Meet a Mount: Tylosaurus at KU Natural History Museum
Taxon: Tylosaurus proriger
Specimen Number: KUVP 5033
Dimensions: 45 feet long
Year Created: 1999
In 1911, C.D. Bunker uncovered in western Kansas one of the largest mosasaur specimens ever found. The fossils remained in storage at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum for nearly a century, until the rediscovery of Bunker’s field notes renewed interest in the historic find. The bones had fallen into disrepair, so the museum hired the private company Triebold Paleontology to restore them. Triebold also provided the museum with a complete replica of the skeleton, which now hangs over the three-story entrance hall. Unfortunately, capturing the entire coiled length of the 45-foot sea lizard seems to have eluded most photographers.
The original Tylosaurus fossils are held in the University of Kansas collections, but Triebold still offers casts in its catalog of replica fossil mounts. Examples can be seen at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park, Colorado.