Weird Fossils Display Ideas Needed

[Captcrunch227]

Hey guys! As some of you may know I run a paleontology education program. I take real fossils to schools and libraries. I've been over the years collecting things to make a mobile pop up museum. All that being said...

 

I've been wanting to make a display of fossils from really weird animals that we can find fossils of. So far I have an edestus tooth and finally got myself a Tully Monster today. I am having trouble coming up with ideas, and as I have dealt mostly with dinosaur fossils, I am hoping to have the help of some of my fellow forum members who have a broader knowledge base than I. It doesn't have to be something that you have for sale or trade, but I'm simply looking for ideas of actually obtainable fossils I can be on the lookout for. I'm starting to look for trilobites but am in over my head here too lol. Any ideas on anything would be an IMMENSE help.

 

Thanks y'all!

[Tidgy's Dad]

How about Tentaculites, a hyolithid, a eurypterid, or a jellyfish from the Mazon Creek? All quite obtainable at prices that shouldn't break the bank. 

[DPS Ammonite]

How about some semi-local  Pennsylvania sponges or Austin Chalk rudists.

 

Some of the reef forming Permian brachiopods in western Texas are pretty bizarre and cool.

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/11858-show-your-rudists/&do=findComment&comment=792656

 

[Captcrunch227]

4 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

How about Tentaculites, a hyolithid, a eurypterid, or a jellyfish from the Mazon Creek? All quite obtainable at prices that shouldn't break the bank. 

Funny, when I posted this I knew I could count on you to give me a few things to check out. They are much appreciated. Thank you so very much!

[Captcrunch227]

3 hours ago, DPS Ammonite said:

How about some semi-local  Pennsylvania sponges or Austin Chalk rudists.

 

Some of the reef forming Permian brachiopods in western Texas are pretty bizarre and cool.

 

http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/topic/11858-show-your-rudists/&do=findComment&comment=792656

 

I definitely agree with you, there are some cool stuff, especially the rudists. But those tend to go over like a lead balloon with most kids, they really seem to prefer things that are "alive" as they call it. I think the brachiopods are cool, especially the Pennsylvanian ones, but that stuff mostly just gets skipped over sadly. 

[FranzBernhard]

6 hours ago, DPS Ammonite said:

Some of the reef forming Permian brachiopods in western Texas are pretty bizarre and cool.

!!!!! Richthofenia and the like? 

 

2 hours ago, Captcrunch227 said:

they really seem to prefer things that are "alive" as they call it.

That means, they were mobile during their lifetime.

In that way, Trilos are a must: Complete animal, important, abundant. You really need some Megs, perhaps replicas of really big guys and real fossils of smaller ones?

 

Brachiopods, rudists, corals, sponges etc. belong to the "Great Oceanic Stationary Filter System", as I like to call it. That would be special niche and display: "GOSFS during time". Or: "Why are so many phyla try to behave like corals, sometimes".

 

Franz Bernhard

[DPS Ammonite]

7 minutes ago, FranzBernhard said:

!!!!! Richthofenia and the like? 

Tried to search for pictures. Google showed me pictures of the Red Baron, Manfred Albrecht von Richthofen, a German WW1 ace. Did he get a brachiopod named after him?

[FranzBernhard]

5 minutes ago, DPS Ammonite said:

Tried to search for pictures. Google showed me pictures of the Red Baron, Manfred Albrecht von Richthofen, a German WW1 ace. Did he get a brachiopod named after him?

Genus Richthofenia was erected by Kayser, 1881 (Hope, this is correct!).

 

Googling for brachiopod richthofenia yields some proper pics.

 

According to PBDB, there are no Richthofenia documented in the lower US, only in Alaska. But this is incomplete, for sure.

 

Do you know some other genera of brachiopods there?

 

Sorry for being somewhat off-topic .

 

Franz Bernhard

[siteseer]

Well Captain, you certainly need a mosasaur tooth or a vertebra.  You can get cheap ones from Morocco but you might be able to find a rather beat-up but large vertebra from Texas and not break the bank.  What kid doesn't want to see or hold a fossil of a large-giant sea lizard?

