ThePhysicist Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 I spent some time meandering through South Dakota in May, taking in the sprawling forests and mountains. It’s truly a beautiful area of the country with plenty to see and do. ^ Pareidolia clearly in full effect. Since I was in SD, I knew I had to pay a visit to the BHI - and if you happen to like fossils, I think you’ll enjoy tagging along. The BHI is a private company which specializes in producing cast replicas for museums and the general public. Until October 2020, they played host to the T. rex “Stan,” who was auctioned off for $32 million; it has recently been revealed that Stan is to be in a new museum in the UAE (whether Stan is privately owned or technically in a public trust in the museum I do not know, for those who wonder. In any case, at least he'll be enjoyed by the public). Besides Stan, the BHI is well-known for many other significant specimens including T. rex “Sue,” and Triceratops “Lane” (now displayed in the Field Museum in Illinois, and The Houston Museum of Nature and Science in Texas, respectively). I was looking forward to the visit since I have a couple of their casts, and I’d gotten a glimpse of the place through TFF. It was a rainy morning in the small town of Hill City; even without the sign, I knew I was at the right place. I entered through the gift shop and was immediately struck by the density of the awesomeness before me. My jaw didn’t leave the floor until I somehow convinced myself that I needed to go home. The BHI museum is in a small, one-room building that is packed top-to-bottom front-to-back with fossils. The center is a tight weave of dinosaur skeletons while the walls are lined with lighted cabinets. I was evidently the first visitor that day so I was able to enjoy the space undisturbed for a while. I normally don’t take so many pictures since I usually get lost in experiencing a new place, but I knew I was going to write about it, so I reminded myself to capture more. Some of them should also serve as good reference images (for me at least). (If you’re concerned about “spoiling” the experience for yourself, best get out now since this is pretty thorough.) So sit back and scroll as we take a short walk around the room… Some trace fossils An impressive Tylosaurus proriger from the Niobrara formation of Kansas, complete with sclerotic bones. “Big Al 2,” an Allosaurus (replica) A young Torosaurus skull (I believe part of the frill has been reconstructed) Anzu, pachycephalosaurus, T. rex Edmontosaurus annectens ... and an oddly-postured young Triceratops Sue's skull and a neat sculpture of the dig Denversaurus skull and armor Tarbosaurus skull (replica) Triceratops Smile! Towards the back is a display on the Western Interior Seaway, complete with Baculites and Xiphactinus. 10 “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.” - A. Einstein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhysicist Posted June 17, 2022 Author Share Posted June 17, 2022 (edited) Whale bones Camarasaurus You have to remember to look up - it's literally floor-to-ceiling fossils Pachycephalosaurus and Maiasaura Acrocanthosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Camarasaurus, and looks like Diplodocus Albertosaurus and Gorgosaurus skull T. rex skulls (casts) Edaphosaurus (cast) Continuing with the "island" Edmontosaurus annectens skull (real) Big croc, might be Sarcosuchus Brachychampsa? Thescelosaurus Struthiomimus (real) And of course, Stan: It's really an exquisite cast; even the denticles on the teeth are captured in good detail Not all T. rex teeth are big, the biggest are a bit more than 3", the smallest probably about 1/2" Edited June 18, 2022 by ThePhysicist 12 “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.” - A. Einstein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhysicist Posted June 17, 2022 Author Share Posted June 17, 2022 (edited) As many of you know, the Nanotyrannus/juvenile T. rex debate remains a hot topic these days, and with the BHI being a proponent of Nanotyrannus, I was curious to see the display which demonstrated some of their arguments in favor. I won't make any commentary, just showing what they are presenting. Cast of the Nanotyrannus holotype Juvenile T. rex dentary featuring 13 oval-shaped aveoli ... next to a Nanotyrannus dentary of similar size with slender teeth and more aveoli A purported diagnostic feature of Nano: a longitudinal groove on the side of the dentary Different sizes of hand bones in adult T. rex and Nanotyrannus. Some Nano hand bones are larger than adult T. rex, not just proportionally larger. Let’s take a look at some of those cabinets - don’t worry it’s not all dinos/vertebrates Trilobites Cephalopods Heteromorph ammonites Edited June 17, 2022 by ThePhysicist 12 “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.” - A. Einstein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhysicist Posted June 17, 2022 Author Share Posted June 17, 2022 (edited) Some cool fish A former world-record-sized megalodon tooth (right one) Some sea scorpions and the "Tully monster" More trilobites and ammonites A couple of more awesome cephalopods - I didn't know we had such incredible preservation Oligocene mammals some real fossil eggs: Some excellent green river specimens Smilodon - their teeth aren't that big, they have slipped out of the sockets a bit. Back to dinosaurs... Real dinosaur eggs from China Some incredible birds Small theropods Velociraptor (cast) Alioramus (cast) Edited June 18, 2022 by ThePhysicist 11 “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.” - A. Einstein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhysicist Posted June 18, 2022 Author Share Posted June 18, 2022 (edited) Some Hell Creek dinos E. annectens skin Cast of "Jane" My favorite cabinet was of course filled with T. rex! Surangular (part of the lower jaw) with bite marks? Post-orbital (behind the eye) Dentary - you can see teeth growing in their aveoli Feeding traces And some really sweet teeth The gift shop was like candy land. Like the museum, it is filled to the brim, but with books, posters, clothing, rocks, and of course some really cool fossils. Notwithstanding extreme self-restraint, my wallet didn’t walk away unscathed. I moseyed out with a t-shirt and teeth from a Ceratopsid and Tyrannosaurid. Anyway that’s all folks, hope you enjoyed! Edited June 18, 2022 by ThePhysicist 1 19 “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.” - A. Einstein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 This place is amazing. Every time i go i come out with different favorite fossils than previous visits; they have soooooo many great fossils. