The Field Museum of Natural History

[MrMiau]

Hey everyone!

 

Last August I took a trip to Chicago and, of course, went to The Field Museum.

It's quite impressive and absolutely worth visiting.

 

All exhibitions I was able to see were awesome.

 

My favorite part was the dinosaur room, though the most famous skeleton is in the main hall.

 

Let's start with some pictures of Sue - the most complete T-Rexskeleton ever found. 

 

 

The skull mounted to the bod, isn't the actual skull found with the skeleton. 

The original skull is exhibited on the first floor and wasn't add to the body, because it was kinda squeezed (you can read all about it at the museum).

 

 

There's also another bone section of Sue displayed on first floor, right next to the fossil lab, where you see paleontologists working (it's like staring at animals at the zoo, but very interesting haha).

Scientists still try to figure out, how these bones match to Sue's skeleton.

 

 

Close to the displayed shown above, is the entrence to the dinosaur room. While making your way to the hall, you're passing several exhibits, arranged in a timeline.

To me themost interesting exhibt was the Dimetrodon skeleton. My first ever dinosaur book, contained a picture of it, so it wasawesome to see it in person after so many years.

 

 

Once you entered the room, you see impressive exhibts of several herbivores. To your left you find a Stegosaurus:

 

 

In the middle of the room is a huge Apatosaurus:

 

 

On the opposite you have Triceratops:

 

 

Sorry, forgot the name of this boy, eating a Edmontosaurus:

 

 

Next to the shown exhibit, you can see a Parasaurolophus:

 

 

AND there's also a juvenile Edmontosaurus:

 

 

 

[Ridgehiker]

Great stuff. Thanks!  Really like the close ups.  Often we find isolated fragments of what seems to be Tyrannosaur skull material and never too sure where it may go. The compressed skull illustrates how its even more difficult when a piece is distorted in shape.

i like that you mention that scientists are still trying to match some bone elements to the skeleton.  Its a reminder to many that trying to put a definitive label on most dino bones is an educated guessing game.  Even with a 'most' of the pieces, still hard to put the skeleton together.  

[Ridgehiker]

'Sorry, forgot the name of this boy, eating an Edmontosaurus'

 

Looks like an Albertosaurus. A tyrannosaur named after our province eating a dinosaur named after Alberta's capitol city.  We in Calgary are quite happy to let it munch away! 

[MrMiau]

I was thinking of Allosaurus (though the skull wasn't much matching) or Albertosaurus haha 

I googled a little and it's actually Daspletosaurus

 

I really liked the way the Field is displaying all it's stuff, it's very informative.

 

I always wondered, how paleontologists can tell what species it is, by just looking at a bone. 

Figuring out how the pieces fit together is remarkable work!

 

[Fossildude19]

Thanks for posting this.

I visited the Field Museum a number of years ago, but the Hall of Dinosaurs was undergoing renovations.  
I did get to see Sue, but was a bit disappointed to not see the rest of the dinos.  
So thanks for showing us. 

Regards,

 

[LordTrilobite]

Great photos! Also some interesting angles you don't see that often on the internet.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, MrMiau said:

Sorry, forgot the name of this boy, eating a Edmontosaurus:

 

 

AND there's also a juvenile Edmontosaurus:

 

 

 

 

That meateater is indeed Daspletosaurus as you said already. And that last one is actually a juvenile Maiasaura.

 

 

[MrMiau]

Thanks for correcting me! I was so sure it's a juvenile Edmontosaurus haha 

 

I'm happy to share my trip to the Field with people who are also interested in natural history  

[sixgill pete]

Everyone should visit this wonderful museum sometime if they are able. I went 2 years ago and loved it. There is also a post in this same forum from my trip. Thanks for posting this MrMiau, brought back some fantastic memories of a really fun trip.

[Runner64]

I'm lucky enough to live in Chicago and go to the Field all the time! I love the exhibits there and spend several hours just going through all the fossils. One thing I find very neat there is that every fossil displayed is authentic. Meaning there are no replicas on display unless noted otherwise.