 

You can try finding a decent-sized ammonite or nautiloid.  You point out to the kids that they're relatives of the giant squid and they grab their prey and eat them with their beaks.

 

I think you need a crocodile or alligator tooth and one as big as you can get.

 

You need a great white shark tooth or at least an Isurus hastalis tooth.  That's the species that is the direct ancestor of the great white.  You can find a decent-sized tooth of that cheaper than a great white.  A pretty big tiger shark tooth would be good too because kids have probably seen a tiger shark during "Shark Week" or on one of the other shark shows.

 

You had a good idea with that Edestus because some kids might known about that from "Shark Week."  Other than sharks, you might pick up an Enchodus or Xiphactinus tooth or some other large fish that has big fang-looking teeth.

 

You might find a fin spine of a Dimetrodon at a decent price or maybe you have a connection to one of the Early Permian collectors who dig for those in Texas.  Kids like Dimetrodon.

 

You can try finding some kind of sizable fossil whale tooth like a sperm whale or a squalodont incisor.  You might find a decent-sized fossil whale vertebra rather cheaply as well.

 

Some kids are going to like a big fossil sea shell or sand dollar too.  Some are going to be surprised that a sand dollar is an animal.

 

A decent-sized piece of petrified wood that clearly shows the grain might be interesting to some kids.  It still has the texture and natural defects (insect borings, weathering) of wood but the wood has been replaced by minerals.  You tap it with a rock so they can hear that clinking sound petrified wood can make.

 

Yeah, you're not going to get a kid's attention with brachiopods or sponges.  You can always try to mix in small things like that if you get into the diversity of life through time and what still survives today but kids want to see something they can visualize - something they've seen before - and it helps if it was a dangerous and/or large or fast animal.  Fellow member Fossilsonwheels runs an educational program and he does it with shark fossils because kids like sharks.  He tried out a dinosaur program but dinosaur stuff gets expensive especially if you want to have a variety of flashy teeth or bones.

 

You can show them something that was small in the past but is now large like a horse tooth.  You can get a cheap Mesohippus tooth and maybe one of the Miocene horses and put them next to a Pleistocene horse tooth which is about the size of a modern horse and belongs to the modern genus, Equus.  They've probably heard of ancient horses being small from TV science shows.  

 

Jess

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lone Hunter]

Check out Green River fossils,  lots of fish and insects to choose from at reasonable prices. They are  recognizable and display nicely and kids love skeletons and bugs.

[Ludwigia]

If you really want some wierd things, then check out the Ediacarian and Burgess Shale fossils. Of course, they may however not be within your price range, but at least you could provide some photos.

[Yoda]

Pre-Cambrian Stromatolite 

I have a few in my collection - am fascinated by the evidence of the first life on Earth. 

Edited June 10, 2022 by Yoda

[minnbuckeye]

10 hours ago, Captcrunch227 said:

I definitely agree with you, there are some cool stuff, especially the rudists. But those tend to go over like a lead balloon with most kids

 

From my experience, children are fickle when it comes to fossils. They derive excitement from specimens for different reasons than adults. It is harnessing this knowledge that leads to finding interesting items for them. Once I took a cephalopod section measuring 12" across to an educational presentation for kids. It was "your lead balloon", just a chuck of rock in their eyes. The next time I offered this fossil, I included these examples of a smaller cephalopod, Dolorthoceras sociale, where I constructed my uneducated interpretation of what the soft tissue may have looked like (see my pics below). Once the children grasped what a WHOLE cephalopod looked like, they then realized what that big hunk of rock represented. A complete success!!!!!!!!! If you like this idea, I could possibly send samples to you.

 

[Meganeura]

When I was a kid trilobites always held my attention really well - they're so very alien-like yet still so similar to bugs. Plus, cheap and easy to find. 

Shark teeth are obvious as well, Megs, a partial can be pretty big and still cheap, maybe?

[JBkansas]

I've seen a lot of affordable basilosaurus fossils (whale that looked like a sea reptile) and eurypterus (kids love the "biggest thing ever").

