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Auckland Museum with Peter the Tyrannosaurus rex


Gareth_

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Hey all

Here in Auckland, we have a special visitor to our museum - Peter the Tyrannosaurus rex.
As you'd probably guess, this is not a common sight for New Zealand so I had to check it out! 

I visited the (very modest) permanent display upstairs too and took some pics for you all to see

The pic quality isn't the best, I didn't take my DSLR with me so it was all taken using my aging phone.

There isn't much more to say, I'll let the pics do the talking..... 

 

 

 

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Looks like a very nice museum thanks for the photos.

 

A little background on this Trex since it's not one that has gotten much notoriety.  It's from the Lance Formation of Wyoming and the article I read said its 47% complete (60 real bones) so the 7 or 8th most complete found.  Looks nice gotta love those black bones..

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24 minutes ago, Gareth_ said:

 

20220519_123848.jpg

 

 

Very nice report and images, Gareth.  Do you remember what this poor thing was supposed to be?  :shakehead:

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The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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I bit more info on this rex, or on not this rex.  

 

Last week a friend sent me a reddit post where someone from Aukland posted about this rex, but also posted that they and they and their brother had lived in Wyoming when the thing was being unearthed by ... the Tate Museum!!!  In case this reddit thing makes it out into, say this forum, let me state that the redditor (is that the word?) claimed that Peter is the rex that the Tate Museum collected.  I stand before you all to prevent this rumor from making it into public knowledge.  Peter is NOT the Tate Museum's rex.  The redditor may have come to see our being excavated, but ours (named Lee Rex) is still at the Tate Museum in Casper, Wyoming.  And will always be here.

 

I am glad NZ has a T rex for folks to enjoy.    

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@jpc

Unfortunately its social media.  The link I attached above goes over the discovery stage and did not see any mention of the Tate.

 

Screenshot_20220621-091855_Drive.thumb.jpg.9d1093885d73de673b6f57c4a8b2cdc8.jpg

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The attached link is from the official Aukland Museum info; they are not spreading rumors.  I just thought I would mention it in case anyone else runs in to the misinformation that my PR folks found.  How they found it beats me, although maybe they do a daily search for "Casper College" to see what comes up.  

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Oh my! How much is he? I offer $59.99.

 

Seriously though, what awesome skeletons! I'm all for advocating the appreciation of the (arguably superior) invertebrate life, but man, those black bones! :wub:

 

Poor Peter with his leg, though, I hope he heals quickly! :BigSmile:

~ Isaac; www.isaactfm.com 

 

"Don't move! He can't see us if we don't move!" - Alan Grant

 

Come to the spring that is The Fossil Forum, where the stream of warmth and knowledge never runs dry.

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2 hours ago, jpc said:

I bit more info on this rex, or on not this rex.  

 

Last week a friend sent me a reddit post where someone from Aukland posted about this rex, but also posted that they and they and their brother had lived in Wyoming when the thing was being unearthed by ... the Tate Museum!!!  In case this reddit thing makes it out into, say this forum, let me state that the redditor (is that the word?) claimed that Peter is the rex that the Tate Museum collected.  I stand before you all to prevent this rumor from making it into public knowledge.  Peter is NOT the Tate Museum's rex.  The redditor may have come to see our being excavated, but ours (named Lee Rex) is still at the Tate Museum in Casper, Wyoming.  And will always be here.

 

I am glad NZ has a T rex for folks to enjoy.    

You, my good friend, are a legend! More T. rexes for the world to enjoy!

~ Isaac; www.isaactfm.com 

 

"Don't move! He can't see us if we don't move!" - Alan Grant

 

Come to the spring that is The Fossil Forum, where the stream of warmth and knowledge never runs dry.

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5 hours ago, jpc said:

Peter is NOT the Tate Museum's rex.

 

So is this a privately held rex specimen then?

 

And, @Gareth_, I just love the local marine reptile specimens! Always great to see this material from different parts of the world, especially parts that, from my perspective, seem so remote! Hard to find reference material anywhere else except for on this forum! Above all those Prognathodon overtoni and Tuarangisaurus keyesi skulls are very cool! So, thanks for sharing! :default_clap2:

 

6 hours ago, JohnJ said:

Very nice report and images, Gareth.  Do you remember what this poor thing was supposed to be?  :shakehead:

 

Ah, come on, John! Cut them some slack down-under! It might not be the best reconstruction, but it's still recognizably some generic sort of mosasaur! :P

'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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41 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

So is this a privately held rex specimen then?

