"who" is the Rockette Rex?

[hadrosauridae]

Surely someone in the group knows which T.rex cast is used at the entrance of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. This display is known as the "Dancing Dinosaur" as well as the "Rockette Rex", after the Radio City Rockettes dancers.  I thought it would be an easy answer to find with a search, but I none of the links mention which cast it is.

 

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by hadrosauridae

[CDiggs]

All I can remember at the moment is that Dr.Bakker is to thank for that dynamic pose.

[ThePhysicist]

The warped skull looks alot like AMNH 5027, that's my guess.

 

[hadrosauridae]

24 minutes ago, CDiggs said:

All I can remember at the moment is that Dr.Bakker is to thank for that dynamic pose.

 

Yes, I remember him describing creating the display, and I have been wanting to see it ever since.  After finally getting to see it in person, I wanted to find out which specimen was used.

 

17 minutes ago, ThePhysicist said:

The warped skull looks alot like AMNH 5027, that's my guess.

 

 

Thats a great observation and looks like it!

[Psittacosaur9]

On 10/20/2023 at 8:58 AM, CDiggs said:

All I can remember at the moment is that Dr.Bakker is to thank for that dynamic pose.

Honestly, that's a problem I have with a lot of Bakker's museum mounts. I respect him as a palaeontologist and for all the work he has done in the field, but I have to say that many of the mounts in the Houston Museum in particular, quite frankly, look ridiculous. The Stegosaurus rearing and crushing its ribs together, the Queztacoatlus with its wings at a 45 degree angle to the ground, the Glyptodon getting attacked by a Xenosmilus which is for some reason attacking the giant Xenarthran's shell, it all just comes off as very unnatural to me.

Edited October 22, 2023 by Psittacosaur9

[Randyw]

I have always thought that the pose was taken or inspired by the Rex on the cover of his book the dinosaur heresies. But it looks a little wrong without the prey/opponent…

[jpc]

I think indeed that that is a an AMNH cast, and, yes, based on the cover of Bakker's book.  

And the artist there is....  Who? 

 

Edited October 22, 2023 by jpc

[hadrosauridae]

11 hours ago, Psittacosaur9 said:

Honestly, that's a problem I have with a lot of Bakker's museum mounts. I respect him as a palaeontologist and for all the work he has done in the field, but I have to say that many of the mounts in the Houston Museum in particular, quite frankly, look ridiculous. The Stegosaurus rearing and crushing its ribs together, the Queztacoatlus with its wings at a 45 degree angle to the ground, the Glyptodon getting attacked by a Xenosmilus which is for some reason attacking the giant Xenarthran's shell, it all just comes off as very unnatural to me.

 

Well, in the end, all "art" is subjective, even paleo art.  I havent made it to the houston museum yet, but next year for sure.  I personally like the unusual poses.  Every museum has the same dinos in the same static pose.  It kind of becomes "seen one, you've seen them all".  As for the Stego... did you know there are Stego trackways with ONLY the back foot tracks present?  This spawned the theory that they could have been facultative bipeds.

[hadrosauridae]

11 hours ago, Randyw said:

I have always thought that the pose was taken or inspired by the Rex on the cover of his book the dinosaur heresies. But it looks a little wrong without the prey/opponent…

 

I can not believe I didnt correlate the two!  It absolutely is the pose!  

What the Stryacosaurus saw...

 

[Psittacosaur9]

14 hours ago, hadrosauridae said:

 

Well, in the end, all "art" is subjective, even paleo art.  I havent made it to the houston museum yet, but next year for sure.  I personally like the unusual poses.  Every museum has the same dinos in the same static pose.  It kind of becomes "seen one, you've seen them all".  As for the Stego... did you know there are Stego trackways with ONLY the back foot tracks present?  This spawned the theory that they could have been facultative bipeds.

I agree that art is subjective, and if you like the Houston Museum mounts, that's fine. I personally just don't think they do a great job of reconstructing prehistoric life. I also know that there are various different theories for the hind-feet Stegosaurus tracks, including that the animals were wading through water, which given the centre of mass of the stegosaurs, is the theory I think is probably more likely.

 

Edit: I also have heard of bipedal juvenile Stegosaur footprints; perhaps the juvie stegs were faculative bipeds as we've never found a specimen of a baby Stegosaur, before growing out of it as they reached adulthood, similar to how juvenile Komodo dragons today are aboreal whereas their parents aren't?

Edited October 23, 2023 by Psittacosaur9