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So the new museum of Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in Leiden, the Netherlands was opened the past weekend and besides having a completely new building and a bunch of new stuff. The T. rex Trix is also back from being on tour in our new dedicated dinosaur hall. But I wanted to share something particular and I'll leave showing the rest of the new museum to others. I volunteer at the museum in the dinosaur prep lab, and over the past years the dino lab team has been prepping away at a whole bunch of Triceratops horridus specimens. It was originally found in 2013 when the museum was looking for a T. rex. Instead they found a number of Triceratops bones in Wyoming. Still wanting a T. rex they looked on. Eventually this T. rex was to be what became the Trix specimen. One of the most complete T. rexes in the world. After getting the T. rex the museum went back to the first location to start digging up those Triceratops bones. It later turned out to be probably the biggest collection of post cranial bones of Triceratops ever found divided between two sites right next to each other. I joined the team about 3 years ago. At first we were just prepping a variety of the bones to see just what we had. It was soon decided that we'd prep one of the skeletons from the upper site and mount that in the new upcoming museum. In the upper site we only had 2 individuals so that it would be easier to distinguish between the different individuals as one of them was much smaller. And now the skeleton is done and standing proud in the new museum. The specimen, now named Dirk, was named for one of the volunteers. There's quite a few bones present. All of the remains were found disarticulated and we don't have a complete skull. We have the braincase, one brow horn, left squamosal, left quadrate, right quadratojugal, both nasals and both dentaries, left articular complex as well as the rostral beak. For the large limb bones we have almost all of them. We're only missing the coracoids and the left ulna. Most of the toe bones as missing but we have a few of the hind toe bones. We have partial vertebrae of most of the back and around half the ribs. The sacrum is missing but the rest of the pelvis has all the real bones. For the tail we only have a single vert and chevron. Personally I've mostly worked on the skull bones such as the nasals and dentary as well as vertebrae. I also did some putty work on the arm bones. All of the missing bones were 3d printed. The scans are mostly based on the Lane specimen. And who knows, maybe we'll have a few more Triceratops skeletons mounted in the future. But there's still a lot of prepping to do.

Hadrosaur carcasses must have been great hiding places for fishes during the Cretaceous. A beautifully preserved primitive sturgeon, in the belly cavity of a Brachylophosaurus skeleton. Thanks Jack Horner Here’s the holotype skull of Gorgosaurus libratus. This specimen was collected by Charles Sternberg from Dino Prov Park, Alberta & described by Lawrence Lambe, Canada’s first vertebrate palaeontolgist. Thanks Dave Evans Thigh bone and shin bone of a subadult Triceratops. The thigh is much longer than the shin making for a relatively short stride, suggesting Triceratops was very slow. T. rex was definitely faster than a trike & probably didn’t need to run to catch one. Compliments of Dave Evans. Wonderful skull of the very early dinosaur Eoraptor from the PVSJ collection in San Juan. It’s from the early Late Triassic Ischigualasto Formation. NHM Dinolab The theropod Coelophysis baur the State Fossil of New Mexico. This mass death assemblage depicts multiple individuals who died at the same time. Thanks Guy Leahy. Here’s a nice big T. rex tooth from Saskatchewan. Not the prettiest but from a cool location. D. Evans Acrocanthosaurus mount completed by the Black Hills Institute. Heading to the Netherlands Something you dont see often jaws of Iguanacolossus fortis. Its a genus of iguanodontian ornithopod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Early Cretaceous period from Utah . Jim Kirkland Dinossur material from Austria wow.... you are looking at the nodosaur Struthiosaurus austriacus, from the Campanian of eastern Austria. Represented by multiple individuals of different growth stages, here is the braincase and two spikes. Tom Raven

Hello! Purchased this piece at a Gem and Mineral show. Seller had the item listed as an unknown dinosaur bone, and potentially thought part of a ceratops horn and acquired in Utah. Bottom looks almost suture like? Honestly, not sure. Got at a good price so it was worth the risk. About 5 inches tall, 3 inches wide, 2 inches thickness. Probably weighs 1-2lbs. Has been glued.

Hello! I recently attended a show and picked up this Triceratops Squamosal Section (labeled as such). I don't have much experience when it comes to ceratopsian bones and I was hoping you guys could help either confirm the I.D. or correct it. It was found in the lance Creek Formation, Wyoming by the seller, dated between 69 to 66 Mya. I know determining the exact species is difficult, and I was thinking of using the I.D. of Chasmosaurinae indet. (Thanks @-Andy- for your helpful naming guide on the "Dromaeosaurus Teeth?" thread ). I tried to get appropriate angled pictures to help with I.D.ing but if another view would be helpful that I missed, I'm more than happy to get some more pictures once I get home. Thanks for your help!!