 

Thats the way it appears. 

Its great that a private specimen winds up in a museum and got studied

 

Comment in papers  " Auckland Museum is the only place to be offered the exhibition by a mystery lender – with Peter named after a member of the lender’s family."

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8 hours ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

Ah, come on, John! Cut them some slack down-under! It might not be the best reconstruction, but it's still recognizably some generic sort of mosasaur! :P

 

:P  They should take it off display and move it into the prep lab as a teaching tool.  At least it wouldn't be confused with the other great specimens.  

The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true.  -  JJ

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Hi,

 

Great museum !

 

16 hours ago, Gareth_ said:

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What were the "lower" ribs attached to ?

 

 

15 hours ago, Gareth_ said:

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What was this fabulous animal with such teeth sticking out of its jaw ?

 

Coco

----------------------
OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici

Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici
Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici
Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici
Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici
Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici
Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici

Un Greg...

Badges-IPFOTH.jpg.f4a8635cda47a3cc506743a8aabce700.jpg Badges-MOTM.jpg.461001e1a9db5dc29ca1c07a041a1a86.jpg

 

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47 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

:P  They should take it off display and move it into the prep lab as a teaching tool.  At least it wouldn't be confused with the other great specimens.  

 

That's true, though. Where it's now, serving as a public teaching tool, it's sure to give people the wrong impression of how such fossils are supposed to look... :unsure:

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'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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29 minutes ago, Coco said:

What were the "lower" ribs attached to ?

 

I think there's a metal rod running from the metal pole on the left through to the pubic bones/pubis to which they're attached, quite possibly screwed to it... I guess that's what you meant, right? Rather than the anatomical aspect of it?

 

31 minutes ago, Coco said:

What was this fabulous animal with such teeth sticking out of its jaw ?

 

That's Tuarangisaurus keyesi, an elasmosaurid plesiosaur. It's a replica of "the only adult elasmosaur skull found in New Zealand" (citing the sign with the skull).

'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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9 minutes ago, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

I guess that's what you meant, right? Rather than the anatomical aspect of it?

 

I meant the anatomical aspect, when the animal was alive :Wink1:

 

Coco

----------------------
OUTIL POUR MESURER VOS FOSSILES : ici

Ma bibliothèque PDF 1 (Poissons et sélaciens récents & fossiles) : ici
Ma bibliothèque PDF 2 (Animaux vivants - sans poissons ni sélaciens) : ici
Mâchoires sélaciennes récentes : ici
Hétérodontiques et sélaciens : ici
Oeufs sélaciens récents : ici
Otolithes de poissons récents ! ici

Un Greg...

Badges-IPFOTH.jpg.f4a8635cda47a3cc506743a8aabce700.jpg Badges-MOTM.jpg.461001e1a9db5dc29ca1c07a041a1a86.jpg

 

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17 minutes ago, Coco said:

I meant the anatomical aspect, when the animal was alive :Wink1:

 

I suspect muscles and ligaments/tendons, but I'm not quite sure. The Wiki for gastralia mentions that they provide the "attachment sites for abdominal muscles", which seems to suggest they're mostly held in place by muscles. Maybe @Troodon or @jpc knows?

'There's nothing like millions of years of really frustrating trial and error to give a species moral fibre and, in some cases, backbone' -- Terry Pratchett

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I'm glad everyone seemed to enjoy pics of a specimen they hadn't seen before! The black bones do add about 10% to the terrifying factor

 

 

On 6/22/2022 at 9:26 AM, pachy-pleuro-whatnot-odon said:

And, @Gareth_, I just love the local marine reptile specimens! Always great to see this material from different parts of the world, especially parts that, from my perspective, seem so remote! Hard to find reference material anywhere else except for on this forum! Above all those Prognathodon overtoni and Tuarangisaurus keyesi skulls are very cool! So, thanks for sharing! :default_clap2:

 

 

Ah, come on, John! Cut them some slack down-under! It might not be the best reconstruction, but it's still recognizably some generic sort of mosasaur! :P

 

We are planning another trip, this time with the kids so I'll see if I can get some more detailed pics of the marine reptiles! I wish the Mosasaur was lower to the ground

 

Mosasaur you reckon? My money was on some sort of camel. 
Ok seriously, it may not be perfect but it's in a hands on kids learning area so some leniency on accuracy is allowed :)

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Really cool museum! Such a shame the dinosaur area of the Australian Museum here in Sydney dont seem to have the same amount of dino fossils you guys have there in Auckland. Hope to possibly visit soon!

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