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 Great posts/thread with awesome pictures! In 2017 my sons and I were given a private tour by Pete Larson of the BHI buildings (close to the museum) where the majority of BHI specimens are housed and where the prep and restoration and casting is done. Only a small fraction of their total collection is on display in the museum itself. We saw drawer after drawer, shelf after shelf of incredible prepped specimens with thousands of specimens still in jackets. Pete told us that they keep most of their specimens in the jackets until they have a buyer for the specimen or want to display it in the museum. They also cast their specimens on demand after buyer purchase. We also got to see several dinosaur specimens that they were prepping from their matrix. Marco Sr. 1 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludwigia Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 Wow! Now that is a LOT of bones! I'm overwhelmed to say the least. Thanks for giving us the tour! Greetings from the Lake of Constance. Roger http://www.steinkern.de/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FranzBernhard Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 "Wunderkammer" Thanks for sharing! Franz Bernhard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minnbuckeye Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 Such a great display of fossils. This picture speaks for the décor of the institute. SO many fossils packed in such a small space. The vast majority of museums are mostly open space. The sensation one feels inside this building is so different. If anyone is in the area, definitely visit!!! Thanks for posting and letting me relive my experiences there! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phos_01 Posted June 18, 2022 Share Posted June 18, 2022 Hey, thanks for posting! Thats awesome Many gorgeous fossils that I would like to own, that jaw and teeth looked amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted June 19, 2022 Share Posted June 19, 2022 Great post and pictures. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfarrar Posted June 20, 2022 Share Posted June 20, 2022 I did notice an embarrassing mistake in our labelling in one of the photos. Evidently labels had gotten switched on a couple of squids, during glass cleaning. The correct label is in the photo here. Bob 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siteseer Posted June 21, 2022 Share Posted June 21, 2022 Great photos. I visited about 30 years ago. It's more loaded with specimens than I remember. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhysicist Posted June 21, 2022 Author Share Posted June 21, 2022 On 6/17/2022 at 9:35 PM, MarcoSr said: Great posts/thread with awesome pictures! In 2017 my sons and I were given a private tour by Pete Larson of the BHI buildings (close to the museum) where the majority of BHI specimens are housed and where the prep and restoration and casting is done. Only a small fraction of their total collection is on display in the museum itself. We saw drawer after drawer, shelf after shelf of incredible prepped specimens with thousands of specimens still in jackets. Pete told us that they keep most of their specimens in the jackets until they have a buyer for the specimen or want to display it in the museum. They also cast their specimens on demand after buyer purchase. We also got to see several dinosaur specimens that they were prepping from their matrix. Marco Sr. Thanks! I thought about asking ahead of time if I could see some behind-the-scenes, but forgot to. I'm not sure they'd let just anybody see that stuff, but figured it would be worth it to ask. 22 hours ago, rfarrar said: I did notice an embarrassing mistake in our labelling in one of the photos. Evidently labels had gotten switched on a couple of squids, during glass cleaning. The correct label is in the photo here. Thanks for the correction! “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.” - A. Einstein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcoSr Posted June 21, 2022 Share Posted June 21, 2022 8 hours ago, ThePhysicist said: Thanks! I thought about asking ahead of time if I could see some behind-the-scenes, but forgot to. I'm not sure they'd let just anybody see that stuff, but figured it would be worth it to ask. My sons were good friends with a good friend of Pete's who arranged the private tour. Pete came out to our M&M ranch in Nebraska and used drones to survey the ranch. My sons said that he wanted to collect our ranch, in turn, letting us collect one of his dinosaur leases. However, my sons decided to leave our ranch to the amateurs because, at the time, they had a lease on a dinosaur ranch in South Dakota. Marco Sr. 2 "Any day that you can fossil hunt is a great day." My family fossil website Some Of My Shark, Ray, Fish And Other Micros My Extant Shark Jaw Collection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJHope Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 On 6/20/2022 at 1:30 PM, rfarrar said: I did notice an embarrassing mistake in our labelling in one of the photos. Evidently labels had gotten switched on a couple of squids, during glass cleaning. The correct label is in the photo here. Bob Can't seem to zoom in at the moment, can someone verify the 3rd line of the captions? "w/preserved arms. ?????, stomach contents" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 3 minutes ago, AJHope said: Can't seem to zoom in at the moment, can someone verify the 3rd line of the captions? "w/preserved arms. ?????, stomach contents" The missing word is “jaws”. 1 ...How to Philosophize with a Hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJHope Posted July 4, 2022 Share Posted July 4, 2022 27 minutes ago, Kane said: The missing word is “jaws”. THANKS!! yep, figures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocket Posted July 5, 2022 Share Posted July 5, 2022 incredible collection..., thanks for showing this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhysicist Posted July 7, 2022 Author Share Posted July 7, 2022 On 7/5/2022 at 6:42 AM, rocket said: incredible collection..., thanks for showing this Sure! Glad you enjoyed 1 “The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.” - A. Einstein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karstic Posted September 5, 2022 Share Posted September 5, 2022 Wow. This is amazing. These are just about the most beautiful specimens I've seen anywhere. I make go on a hunting trip Out West next fall and Ive wondered about stops for the road trip. This would definitely be near the top of the list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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