The Non-Dinosaur Additions to Our Dinosaur Education Program

[fossilsonwheels]

In an effort to give a more complete picture of life on planet earth during the age of dinosaurs, we did a post to get suggestions from TFF members about some non-dinosaur material. We got a lot of suggestions and it turned out to be a super informative post. We learned a lot and were able to begin the process of creating a better program for the kids.

 

Just before that post, I had attended an amazing Ichthyosaur prep lab. It was found in Northern California, a few hours from hometown. Northern California is a dead zone for collecting fossils. There are some fossils to be found here but none on any private land that I know of. It was really cool to see the work being done on a Norcal Ichthyosaur and it ignited some interest on my part. i had already decided to get some Ichthyosaur fossils for our program prior to the TFF post. Our first Ichthyosaur fossil arrived today. It is a Brachypterigius extremeus vertebra from the Kimmeridge Clay of Weymouth, UK. In honor of the fossil, I will even go metric. It is nearly 7 cm and in pretty nice condition. I love it and I can not wait to add more. @JohnBrewer has some really nice Ichthy teeth for us so soon we will have a really nice section of our program for an animal I am very excited about.

 

The second picture is of a really cool Mosasaur vertebra from Kansas that was donated by @Ramo . It is very compressed, crushed in the fossil process but that actually adds to the coolness to be honest. I love it and it was a hit with the kids in it's program debut last week. I am still learning about Mosasaurs but they will have a bigger spot in the program next school year for sure.

 

The third picture shows a shark tooth display, croc teeth, a Mosasaur tooth, and a Pterosaur tooth. The kids love talking Pterosuars and we will some more pieces in the future. We kind of have to. They are extremely popular with kids and I want to expand on them in program. The shark teeth are Cretoxyrhina, Ptychodus, Scapanoryhnchus, and a Squalicorax. I will expand this display this summer as we add some Hybodonts to it. The Croc teeth are from HC and came from @Troodon . The Mosasaur tooth was a throw in from a purchase through one of favorite dealers.

 

It did not take us long to add some really cool pieces and I am looking forward to adding more. Next fall we will split the dinosaur program into two presentations and that will allow us to expand on the non-dinosaurs as well as the dinosaurs

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Very nice additions from very generous members. 

[fossilsonwheels]

5 hours ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Very nice additions from very generous members. 

We have had a lot of really nice donations from members and some excellent purchases plus great advice and shared knowledge