[caldigger]

I think the last time I was at the Field Museum was in 1971 so it's been a while. Can't remember seeing any dinos at all at that time. Thanks for the tour.

[Ridgehiker]

On 2016-11-27 at 0:19 PM, MrMiau said:

I was thinking of Allosaurus (though the skull wasn't much matching) or Albertosaurus haha 

I googled a little and it's actually Daspletosaurus

 

I really liked the way the Field is displaying all it's stuff, it's very informative.

 

I always wondered, how paleontologists can tell what species it is, by just looking at a bone. 

Figuring out how the pieces fit together is remarkable work!

 

 

The Field Museum specimen is listed as a Daspletosaurus and comes from Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta.  The Daspletosaurus, Gorgosaurus, Albertasaurus trio are a bit of an enigmatic taxonomy .  When we are in the  badlands we usually refer to them all as Albertosaurs or Tyrannosaurs.  

 

Theropod taxonomy seems to bring out a lot of debate and egos get involved.  Even after several decades of finding this stuff I still scratch my head at some conclusions. In some ways I'm glad I've always been involved in Paleozoic invertebrates where nobody has a vested interest.

[smt126]

On November 27, 2016 at 1:39 PM, Fossildude19 said:

Thanks for posting this.

I visited the Field Museum a number of years ago, but the Hall of Dinosaurs was undergoing renovations.  
I did get to see Sue, but was a bit disappointed to not see the rest of the dinos.  
So thanks for showing us. 

Regards,

 

 

That would be quite disappointing. I try to get there twice a year myself. It's by far the best part. I've had similar things happen on trips of mine though too unfortunately. This last summer I paid 400 a night for a water park only to have them shut down all the inside activities. 

[aek]

Love the Field Museum! There's a really great documentary called, "Dinosaur 13" about Sue's provenance, legal battles and ultimately how she ended up at the Field Museum in Chicago. I highly recommend watching it...  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_13

[Sagebrush Steve]

I love the Field Museum.  And Sue is quite the ham, she loves to photobomb your shots with her wicked smile, as she did with my wife!

 

[Malcolmt]

Went there once probably 20 years ago , a real shame I only had a few hours between business meetings.........

[The Speeding Carno]

The Field Museum was the first museum I ever went to! There aren't too many casts which makes it all the more special.

[Irritator]

I frequent the Field Museum as much as I can. I just visited last week. They have a Jurassic World exhibition where you can see full-sized animatronic dinos moving just like they do in the movies. It's going on until January so you have plenty of time to see it. It's one of the coolest things you'll ever see and kids LOVE it!

 

 

[ynot]

21 hours ago, Irritator said:

I frequent the Field Museum as much as I can. I just visited last week. They have a Jurassic World exhibition where you can see full-sized animatronic dinos moving just like they do in the movies. It's going on until January so you have plenty of time to see it. It's one of the coolest things you'll ever see and kids LOVE it!

 

 

Where are the pictures?

It did not happen if there are no pictures!

[Irritator]

16 hours ago, ynot said:

Where are the pictures?

It did not happen if there are no pictures!

Whoops! I have videos on my phone and I tried to upload them but they were too big, so I had to screen capture stills to post. 

 

So here they are!

Brachiosaurus

 

Parasaurolophus

 

Pachyrhinosaurus

 

T-Rex

 

Stegosaurus

 

Indominus

 

There was also a raptor in this exhibit but it was too dark to film with no flash.

 

If you can't go to this, someone made a walkthrough video on youtube.

 

[ynot]

35 minutes ago, Irritator said:

So here they are!

That is better!

Thanks.

[The Speeding Carno]

On 6/28/2017 at 7:24 AM, Irritator said:

Whoops! I have videos on my phone and I tried to upload them but they were too big, so I had to screen capture stills to post. 

 

So here they are!

Brachiosaurus

 

Parasaurolophus

 

Pachyrhinosaurus

 

T-Rex

 

Stegosaurus

 

Indominus

 

There was also a raptor in this exhibit but it was too dark to film with no flash.

 

If you can't go to this, someone made a walkthrough video on youtube.

 

If I remember properly I believe there were also a few props from the movie