New Dinosaur Education Displays

[fossilsonwheels]

We did a lot more work on our shark stuff this summer than dinosaurs but we did change how display the non touch fossils. We added a few new items too but stayed light on additions. 

 

First up is our updated Cretaceous North Africa display. We added a really nice theropod tooth that fits @Troodon ‘s Morph Type 4 Dromaeosaurid-like profile hence the label for the program. We explain the ID difficulties of fossils so for a tooth like this they know we are not sure of what critter had this tooth. 

 

I am pretty happy with how this one looks. We give a nice picture of Cretaceous North Africa from two different times. This is an important part of our program and we have some nice fossils I think. 

We also have two touch fossils with this section. A limb bone that we go with Spino as the critter and one is a theropod very that we use to talk about Deltadromeus. 

 

 

 

[fossilsonwheels]

The next display is from the Judith River Formation. This one will be strictly used only for our 4th grade programs. 

 

We added a Hadrosaur indet tooth and a Dromaeosaurus tooth this summer so we decided to combine the teeth into one display. This is a fun group of dinosaurs to talk about and we have pretty nice fossils. In our official records these teeth have much more accurate id’s. We like to discuss specific species or at a genus with the kids so that is where the specific identifications come from. 

 

The Anky tooth is one of my personal favorites among our fossils. The Dromae is a source of pride lol I researched that species quite a bit and put some effort into finding it.  Medusaceratops is one the kids love so we stick to that as the Ceratopsian we cover. Same thing with Gorgosaurus. We can only cover one Tyrannosaur and that won the coin flip. When we add a Nodosaur tooth, we will use just one Ceratopsian label. 

 

I am far from done with the JRF. One day this will live in a larger display and house more fossils. 

[Troodon]

That the best way to display these teeth to show the diversity of dinos in these faunas.  Excellent display.   Will you be doing the same for the Hell Creek Fm.?

[gigantoraptor]

7 hours ago, fossilsonwheels said:

I am pretty happy with how this one looks. We give a nice picture of Cretaceous North Africa from two different times. This is an important part of our program and we have some nice fossils I think. 

We also have two touch fossils with this section. A limb bone that we go with Spino as the critter and one is a theropod very that we use to talk about Deltadromeus. 

Awesome display. I think the Dromaeosaurid and the Titanosaurid tooth are very cool. 

 

The 'Colobrynchus sp.' is actually Ornithocheirid indet. There are two described toothed pterosaurs in the Kem Kem beds, (Coloborhynchus fluviferox and Siroccopteryx moroccensis) but the holotype of the first one didn't have any teeth and I can't find pictures of the holotype of the second. As long as there are no beter finds, we cannot assign any pterosaur teeth from this location to specific genera.

[paulyb135]

Great start to your collection! Lots of variety 

 

I too display my teeth in a similar format to you and group teeth in rikers as you can see in my member collection page

 

 

[fossilsonwheels]

5 hours ago, Troodon said:

That the best way to display these teeth to show the diversity of dinos in these faunas.  Excellent display.   Will you be doing the same for the Hell Creek Fm.?

Yes we will and it is the top priority for the next fossils we add. I think to do it correctly, we need to add some of the missing pieces (Anky/Nodo, Pachy,Troodontid) and I am working on those right now. Pachy is at the top of the list.

The big hold up is really T-rex though as we only have one fossil. We start the program with the T-rex tooth we picked up from you since it is the most well known dino. I am hesitant to put it in a group display for that reason until we have something else to show the kids. We will be saving up for the missing pieces including T-rex so my hope is by spring to have a really nice Hell Creek display. A mammal tooth and a turtle shell would be important additions as well if we add non dinosaur material.

 

 

 

 

[fossilsonwheels]

5 hours ago, gigantoraptor said:

Awesome display. I think the Dromaeosaurid and the Titanosaurid tooth are very cool. 

 

The 'Colobrynchus sp.' is actually Ornithocheirid indet. There are two described toothed pterosaurs in the Kem Kem beds, (Coloborhynchus fluviferox and Siroccopteryx moroccensis) but the holotype of the first one didn't have any teeth and I can't find pictures of the holotype of the second. As long as there are no beter finds, we cannot assign any pterosaur teeth from this location to specific genera.