Hello! Over the weekend I made some new labels for my fossil collection and I was wondering what everyone thought of them. I have QR codes which link to the corresponding "prehistoric-wildlife.com" species page for more info, and I added in some basic I.D. info to the cards to not crowd them. I also attached numbers to the labels and the fossils, so that I don't need to keep the labels directly next to the fossils. Would love to know what you think, and if anyone wants more information/the template I created. Thanks! P.S. Two of my I.D.s I'm still not 100% on (deltadromeus and Pectinodon) and I don't want anyone to assume I've completely I.D.ed them. Thanks!

New to collecting and this site, thought I’d debut my small collection in my first post. Any comments or tips would be appreciated.

NYT article, with video, covers the uncovering of a triceratops skull in North Dakota badlands. Cool side story of one of the discoverers losing chance at internship in So. Cal., La Brea Tar Pits, and gutting out excavation in the badlands. Enjoy. Alice (Triceratops) in Badland

https://us.cnn.com/2019/07/24/us/triceratops-skull-discovery-trnd/index.html

Hello everyone, I’m looking at a partial triceratops frill with tooth in original matrix. I only have very little experience with teeth and vertebrae. Would love to know what everyone’s thoughts are on it and if this is authentic or not? Wyoming, montana Hell Creek formation.

I recently came across the young earth theory (the theory that earth is 10.000 years old and dinosaurs coexisted with humans and traveled with Noah and his ark) and of course i thought it was unfeasible but one common argument they keep having is why are we finding soft tissues, proteins and other biochemicals in fossils like triceratops, t-rex and other dinosaur bones of course that doesn't mean DNA BUT they shouldn't have been preserved because such biochemicals don't get preserved after so much time. Another one is that some old fossils are still close to the surface when they should be buried really deep. So what are your thoughts on these arguments, in my opinion this theory is ridiculous but i'd love to learn the answers. Thanks (PS sorry for asking that many questions these days its just that im new to the forum and have lots of questions)

Hi there guys! Found this teeth in the internet and wanted to know if they are real Triceratops tooth. Is it possible to tell? Thanks in advance, Juliano

What do you guys think about nanotyrannus? I thought it is a juvie tyrannosaurus but it's hands were bigger

I have been working hard lately on all of our programs and we are very close to having the dinosaur presentation I want us to have. We have a name for this program, Dinos Rock. Yes it is not super creative but for 2nd graders, this is a geology themed program. For 3rd graders, it is adaptation based but the name works. We have added some pieces that gives us more than a few teeth. Nothing museum quality or anything but a few bones help the visual factor. I have been studying the biology, geology and ecology of dinosaurs so the science will be good. my son is working on the art but we wont have any done soon, he has school projects a head of this. We are close to being ready a full 6 months before I thought we would be. Hell Creek was going to be a focus for us because the fossils are available and this is the fauna that most kids will recognize. If you are willing to look hard, you can also find some real bargains from this formation. We turned a lot of early attention collecting attention to Hell Creek dinosaurs and I am actually really happy with where we are at with the fossil material we have. There is a lot of room to add and maybe upgrade in the future but this is a good start. This is the famous T-Rex and Triceratops fauna and we started our collection with those critters. Very early on, we were able to get a few Hell CreekTriceratops teeth. I am very happy that through a purchase from TFF member, we added two frill pieces. They are Lance formation but we are not covering the Lance formation yet so they will be used here. I also added a frill piece from Hell Creek. The kids will get to touch the largest frill piece which is a great bonus. An iconic dinosaur and I think well represented. Also early on, we stumbled into a great bit of a luck. A TFF member saw a post of ours and passed it on to another TFF member who sold us a beautiful Tyrannosaurus Rex partial tooth and gave us a really nice Nano too. It was very affordable and a generous gift was added that gave us nice pieces from the most famous dinosaur ever. The rock star really. I was not sure we would be able to get a decent example at all but to do it right off the bat was HUGE. This would not have happened if not for the members that decided to help us out. We are extremely grateful The first dinosaur fossil we got were two Hell Creek Edmontosaurus teeth that were a gift. We acquired a nice jaw fragment in a trade. I am a bargain shopper with a limited budget so I LOVE our Edmontosaurus as it has not cost much at all. I named this display Eddie I like it so much lol Hadrosaurs are important dinosaurs to talk about and I think a fair amount of kids may not know about them. I would like to add another bone later too. They seem attainable for us. Acheroraptor was behind only T-rex on the my list and we got a really beautiful tooth and it was another bargain pick up. I will talk a lot about this species and I will get deep into the biology/ecology of this awesome dino because I love Dromaeosaurids. Raptors are also an iconic dinosaur that kids love and this is a relatively new species which is another fun thing to discuss with the kids. We will also be introducing the kids to a theropod they have never heard of, Richardoestesia gilmorei. I have told me son to envision a toothed Cormorant type dinosaur as I lean toward them being a fish eater. It is pretty cool to get a Hell Creek dino that they will not know anything about. We have yet to add a Thescelosaurus fossil but we will before we start presenting. I want to add another piece of the fauna and it seems this is the most inexpensive option we will have. It will also give the kids another dinosaur they probably do not know and it will round out the basic Hell Creek fauna. There is no shortage of dinosaurs that we can add either. An Anky or Nodosaur scute is way up on the program list of fossils for me and hopefully we can find one from this formation. Dakotaraptor is #1 on my personal list and I will get one eventually. A Troodontid is also very high on the list as well. I know eventually i will also pick up an Ornithominid too. All three of these are more expensive so we will have to save and wait but each one would also make awesome educational dinosaurs. I also really want to add an Avian fossil. I have not researched this but my guess is they are very rare. Leptoceratops is another species I would love to add at some point too. They are really cute and kids will dig them. Anyway, here are some of the fossils. I think we have a good start going to our Hell Creek collection and I am looking forward to taking these to work with me very soon. Pic 1- Triceratops teeth and Eddie Pic 2- T-Rex, Nano, and Hell's Thief. I am so happy to have these fossils. Pic 3- One of the frill pieces. This one will end up in a larger Trike display with more teeth and another frill. Plus we will have nice frill for kids to check out too.

