Dinosaurs of China in Nottingham: part 2 - Feathered Flyers

While the reconstructed skeletons of big scaly beasts dominate the main downstairs area of Dinosaurs of China, the real treasures are upstairs, where far more delicate, intricately preserved and altogether fluffy animals await. While some of our scientist readers will have seen these in person before, DoC is a unique opportunity for us mere laypeople to get up close to feathered beauties from China. And yes, many of them are originals, including Stripy Longtail here!

Notice the fish, bottom left.

Dinosaurs of China in Nottingham: part 1 - Ground Shakers

Have you ever wandered among the imposing corridors and grand halls of an historical stately home and thought about how much they could be improved by the addition of dinosaur skeletons? Then boy, do I have an exhibition for you. But more importantly, it's a showcase of numerous impressive skeletal mounts of Chinese dinosaurs, many never seen before outside their native country, along with an array of breathtaking original specimens. Dinosaurs of China is a huge coup for an obscure museum, a wonderful achievement of international co-operation, and a unique opportunity for British dinosaur enthusiasts - and Natee and I were fortunate enough to tour with curator Adam Smith.

American Museum of Natural History, part 3: no birds, please, we're bird-hips

And so, finally, to the hall of Ornithischian dinosaurs (as a reminder, Baron et al. 2017 isn't to be mentioned). In spite of the tendency of theropods and sauropods to hog the limelight, the AMNH's Other Dinosaur Hall almost manages to outshine the lizard-hipped-themed gallery - almost. There's no beating Rexy's charisma, but his eternal adversary certainly comes close.

American Museum of Natural History, part 2: birds, near-birds, and wide loads

Since the AMNH has so much more to offer than Sexy Rexy and the Indeterminate Apatosaurine Formerly Known as Brontosaurus, let's once again take a walk down its expansive corridors. Or at least, the dinosaur galleries. Although I've already looked at the Saurischian gallery's biggest stars, there's a lot more going on in there besides...notably, an unabashed examination of how Birds Are Dinosaurs. Because they are, you know.

American Museum of Natural History, part 1: big dead icons

For someone from a tiny island in the Old World, the United States can't half seem like an intimidating place. There's the sheer vastness of it, of course; that's obvious. There are the angry, impatient reactions you get from absolutely everyone at the airport when you arrive. And then there's the fact that you can't ever know what you'll really pay for something, because 'sales tax' (a la VAT) is never included on any price tags. Oh, and when you go to buy a bottle of Diet Coke, you'll find that it reads "20 oz", whatever that means. But all of it's worth it - even the horrific indigestion when you try to stomach their gigantic food portions - to visit the American Museum of Natural History in New York.* Blimey, it's a very good museum.

Horniman bonus dinosaurs

As an addendum to my previous post, it's worth mentioning that there's some dinosaur material on permanent display at the Horniman...just not very much. Perhaps the most noteworthy dinosaur display consists of a series of very dated scale models. They're most definitely of the pre-Renaissance, cold-blooded old school, but very charming with it. Here's a selection.

Monster Families at the Horniman

While everyone knows the few 'big name' museums in London (the NHM among them), the city also boasts a surprisingly large number of more low-key institutions, some of which are well worth seeking out for the nuttier natural history enthusiast. One of these would be the Horniman Museum, located a stone's throw from Forest Hill station in south-east London. Currently the Horniman is home to the travelling exhibition 'Dinosaurs: Monster Families', which is naturally what drew Niroot and I in (for the second and first visit, respectively). Here's the skinny, y'all.

Dinosaurland, Lyme Regis

Back in February (remember that?), Nicole and I (remember her?) decided to pay a visit to Devon and Dorset, which are counties in the South West of England, should you not be familiar with British geography. I'm sure the lack of Hordes O' Tourists made up for the cold and the bitter wind. In any case, we stayed close to, and thus spent a fair amount of time in and around, Lyme Regis (which is just about in Dorset), home of the endlessly charming Dinosaurland Fossil Museum. It not only boasts stacks of fossils collected locally, but also a collection of late '80s model dinos fit to slap a smile on the face of any plastic saurian aficionado. And a Dinosauroid. More on that later.

