckily in the small museum they had a section dedicated to the paleontology of the beach, and I had the pleasure to visit it. Big mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) tusk. This one is probably not from the beach itself but rather dredged from the North Sea. And here's a view of the small exhibition with a big mammoth hip and femur (I think they're casts though).

Hi! I made a small visit to the Natural History Museum in Maastricht today to visit the new small exhibition named "Whale: Locality Maastricht" which centers around some Eocene whale bones from an undescribed whale found in the ENCI quarry in Maastricht. The exhibition explores further into the evolution of whales, it's a small exhibition but worth a visit if you haven't seen the museum or if you are really interested in whale evolution. Should any of our Dutch, Belgian & German members decide to visit (or international members who are in the area), then you should really grab a copy of the exhibition book. It is really cool and informative, it's only €2,50 but 125 pages long (both in dutch & english) and it covers the evolution of whales, the ENCI whale, modern whales & their biology and about whaling and whales in human history & myth. The exhibition book alone is well worth the visit in my opinion, I kinda compare it with the EOS magazine about Iguanodons & the book "Mammoths: ice age giants by Adrian Lister" but then about whales. So here are the photo's I made of the exhibition. The Exhibition Room: left: Metepocetus sp. neurocranium with preserved ear bones from Liessel in the Netherlands (Miocene) Right: Isoluted vertebrae of various whale species from Liessel in the Netherlands (Miocene) Isolated vertebrae of Eocene primordial whales (Archaeoceti) dredged from the buttom of the North Sea, for comparison with those of the "ENCI whale" Isolated vertebrae of Eocene primordial whales (Archaeoceti) dredged from the buttom of the North Sea, for comparison with those of the "ENCI whale" Smallest jaw: possibly Dorudon sp. from the late Eocene of Ad Dakhla in Morocco. Bigger jaw: possibly Pappocetus lugardi, from the middle Eocene of Ben Gueran in Morocco.

Do you guys know if there are any paleontological museums in Italy?

I just went to this traveling exhibit in a museum in a city where my brother lives that it is about the animals and life in the Permian period and I got pictures of 3 fossils, an ammonite, a trilobite and a crinoid but I don’t know what species and genus they are?

I just visited Field Museum in Chicago for the Member’s Nights, and I made sure to take pictures to share! During Member’s Night you’re allowed into the bowels of the museum where non-displayed items are held, along with several fun and interesting mini-exhibit/activities/booths. On the third floor, many of the paleontology department were displaying their personal favorite fossils! These next few will be from there.

Taiwan’s largest fossil park to open on Sunday By Wu Chun-fang and Jonathan Chin, Taipei times http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2019/05/09/2003714834 Yours, Paul H.

Hello and a very warm well welcome to my little museum So the time has finally come and I can show what I got. A friend of mine, who is a professional photographer, took some very nice pictures and I would like to share them now with all of you Let's go: First my two Megalodon tooth: 5.64 in with very nice serrations 5.3 in no serrations present on this tooth Spinosaurid teeth from KemKem The first one is rather big with 5.5 inches, but I'm aware this is a composite. Sooner or later I will work on this tooth with Acetone. This one is at 3.15 in, but also some glue present My smallest Spino tooth at 3.3 in, but also the best looking without bad restoration A Mosasaur tooth from Morocco at 2.55 in Another Mosasaur tooth from Morocco. Rooted with broken crown (whole tooth with root is 4.6 in) This one is described as a rooted Elosuchus cherifiensis tooth from KemKem at 3.07 in Root is glued back together, but I think it's rather well done. The pieces fit and I don't think this is a composite Not sure about the ID however. If someone got more information, please let me know I would say it's croc, but not sure about the species. Well this tooth is familiar to some It'S my reconstructed Carcharodontosaurid tooth from this topic: Length is 2.48 in A nice Otodus obliquus tooth from Morocco at 3.5 in (big boy) Next from KemKem is a Onchopristis numidus rostral barb at 1.57 in Two Abelisaurid teeth from KemKem Ornithocheirid tooth from KemKem Something different A Pteranodon indet. bone from Niobara Formation, Logan County, Kansas, USA And a Diplomystus dentatus from Green River An Afrovenator abakensis tooth from Tiourarén Formation in Niger. Yes it's one of this special lot the goes around TFF for some time now. Nanotyrannus lancensis form Hell Creek. One repaired crack, 1.05 in A very nice Mako tooth from Temblor Formation California (thx @caldigger )

Here are two fossils which I have recently donated to the Natural History Museum in London. The first is a Rhinocephalus planiceps skull from the Eocene London clay of the Isle of Sheppey, the second is a Triassic Archosaur tooth from Wales.

Hey friends, Hope you're all well. I recently went to New York for the first time and throughly enjoyed what the city had to offer, however one of the stand out days was definitely a trip to the American Museum of Natural History. I won't bombard you with thousands of picture but I will post a few of my favourites Also a question, annoyingly I was on limited time and wasn't able to make the last slot of the "Meet T-Rex: The Ultimate Predator", has anybody done the tour and is it worth doing? I was gutted I missed it and would like to hear what others thought of it. I'm sure most of you know the I.Ds but i'll list a few of them just incase. So here's a few pics from my journey This specimen is AMNH 5027 and it was excavated in 1908 by Barnum Brown in Montana. Interestingly enough this specimen also provided the first complete skull of Tyrannosaurus rex. Not an alien, a pano that went a little wrong, it's hard to fit these guys in.

Hello everybody So today I decided zu visit the Dinopark Altmühltal in the Center of Bavaria / South Germany. Info: CLICK Let us see what we've got here. Lot of pictures. I will have to do multiple posts One of the most interessting fossils there is Rocky, a young Tyrannosaurus Rex. I previously showed Rocky here: Then we have this monstrosity:

Would anyone happen to have contact info for anyone in the fossil field at the Smithsonian/Museum of Natural History? Actually, any museum, or "official"(?) expert of the field--Prehistoric whales/Cetus. Ive tried contacting anyone from the smithsonian website contact form, and through email, but haven't had any luck yet. I know they would be very busy, but as my attempts have only gone to the most general direction, I'm thinking that if the messages even end up getting to the correct people at all, they may not even get the messages for some time.