Hello all, I was at my local rock shop and I noticed there was a Triceratops jaw for sale. I am curious about if it is genuine or if it has any repairs. The teeth look like they were inserted. I don't see myself buying it, but I would like to know what other forum members think about the jaw. Sorry I don't have any better photos. It was behind a glass case.

Hello, this was found in the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota in an area with a lot of triceratops, hadrosaur, and some struthiomimus fossils. It looks to be bone, as it is porous on the inside... however it is quite a bit heavier and denser than most of the other fossils I've found... similar to petrified wood. Wondering if anyone has any thoughts on what it might be.

Hello everyone! I found this partial rib bone for sale, labeled as a dinosaur (Triceratops or edmontosaurus) rib bone, (reconstructed by the seller). The only locality information given was that it was found in the Hell Creek Formation, and that the rusty color of this specimen comes from the Iron in the matrix. The main thing I'm wondering is if it is a dinosaur rib bone (i'd be happy with just a "Dinosaur indet" I.D.) or if its from another animal. The lack of locality information has be a little concerned, and I wanted to check with the forum to see what you thought. Thank you for your help!

Is this a genuine Triceratops frill fragment? It is from Hell Creek, MT. The seller has other frill pieces that look similar, along with other dino teeth. From what I've read in other posts, it sounds like presence of blood grooves confirm identity as a triceratops frill. I don't see overt grooves on the planar surface but I see evidence of a thin spongy bone layer in the cross section suggesting to me it is still bone of some sort. Thanks for any assistance.

I was sorting through my collection from decades ago. I have these teeth from the Lance Cr formation. I always assumed they were Triceratops but haven't found any confirmation. They don't match the photos on the internet. So I thought I would ask the experts.

Hi, Brand new to the site. Any help would be appreciated. I am a 6th grade Science teacher in suburban St. Louis. About 8 years ago I attended a dig with the St. Louis Science center to the Hell Creek formation outside of Jordan, Montana. I brought several fossils home to use in my classroom. I would love to get more information about them. My students absolutely love hearing about them and the more details the better! The first set of images was identified as being part of Triceratops frill. I can see the blood grooves in the bone. There also appears to be fossilized blood vessels on the surface of the bone. One starts at one side of the frill, travels through the frill and comes out the other side. Can blood vessels fossilize? Am I interpreting that correctly? Also on the "back" side of the fossil there appears to be a lot of dark almost granular material. At first I thought it was something organic (lichens) from the site where I found it. It is definitely fossilized and not something I can scrape off. Any ideas what that is? The second fossil is still unidentified. I was not able to get information about it on our trip from the paleontologist. Any information would be awesome! Thank you!

Fossils on Wheels can officially say we are an elementary assembly program We will be doing two presentations for all of the students at Nord Country Day School. it is a small charter in the middle of farm country here. I personally love the single class presentations because they allow you to interact with the students in a more in-depth manner. The assembly style programs are our best way to travel to schools outside of city though. We can educate an entire school versus 30-35 students at a time. This is pilot program but it is very important to our future to develop a large scale traveling fossil program. Things are moving very quickly for us and we are starting to reach large numbers of students. A big leap forward for us and a chance to bring real fossils to an entire school. This will also be the debut for our Diplodocus fossil which is our largest piece. I am really excited to bring Dippy to a presentation.

Hello i bought this triceratops tooth a while ago and was just double checking its authenticity. Is it real? Thanks. -Tom