The Real Jurassic World Program

[fossilsonwheels]

Carter and I are starting to slowly begin work on a program that will be about Jurassic era Dinosaurs. We will not do this until the 2020/2021 school year and I am really pretty excited. We decided to stop pursuing other dinosaur fossils (except for a Hell Creek Anky/Nodo lol) so that we can start piecing this together. We have about 10 months to make this happen. Educationally speaking it will be awesome to focus a program on the Jurassic era and show kids what dinosaurs were really running around at this time.

 

This presents some fun challenges for us as collectors. Morrison Formation fossils are harder to find and more expensive so this will be a pretty significant change in how we collect. We can bargain shop to some extent but we will have to get into a higher price range. Carter and I know we have to save our money and be patient. We will also have a much more limited number of sources which I am actually okay with. I really like our primary source for Jurassic stuff. I have to get familiar with this fossil material so I have to find and study whatever publications exist but this is something I really like. We may also take a look at a European Dino or two. I have seen some Sauropod fossils from the UK and some stuff from Portugal that was interesting though pricey. We have yet to hop across the pond for dinos yet but if we are ever going to do that, this would be the program to do it I think.

 

We have a head start on this. We have our nice Diplodocus bone. We have a couple of nice Camarasaurus pieces too. We have a small piece of Stegosaur gular armor. We also have a partial Theropod tooth, sold as Allosaurus but in need of a closer look. It is not a lot of material for sure but we can build from what we have and develop a really solid program I think. 

 

Presenting a fairly complete fauna will be hard. The herbivores I am not too worried about. I have a line on a Camptosaurus piece and I am sure we can track down another nice large Sauropod fossil. Dryosaurus is another possibility. The Theropod material is quite intimidating though. Rare and expensive is my first impression. I am not too worried about Allosaurus but beyond that, I think it will be really challenging to find any other fossils in our price range. I think we need fossils from two large bodied and one medium or small theropod to really present a decent picture of the ecosystem. Tall order but I am hopeful we can do it.

 

We have do have a long way to go with this for sure but we made a little progress. Literally speaking we made a tiny bit of progress but it is a pretty cool addition despite the diminutive nature of the fossil We secured ourselves a tiny 2mm Ornithopod tooth that could belong to Nanosaurus. We had asked @Troodon about this one awhile ago and that was his opinion. I finally got around to grabbing it. Nanosaurus is a great dinosaur to include for us because they were tiny and pretty cute. It will represent a great contrast with the giant dinosaurs of this era. Kids will love it. It was also in the bargain category price wise. We may not get to update this for awhile but I thought starting the TFF collection now would be a fun way to celebrate our tiny new fossil.

[Troodon]

Good luck, Morrison/Jurassic material is much more of a challenge for you program like you've indicated.   Let me know if I can help in any way.

[fossilsonwheels]

2 hours ago, Troodon said:

Good luck, Morrison/Jurassic material is much more of a challenge for you program like you've indicated.   Let me know if I can help in any way.

I most definitely will be seeking your opinions and expertise as I find potential material, especially any Theropod stuff we come across. I’ve already started studying and your posts are very helpful. 

[fossilsonwheels]

A significant addition and a big piece of the future Jurassic Dino program arrived today. It’s a very large Morrison Diplodocus pubis bone. This will be a centerpiece of that program and we are pretty excited !

[fossilsonwheels]

The big Diplo bone is not the only Morrison fossil we have picked up. We got a partial but affordable Camarasaurus tooth. Not pretty but it serves a purpose. 

 

We also got confirmation from Ken Carpenter that the tiny Ornithopod tooth is indeed a Nanosaurus premax tooth. 

[fossilsonwheels]

While I am at it, I thought I would post one that has not arrived yet but should within a week. This is a nice 2 cm Theropod tooth. We had sought the opinions of @Troodon and through his recommendation, Ken Carpenter, before we got it. We we know is that this is not a juvie tooth from Allosaurus, Ceratosaurus or Torvosaurus. It could be a Marshosaurus but it could also represent one of the smaller Theropods such as Tanycolagreus or Ornitholestes. We may be able to narrow it down a bit further once it is in hand but either way it is a great addition for us. It will get a lot of use in our programs.

 

We have made some solid progress I think and the Jurassic program is taking shape. We have time to keep building this and a lot of work yet to do but I am pretty proud of where we are at with this collection so far.