Thank you. The Dromaeosaurid-like tooth really is a nice one and the Titanosaur is really pretty. That one was courtesy of @Troodon.

In our official records that is reflected but for the kids we are sticking with Coloborhynchus. Many of our programs with be with classes doing dino or animal reports so the fossils need to link to something specific that they can research. It gets them interested in researching these animals. If this were high school or college, we would go with the more scientifically accurate ID's but these are 2nd-4th graders primarily so giving them a specific critter is a more effective educational approach. It is one of those decisions we make to benefit the kiddos.

 

Since we do not sell or even trade these fossils, we have a degree of flexibility with the ID's for the ed programs but our inventory reflects the actual ID. I should also thank you for showing me that I did make a spelling error so thanks lol

[fossilsonwheels]

53 minutes ago, paulyb135 said:

Great start to your collection! Lots of variety 

 

I too display my teeth in a similar format to you and group teeth in rikers as you can see in my member collection page

 

 

I have seen your impressive collection. Very impressive I should say lol Thank you. I am pretty happy with what we have and the kids seem to respond well. As an educator, I am really satisfied and as a collector I see what we can add in the future !

[-Andy-]

You are doing good work going to schools to show all these to kids.

 

I love the way you did your display boxes.

[fossilsonwheels]

21 hours ago, -Andy- said:

You are doing good work going to schools to show all these to kids.

 

I love the way you did your display boxes.

Thank you Andy ! I am pretty happy with how they look.

[Captcrunch227]

Man those are looking sharp! Congrats buddy! I know how much work it took to get those done on a budget. The kids are gonna love those!

[fossilsonwheels]

24 minutes ago, Captcrunch227 said:

Man those are looking sharp! Congrats buddy! I know how much work it took to get those done on a budget. The kids are gonna love those!

Thank you very much my friend ! I am going to post some pictures of the rest of it this week. I am really pretty happy with it given the budget constraints and all. We have a good diversity and a fair number of touch fossils. I am ready to get back into the classrooms and get some education going !!

[fossilsonwheels]

Two new touch fossils just arrived and I am quite happy with them. They are from the Horseshoe Canyon formation and they are legal as in they came with the disposition from the government. 

 

A 1.5” Ankylosaur centrum. That is the ID and I am sticking with it. Kids will dig this little fossil. 

 

A 2.7” Ceratopsian centrum. Probably go with Pachyrhinosaurus for the programs. 

 

They are ideal for us and were very budget friendly pieces. Cool fossils for kids to interact with. 

[fossilsonwheels]

Some more of the dinosaurs that we take into classrooms. 

 

Our small Tyrannosaur display. 

 

In the middle is a partial T-rex premax tooth. On the right is a Nano, both from the Hell Creek formation. On the left is a nice partial from the Lance formation. Likely a Nano but it will discussed as a Rex in the classroom. 

[fossilsonwheels]

The Hell Creek Dinos. Eventually this will be housed in a larger display but not until I have added a few fossils (Pachy, Anky, Troodontid). I like where we are at with this formation. Thanks to T-rex and Trikes, this is the probably the most well known fauna. 

 

We have some nice Trike teeth and frill pieces, a nice Edmontosaurus display, some cool Dromaeosaurid pieces, a juvie Struthimomimus bone, Thescelosaurus fossils, and an Avisaurus tooth. 

 

Nothing too fancy but it isn’t a bad representation of Hell Creek I think. 

 

 

[fossilsonwheels]

More from Horseshoe Canyon, all legally obtained. 

 

A Troodontid indet tooth. My only one and I love being able to talk about intelligence for an adaptation. We got this over the summer so it has yet to be used. 

 

Atrociraptor tooth. Another favorite of mine. 

 

Hadrosaur indet vertebra centrum. A very nice touch fossil that will get a lot of use this year hopefully 

 

A Ceratopsian toe bone and small frill piece. 

 

A nice ice piece of Anky armor. A very popular fossil last spring. 

 

I love our little collection of Canadian Dinos. They were inexpensive (except for the Troodontid tooth lol) and it gives us some diversity to the Cretaceous fossils we have.