NAMAL (Part Two)

["Rob Gay" <rob_redwing@hotmail.com>]

I know I said that I'd post this the next day, but as things go in the real 
world, I've been delayed. Anyways, picking up from last time:
http://www.cmnh.org/fun/dinosaur-archive/2001Jul/msg00953.html
In the same little exhibit with the two _Ceratosaurus_ was the 
"Gargoyleosaurus" (sp?), which looks like a primitive nodosaur. Its also 
from the Morrison, and reminds me a lot of _Gastonia_.
Speaking of _Gastonia_, there is a decision at this point, where one can 
walk up a ramp, under some pterosaur models, and up to see two mounted 
_Gastonia_. The other route takes you by the rest of _Supersaurus_, a 
_Utahraptor_, "Hesperisaurus" and a ?_Brachiosaurus_ (from the now defunct 
Ultasauros. I thought this material was sunk into _Supersaurus_ though...) 
Also in this area are a few footprints (most incorrectly labeled as 
sauropod, IIRC, the original _Supersaurus_ pelvis, and a display on 
_Compsognathus_.
A few thoughts on this area: First, it was freaking cool to walk between the 
legs of the _Brachiosaurus_, this animal is absolutely massive! Another plus 
is that they seem to have gotten the mani of the sauropods right (or mostly 
so), so that should make the sauropod workers here happy. Also, I liked the 
zoo-like feeling of this area, it really was neat, and added to the feeling 
that dinosaurs weren't monsters, or just bones, but were actual, living 
animals. Downsides to this area included the poor track section, the two 
_Compsognathus_ in a tree (how did they get there?!), and the terrible bit 
on the bird-dinosaur transition. They had one specimen of _Confuciornis_ 
(which I've probably misspelled here), which was not labeled, and had no 
light on it. I don't know if they are planning on expanding that at some 
point, but it looks pretty weak currently.
Also, the walkway is a downside, since it leads to the Cretaceous, but then 
back into the next room! You can't easily return to the Jurassic, nor can 
you get the upper part of the K display without going into the Jurassic!
The next room was this really cool erosion table, with a whole lot of sand, 
water, and plastic plants and animals. I "preserved" a couple things when I 
"accidentally" broke a dam that some kid had erected. That was so much fun!
The next stop was the Cretaceous, which, I must say, felt cramped and 
hurried. There was no "zoo" feeling to this portion. They had a mounted 
_Bambiraptor_, two _Pachycephalosaurus_ charging each other (which had 
larger head spikes than I had remembered...), a _Dromeosaurus_, a 
_Chasmosaurus_, some dinosaur eggs, a _Protoceratops_ skeleton (a real one, 
behind glass), two _Pisatcosaurus_. They had a possible baby hadrosaur from 
Mongolia, along with a ?real _Shangtungosaurus_ juvenile. They also had an 
adult _Edmontosaurus_ walking along, followed by a juvenile, an odd-looking 
_Triceratops_ (the skull looked strange, but they had the strange looking 
part of the skull on display as a real fossil next to it). There was what 
was called a female _Pteranodon_, with a very small crest, and two 
_Struthiomimus_ running along. The center of the Cretaceous display however, 
was two _Tyrannosaurus_ battling over the carcass of a hadrosaur. One of the 
two was fairly realistic in its pose, but the second one was rearing back, 
all the back in a lateral line, and wasn't even looking at the other animal 
it was supposed to be "fighting". They also had a neat little _Ingenia_ 
mount along the back wall.
The upstairs K consisted of "The Wall of Skulls", where kids could try and 
ID a bunch of different skulls, and the head and arm of _Suchomimus_. They 
also had a "make your own dinosaur" velcro animal up there, which was pretty 
sweet. I hung a head where the tail should have been ;).
Anyways, opinion: The Jurassic/Early K section was much better than the 
"middle"-late K section. I was very disappointed by the lack of Triassic 
stuff as well. There is definitely room for improvement, but overall I was 
impressed with what was done.
Oh, that "T" _Coelurus_ like theropod starts with "Tany". I'll fill you in 
(so at least George can update his DGL, if it isn't already in there) when I 
get my pictures developed.
A brief overview of the rest: The underwater Mesozoic section was cool, if 
small. It included a gigantic _Tylosaurus_, a plesiosaur, _Archelon_, sveral 
large fish, and some cool fossils from Lebanon.
However, the "age of mammals" section needs some work. Some stuff is not 
labeled, its very small, and there just basically isn't much in terms of 
mammalian evolution.
Same goes for the Tertiary underseas exhibit. It looks slipshod and hurried 
in many cases.
Another interesting point, is the final exhibit is a group of ancient men 
attacking a Columbian mammoth. Perhaps it is a sign of the predominant 
culture here in Utah, but there is no discussion of human evolution at all 
in this display. It jumps from sharks to people with spears. I think this is 
a serious flaw in the museum, and is somewhat worrisome. However, the rest 
of the Man vs. Mammoth exhibit is pure comedy. While the humans are 
attempting to spear the beast (which has a few in it already), one man on a 
cliff is attempting to throw a rock down on it. Meanwhile, a man is being 
crushed under the knee of the mammoth, and is appearing to cry out for help. 
Keep in mind that these are all skeletons, so the overall effect is 
something that brings a twisted smile to my face.
And that's about all she wrote. Once I get my pictures back, I'll update 
with any details I might have missed, and once I get access to a scanner 
again, I'll post some pics so that people can see some of the animals 
(especially the "new" ones). Thats all for now folks!
Peace,
Rob

Student of Geology
Northern Arizona University
Biological Science Tech
Manti-La Sal National Forest
AIM: TarryAGoat
http://www.geocities.com/elvisimposter/dinopics.html
http://www.cafepress.com/RobsDinos
"A _Coelophysis_ with feathers?"


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