 

Show them a small eurypterus and tell them "Now imagine this thing is eight feet long!"

Edited June 10, 2022 by JBkansas

[mr.cheese]

Have a check of my auction listing coming up probs on Monday (there might be be an Ichthyosaur vert in it but don't tell anyone!). If you win it, then as it is for kids and passing on the bug to them is really important I think! I will throw a few extra things in for you (Mosasaur teeth, a Welsh trilobite and a few flexicalymene too).

 

No pressure!

[Captcrunch227]

Man I've been a bit overwhelemed by all the responses. It's easy to forget or take for granted how amazing the members are here. I usually like to take the time to respond and quote each person that took the time to help out, but theres been so many! A Huge huge thank you to all of you for taking the time to reply. I know time is a valuable commodity, so taking your time to type up a reply really means a lot. 

 

There have been some great ideas here and I really appreciate it. I've been doing this for 4 years and have put all my money I've made back into my program, so I'm fairly fortunate to have a farily large collection of dinosaur stuff already, some of it quite rare. And nearly all of it thanks to the incredible generosity of people seeing the importance of educating the next generation. So dinosaurs is what I've focused my knowledge, money, attention, and interest in as well during my collecting in the hobby. So any help on some weird wonky trilobites that aren't incredibly rare or expensive would be much appreciated. 

[Captcrunch227]

3 hours ago, minnbuckeye said:

 

From my experience, children are fickle when it comes to fossils. They derive excitement from specimens for different reasons than adults. It is harnessing this knowledge that leads to finding interesting items for them. Once I took a cephalopod section measuring 12" across to an educational presentation for kids. It was "your lead balloon", just a chuck of rock in their eyes. The next time I offered this fossil, I included these examples of a smaller cephalopod, Dolorthoceras sociale, where I constructed my uneducated interpretation of what the soft tissue may have looked like (see my pics below). Once the children grasped what a WHOLE cephalopod looked like, they then realized what that big hunk of rock represented. A complete success!!!!!!!!! If you like this idea, I could possibly send samples to you.

 

 

This is actually genius, like for real. I'm mega impressed. I may take this idea and run with it if that's okay with you. I'll send you a message on how you pulled off this genius idea. 

[Peat Burns]

Probably not the charismatic megafauna about which kids get excited, but conulariids would be on my list of weird fossils.  They can be acquired cheaply on that famous auction site.

[NoahW24]

There are some crinoids and cystoids that really look like alien creatures, maybe that could go over well? 
 

Also as a trilobite nut there’s a range from armored tank, to starship enterprise, to mustachio’s supervillain 

 

may be harder to get the actual specimens, but the pictures are pretty darn exciting too-

 

I threw in some images of microfossils too- there’s a prepper in morocco somewhere who has been putting out great closeup views of what trilobites were munching on and hanging out with. 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2022 by NoahW24
Wrong photo

[NoahW24]

One avenue for super exciting trilobites could be reproductions! Especially for the “biggest spikiest most deadly” factor:

 

Terrataspis grandis and Arctinurus boltoni:

 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2022 by NoahW24

[Captcrunch227]

On 6/10/2022 at 2:55 PM, NoahW24 said:

One avenue for super exciting trilobites could be reproductions! Especially for the “biggest spikiest most deadly” factor:

Terrataspis grandis and Arctinurus boltoni:

 

 

man that grandis fella is crazy looking! This is some great stuff. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

[NoahW24]

6 hours ago, Captcrunch227 said:

man that grandis fella is crazy looking! This is some great stuff. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!

Not gonna lie the presentation photos of the replicas are almost as entertaining: 

A whole sub-genre of 90s photography  

 

[Kane]

The Terataspis reproductions are poorly out of date. 

[Captcrunch227]

On 6/11/2022 at 6:50 PM, NoahW24 said:

Not gonna lie the presentation photos of the replicas are almost as entertaining: 

A whole sub-genre of 90s photography  

 

 

Yeah I think just those photos alone may qualify for weird, what in the world is going on there, kind of display lol