Mighty Bones: Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

Berlin's a fascinating city and all, drawing people for its rich, tumultuous history as much as its present-day reputation for 'cool' (whatever that is. Like I'd know). But in the end, dinosaur enthusiasts will only have one destination in mind upon arriving in the city - the Museum für Naturkunde, home of the certified Tallest Mounted Dinosaur Skeleton in the World™. I visited on my second day in the city, and let me assure you, man-sized humeri were just dancing in front of my eyes before that. No amount of refreshingly inexpensive beer was going to distract me on my pilgrimage to the holy hall of bones on the Invalidenstraße. It doesn't disappoint.

Down on the (former) Dinosaur Farm

The Isle of Wight seemed faintly magical to me as a child - I mean, there was Blackgang Chine for a start, but where else could you pull off a country road with stunning views of the sea, cliffs and open downland, drive down a track, enter a farmyard barn and be surrounded by fossils and dinosaur art? (No, don't tell me where else you can do that. I don't wanna know.) The Dinosaur Farm museum, as it was back in the '90s, was stupendously exciting to a dino-entranced kiddiwink - it felt raw and unpolished, with fossil hunters actually preparing their finds on-site, and seemed to show the (very fragmentary) reality of finding fossils. Unfortunately, the museum closed a few years ago - but it was swiftly reopened by former staff members, and is now better than ever.

'It's your turn now.' Dippy and the Blue Whale

'It's your turn now.'
Ink on watercolour paper, 202 x 100mm.

Scarcely had I mentioned how well Sophie the Stegosaurus complemented the presence of the beloved Diplodocus at their respective entrances to London's Natural History Museum than news of the latter's planned retirement emerged, apparently splitting the public and experts alike into 'Team Dippy' and 'Team Whale' across social media.

Of course I'm sad -- very sad -- to see 'Dippy' retire (no, I don't much care for the name either, but that's another story).  For me as for so many others, it has been the museum's de facto mascot and symbol for as long as we can remember. And lest our readers forget, sauropods are among my favourite dinosaur groups. My own 'saurian portrait' is a Diplodocus, for heaven's sake.

 'However, change, or its refusal, is not within our gift.' I welcome the blue whale with happy, if subdued, acceptance. Of the many voices in its favour, Michael Rundle of Huffington Post UK encapsulates it best for me, not least because he puts forward the case with great respect and affection for both without any of the unnecessary aggression and derision I've seen accompany some arguments ('Dippy is fake! A lie!'). My illustration above attempts to reconcile this change in the same vein. The title of 'It's your turn now' speaks both of the whale skeleton's place in Dippy's stead and of the blue whale's fragile existence being celebrated now. I wanted to avoid that dreaded word, 'relevance', much bandied about in this case. Nevertheless, highlighting the blue whale's significance doesn't seem to me to signal a disregard for the Diplodocus. But perhaps I'm not cynical enough on that score.

'Sophie'

The unveiling back in early December of the world's most complete Stegosaurus skeleton at London's Natural History Museum won't have escaped many folks within the palaeo community. Naturally, as the UK contingent of LITC and being within easy distance of the museum, Marc and I were duty-bound to make our own visit to the new treasure, even if we were over a month late (where were our invitations to the official do, pray?).

With over 90% of the original specimen present, 'Sophie' is a permanent addition of which the NHM can be justly proud. Rather than being secreted in the now problematic Dinosaur Gallery -- about which much has been written here and elsewhere -- she is instead given prime position of her own in the Earth Hall, near the museum's Exhibition Road entrance, paralleling that of 'Dippy' the Diplodocus in the central Hintze Hall. Mounted in a dynamic, defensive stance, she occupies a rather swanky platform of serried steps, somewhat reminiscent of the atrium of New York's Guggenheim museum.

This individual was reportedly only a young adult when it died, as suggested by 'some features of the hips', according to the signage. The specimen is also perhaps notable for having nineteen back plates rather than the commonly recognised seventeen. The skull here is a cast, though information on the NHM website seems to suggest that fragments of the original did survive.*

Obligatory photographic evidence of the intrepid goons' actual visit, taken by Nicole Heins -- who once contributed her own guest post!

