The Nation’s T. rex and the National Museum of Natural History’s Deep Time Hall are coming June 8, 2019!
10 things I’m Excited for in the new National Fossil Hall (Part 3)
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s new paleontology exhibit opens in a little over a year. Here are some things to look forward to:
8. So many new specimens
The National Fossil Hall will feature hundreds of fossil specimens, and a plurality of them have never been exhibited before. Most are real specimens straight out of the museum’s collections: examples include the horse Equus occidentalis, the skull of Odobenocetops, a drawer full of cave-dried ground sloth dung, and a near-perfect Ophiacodon (pictured). Other newcomers are casts made from specimens at other museums: Euoplocephalus, Eoraptor, and the four-legged proto-manatee Pezosiren are among them.
9. A recreation of Pocahontas Mine
The Carboniferous section of the exhibit will be centered on a recreation of the Pocahontas coal mine in south-central Virginia. Last fall, a Smithsonian crew took casts of the mine’s walls, which are covered in impressions of ancient spore plants.
10. The other side of the roadkill Stegosaurus
Last but not least, we will finally be able to see the other side of the Stegosaurus stenops holotype. Lovingly called the “roadkill Stegosaurus,” this skeleton was recovered in Colorado in 1887, and is significant because it was the first Stegosaurus found with its plates in their life positions. Unfortunately, the skeleton has been displayed on the floor since 1917, making the left side inaccessible to researchers for a century. Plans for the new exhibit place the roadkill Stegosaurus in a vertical case, allowing both sides to be inspected.
10 Things I’m Excited for in the new National Fossil Hall (Part 2)
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s new paleontology exhibit opens in a little over a year. Here are some things to look forward to:
4. The Anthropocene
Most books and exhibits about the history of life close at some point in the past. The National Fossil Hall continues the story into the present day. We are in the midst of an extinction event of our own making, and anthropogenic climate change, habitat destruction, and invasive species are as dangerous as any asteroid. But in spite of our destructive potential, humans have the power to mitigate and manage the consequences of altering the world around us. The exhibit will show visitors how they can be informed citizens of a changing planet.
5. Skeletons posed like living animals
Historically, museum mounts of dinosaurs and other animals were typically given anatomically neutral poses. Newer exhibits have experimented with greater dynamism, but this often manifests in animals fighting or simply roaring at one another. In the National Fossil Hall, both newly introduced and remounted specimens are posed to showcase behavior evidenced by the fossil record. Tyrannosaurus is pulling the head off Triceratops (as described by Fowler and colleagues in 2012), Allosaurus is guarding a nest, and the mammoth is pushing its tusks along the ground, as though clearing snow off the grass (shown above in maquette form).
6. Reimagining the classics
Most of the dinosaur skeletons exhibited at NMNH were assembled before 1920. These specimens have gone on to lead second lives on display, and have been seen by generations of visitors. Nevertheless, time has taken its toll. Some mounts have been rendered out of date by new discoveries, while others have gradually deteriorated due to fluctuating temperature and humidity and constant vibration from passing crowds. In these cases, it is time to return the original fossils to the safety of the collections. This will also give paleontologists a chance to study these specimens (several of which are holotypes) for the first time in decades. In their place, cast replacements are being prepared, complete with lively poses and up-to-date anatomy.
7. Plant fossils galore
In keeping with the focus on environmental change over time, the National Fossil Hall will not just display the big, charismatic animals, but the entire ecologies they lived in. Dinosaur and mammal skeletons will be surrounded by fish, reptiles, insects, and plants that lived alongside them, demonstrating that paleo-celebrities like Stegosaurus and the mastodon were part of ecologies that were at least as rich and complex as the world today. An NMNH crew even made a special trip to North Dakota to collect Late Cretaceous plant fossils to display alongside the Nation’s T. rex.
Photo Sources: Last American Dinosaurs at NMNH, Smithsonian Magazine, Great Big Stories, NMNH Dept of Paleobiology
10 Things I’m Excited for in the new National Fossil Hall (Part 1)
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s new paleontology exhibit opens in a little over a year. Here are some things to look forward to:
1. The “Hall of Extinct Monsters” restored to its original grandeur
The NMNH east wing has been home to fossil displays since the building opened in 1910. As originally designed, the space was a grand, neoclassical hall with Beaux Arts trim, large bay windows, and a skylight three stories up. Over the ensuing century the space was carved up into smaller sections, and the decorative elements and natural light sources were hidden. The original architecture has now been restored for the redesigned hall.
2. A story about environmental change
Many exhibits portray the evolution of life as though it occurred in a vacuum. In fact, the evolution of animals and plants is primarily driven by environmental upheaval – changing climate, shifting geography, and so forth. Sometimes this relationship goes the other way, and keystone organisms (such as grass in the Neogene or humans in the present day) drastically change the world around them. Environmental change over time is at the heart of the National Fossil Hall’s story.
