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Daspletosaurus Skull Mounted in Exploded View


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I saw this on a number of different posts by the Tyrrell and thought it would interest our members.  Clips and photos courtesy of RTMP.

 

The Royal Tyrrell Museum collection includes one of the best-preserved Daspletosaurus theropod skulls. The skull is unique in that it is a disarticulated skull, where all the bones were found separately and were not crushed flat during fossilization. Daspletosaurus was a large tyrannosaur that lived 77.3 – 75 million years ago in Alberta and is closely related to Tyrannosaurus rex. 

 

The left maxilla (upper jaw). Note the teeth at various stages of growth. Dinosaurs continually replaced their teeth throughout their lives why the different sizes in the jaw

 

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The skull bones of the Daspletosaurus torosus were first discovered in 2000 near the Milk River in southern Alberta, and it took until 2011 for all the pieces to be collected. Since the individual pieces of the skull were separated, it was not obvious where each bone was located in the quarry. Researchers waited until further pieces of the skull eroded out of the ground, rather than searching for them.

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The left pre-maxilla (front of the upper jaw) in the field.

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Left pre-maxilla (front of the upper jaw) prepared.

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As fossil bones are extremely fragile and often heavy, they can be difficult to manipulate and handle. That makes it difficult for researchers to study certain specimens, or for them to be displayed. Although they have the majority of the skull of Daspletosaurus torosus in our collection, it is too fragile to piece back together.

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As a solution, they decided to create a cast and display it as an exploded skull. Exploded skulls are a common tool used to teach anatomy, allowing for examination of the individual pieces of a skull. This will allow researchers to examine all the bones that make up a theropod skull from multiple angles.

 

Since certain pieces of this skull of Daspletosaurus torosus are too delicate to be cast using traditional methods, they created a digital model of the skull using photogrammetry. By taking multiple photos of each piece, their technicians were able to create digital models of the skull that were then 3D printed. This project is the first time the Museum has 3D printed a cast of a specimen and it was very successful.

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To show all 41 bones of the skull of Daspletosaurus torosus, they mounted the cast as an exploding skull.  They suspended the specimen in the air to determine the position of the pieces. Once the positions were finalized, a mount was constructed to hold the specimen

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A mount is then created.

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Daspletosaurus torosus is now on display!  This display was one of their most difficult and technical projects yet, using new technologies and artistic techniques to create the cast and mount. As far as they know, it is the only exploded dinosaur skull in the world

 

Photo of player

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 Found that the player moves quite fast.  Move the forward > with your finger for better results

 

DWLAqm2XcAEohbq.mp4

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Fascinating thread. 

It's amazing what the latest techniques both digital and manual can achieve. :)

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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Wow, now that’s ingenuity! 

Thanks for posting!

“...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ~ Charles Darwin

Happy hunting,

Mason

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28 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Fascinating thread. 

It's amazing what the latest techniques both digital and manual can achieve. :)

Bring back the bat..:D

 

It's very fascinating what they are doing in all museums

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