Our readers will have doubtless seen Bob Nicholls' stunning painting commissioned by the museum as part of the exhibit. From the sublime, therefore, you will now be treated to the ridiculous: this doodle I drew on a Moleskine leaflet a while ago in an unoccupied moment (Marc said to include it in the post, 'fo sho', so there it is).

 

*I've since been informed by a friend who works at the NHM that the museum does indeed have the complete skull, and that the one on the mount is a 3D print of it!

Dinosaurs of Brussels

Brussels is an intriguing city - home to the European Parliament, breathtakingly stunning buildings, more recent, butt-ugly buildings, fantastic beer, busy but untalented graffiti artists, and countless gift shops stuffed with tiny statuettes of a young boy taking a leak. It's also home to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences*, also known as the Museum of Natural Sciences, and confusingly promoted about town using just the word 'museum' (often, but not always, accompanied by a John Sibbick-aping Iguanodon logo). The RBINS boasts the largest dinosaur gallery in Europe, occupying some 300 square metres. Fortunately for all concerned, it's a completely wonderful piece of work, packed with far, far more than the spiky-thumbed ornithopods you were expecting.

Teylers Museum: back in time

Remember the way in which museums used to be stereotyped? Dusty, darkened corridors rammed with dry old specimens, shuffling schoolchildren being reluctantly herded from place to place by grim-faced adult minders, and the occasional tweedy man squinting at a nondescript lump of rock. In an effort to break away from such a stuffy image, many museums resorted to child-friendly interactivity, minimalist signage, video displays and shiny, swishy things.

But some people liked the old way (for one thing, there weren't so many bloody kids and terrible dinosaur toys). Teylers Museum is for them...for us.

Teylers Museum is located in Haarlem, (the) Netherlands, and dates back to the 18th century. Built as a showcase for the art and science of the time, it continues to preserve and display an unusual and highly varied collection to this day - and devotes considerable space to fossils. Which I thought you lot might be most interested in, for whatever reason. Best of all, it remains thoroughly old-fashioned in approach, with beautiful Victorian-style display cabinets chock full of the good stuff.

There's a decent mix of material here, much of it from the Netherlands and Germany, but there's a great deal from further afield, too. Due to the nature of many of the specimens (pressed flat), not to mention space concerns, you won't find many skeletal mounts here. However, those that you do find - like the above cave bear - can be viewed from any angle you so desire, with nary a glass panel to get in the way.

The first room is dominated by a gorgeous display of marine reptile casts, including the crocodyliform Steneosaurus (top), alongside the cave bear and elephant skulls, among other bits and pieces. To add to the very Victorian air, one will also find skeletal diagrams by everyone's favourite scraggly-bearded, hyper-competitive 19th century palaeontologist, Othniel C. Marsh.

The second fossil room is undoubtedly where you'll find the most exquisite material. Here, stacked high in row after row of cabinets, are stored any number of specimens from the Jurassic limestone of Europe, including Germany's famous Solnhofen. There's even an Archaeopteryx specimen...

Admittedly, it's not as spectacular as some of the others, but it's still very important in its own right.

Among the material from outside Europe, it's possible to find - stuffed in an easily-overlooked spot at one end of the long display case in the middle of the room - these brachiosaur bits, attributed to "Brachiosaurus sp." and hailing from 'east Africa' (presumably Tanzania or thereabouts). Of course, European Jurassic limestone provides by far the most beautiful and intricate specimens, just a few of which are below. It's enormous fun to scour the cabinets for fascinating fossils, including a number of holotypes (such as Atoposaurus), neatly presented like the open pages of a catalogue of prehistoric life. The name 'H. v. Meyer' crops up rather a lot, as one would expect!

There's a lot more to Teylers than fossils, mind you, and that is the museum's most unusual and wonderful aspect - it's like visiting three or four museums at once. Alongside marvelous displays of historic scientific instruments, there's an art gallery of considerable size displaying works from the Dutch Romantic and later schools, among others. The museum also possesses a remarkable collection of work from Old Masters, such as that recently showcased in a temporary (but highly impressive) Raphael exhibition.