3. The Nation’s T. rex
The “Wankel Rex” was discovered by avocational fossil hunter Kathy Wankel in 1988. The skeleton was held in trust at the Museum of the Rockies, but since it was found on Army Corps of Engineers land it is technically owned by the US federal government. Although several casts are on display around the world, the original fossils have never before been assembled into a standing mount. That’s changing now that the Wankel Rex has been transferred to the Smithsonian. Curator Matt Carrano designed a deliriously cool pose, with the Tyrannosaurus poised as though prying the head off of a prone Triceratops. NMNH is visited by eight million people every year, so the Wankel Rex (now the Nation’s T. rex) will soon be the most viewed real Tyrannosaurus skeleton in the world.
Photo Sources: Washington Post, Last American Dinosaurs at NMNH, Great Big Stories
Building (and taking apart) mounted fossil skeletons at the Smithsonian, 1911 to present day.
A longish look at the making of the third iteration of the NMNH fossil halls, which stood from 1980 to 2014. Includes tales of silly in-fighting, overlooked-yet-amazing artwork, and a photo gallery at the end.
NMNH Stegosaurus (USNM V 4935)
Excavated by Marshall Felch for O.C. Marsh and USGS, 1886
Mark I: Original fossils mounted 1913
Mark II: Cast replaces original fossils in 2004
Mark III: Updated cast fixes problem with shoulder girdle articulation, incorporates more active pose. To be exhibited in 2019. Photo source
More New National Fossil Hall Specimens
A few of the fossils earmarked for the renovated paleontology halls at NMNH. Photos and info from http://collections.nmnh.si.edu
Tyrannosaurus (aka Nation’s T. rex, aka Wankel Rex)
Cretaceous, Montana
Proalopecopsis skull
Permian, South Africa
Paraceratherium skull (cast)
Neogene, Mongolia
Nothrotheriops (ground sloth) dung
Quaternary, Arizona
Pezosiren (proto-sea cow)
Paleogene, Jamaica
New National Fossil Hall Specimens
A few of the fossils earmarked for the renovated paleontology halls at NMNH. Photos and info from http://collections.nmnh.si.edu
Ophiacodon (aka Sleeping Beauty)
Permian, Texas
Anodontosaurus tail club
Cretaceous, Alberta
Massetognathus
Triassic, Argentina
Captorhinus skull and partial skeleton
Permian, Oklahoma
Rhomaleosaurus (cast)
Jurassic, England
1.5 years until the rebirth of the triumvirate of NMNH great halls is complete.
I found myself doodling the floor plans of the old and new NMNH paleontology exhibits (I wonder how many people have ever drawn museum exhibit fan art?). One thing led to another, and this is the result. There are a few fudged details, but this should more or less represent the layout and placement of large mounted specimens in both versions of the hall.
I’ve color coded them to show how much square footage is allotted to each topic or time period. Surprisingly, there isn’t much change overall. The only dramatic losses are to Paleozoic and Cenozoic marine specimens, both of which are now covered in Ocean Hall.
What do you all think of the new layout?
Zallinger’s Age of Reptiles is great, but Life in the Ancient Seas is 25% bigger and at least as beautiful.
In 1990, the Natural Museum of Natural History debuted the “Life in the Ancient Seas” exhibit, featuring a 150-foot mural by Canadian artist Ely Kish. The mural covers the entire Phanerozoic Eon (541 million years) and includes hundreds of marine animals.
The Arts and Industries Building was the original Smithsonian museum, housing the entire U.S. National Museum from 1881 to 1910. Today it is only open for special events - funding for a restoration project was cut off before it could be completed.
I got to see the interior during the Folklife Festival last week, and it is beautiful.
Meet a Mount: NMNH Eremotherium
Taxon: Eremothierum laurilardi
Specimen Numbers: USNM 20867 and USNM 20872
Dimensions: 20 ft long
Year Created: 1970
The enormous ground sloth pair at the National Museum of Natural History was assembled from at least eight individuals C.L. Gazin recovered in Panama in 1950. After the composite mounts were built, most of the surplus material was repatriated. The mounts debuted in 1970 as the centerpieces of the Quaternary Vertebrates Hall. Unresolvable disagreements between curators and exhibit staff contributed to the hall being closed after just 3 years. It reopened in 1974 as the interdisciplinary Hall of Ice Age Mammals and the Age of Man, with the sloths relocated to the northwest corner.
The sloths were dismantled in 2014 along with the rest of the east wing fossil exhibits. In the new National Fossil Hall, they will be positioned right at the entrance, representing the weird and wonderful variety of prehistoric life.