Wyoming Dinosaur Center

Wyoming Dinosaur Center

The Wyoming Dinosaur Center is located in Thermopolis, Wyoming and is one of the few dinosaur museums in the world to have excavation sites within driving distance. The museum acquired the Thermopolis Specimen of Archaeopteryx, which was in private hands for decades before an anonymous donor gave it to the museum; it is the only fossil of this genus for viewing in North America.

Another notable fossil assembly is from the "SI" site, which presents the rare occurrence of both footprints and skeletal fossils located in the same context (Jennings 2006). Recent research by Debra Jennings demonstrates the past occurrence at the site of a shallow alkaline lake with multiple layers containing bones and trackways; these assemblies were created as the lake expanded and shrank with changes in the environment over tens of thousands of years.

VOA report about the museum

Other active dig sites include "FS", which contains at least one juvenile diplodocid with articulated hands and feet, and "TYA", which contains the remains of multiple allosaurs. Several Camarasaurus have been found at the "BS" site.

The museum gallery has 28 mounted dinosaurs, including the addition of a full mount of Supersaurus. The skeleton is 106 feet long, and is the first mount based on new data from the more complete "Jimbo" specimen (WDC DMJ-001). There is also an impressive display of pre-Mesozoic fossils on display, including numerous Devonian fish.

References

Jennings, D. (2006), "Taphonomic analysis of a dinosaur feeding site using geographic information systems (GIS), Morrison Formation, southern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, USA", PALAIOS, 21 (5): 480–492, doi:10.2110/palo.2005.P05-062R 

Web Resources

Coordinates: 43°38′35″N 108°11′59″W / 43.64297°N 108.199754°W / 43.64297; -108.199754

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