Haarlem is a lovely city, and if you're ever in the Netherlands it's well worth taking the time to visit, quite apart from the fact that Teylers is located there. It's even a conveniently short distance from Amsterdam, should you so happen to be staying in the capital, and benefits from a glut of museums and historical landmarks, not to mention a lack of drunken tourists on a rampage. Teylers is but the icing.

Finally, apologies for this post being a little bit light on the content - it took me long enough to extract a digit and produce just this, and I really wanted to get the photos published at least (they say a thousand words apiece, you know). If you want to read more about the museum, do check out their official website and Wikipedia page.

Dinosaurs in Oxford

The Oxford University Museum of Natural History is one of the best in Britain, housed in a glorious, soaring Victorian neo-Gothic building. What's more, there are a number of skeletal mounts of dinosaurs ranging from Tyrannosaurus to Hypsilophodon, with many historically important British specimens also on show (by jingo). And entry is gratis. It's a must-visit if you're ever in the city, and Niroot and I just so happened to pop up there earlier in the month.

Although they are both grand Victorian museums built for the purpose, the OUMNH has a very different atmosphere to London's Natural History Museum. It's much smaller, of course (and has a different architectural style - Gothic as opposed to Romanesque Revival), but is also illuminated far more by natural light inside, giving a much more open, airy and less stately feel. It also doesn't receive the preposterously huge hordes of visitors that the NHM has to deal with, and as such allows visitors to get closer to its mounted skeletons.This, combined with the lighting conditions, makes it fantastic for photography.

The first thing every kid's eye is drawn to upon entering is a cast of BHI 3033, or 'Stan', the relatively small but big-noggined Tyrannosaurus rex. Of course, it's only 'relatively small' for an adult T. rex, which still means it's pretty bloody huge. The mount displays a fairly unusual 'rearing' posture, with the front end sloping upward, which makes it appear suitably imposing. Although standing on a wooden plinth, there's no glass in the way, so it's still possible to get up close to Stanny boy and take in that crazy tyrannosaur anatomy from all sorts of angles. I have a particular affinity for feet, apparently.

The head model is a little derptastic (they were probably better off displaying it separately, as they used to), and there's something off about that right forelimb (that one's for the nitpickers), but you can't go far wrong with a T. rex mount. The animal's just too awesome.

Directly in front of Staniel stands an Iguanodon bernissartensis cast in a classic Dollo-style 'kangaroo' pose. Much to the museum's credit, a nearby sign points out how this posture would be quite impossible for the living animal, even including a diagram with a dirty great arrow indicating where the tail has been broken.

Surrounding this enormous pair are the assorted remains, safely ensconced within glass cabinets, of British dinosaurs and others of particular historic interest. It's here you'll find Cetiosaurus, Eustreptospondylus and Megalosaurus, alongside the British "Camptosaurus" (Cumnoria) and more Iguanodon. It's a fascinating glimpse into the earliest days of palaeontology, and a wonderful opportunity to look at animals that are seldom seen in museums.

The Eustreptospondylus mount (a juvenile specimen) is accompanied by a model head, apparently fished out of the bins when Walking With Dinosaurs was completed.

The Cetiosaurus remains from Chipping Norton are helpfully labelled...

...While Megalosaurus jaw bits are assembled according to their positions in a (slightly speculative) restored skull. Just visible here is a reproduction of a restoration from 1854 (which the signage drily describes as a "slightly overweight quadruped"), which shows just how little they had to go on back then.

Cumnoria is yet another dinosaur with a tangled taxonomic history. In the museum it's labelled as "Camptosaurus" prestwichii, and (predictably) it was dumped into Iguanodon before that. The animal's lumping into Camptosaurus was accepted for decades, but recent studies have supported its generic separation.

Just around the way, there's a wonderful array of mounted skeletons and skulls from various Late Cretaceous North American dinosaurs, including Edmontosaurus, Triceratops, Pachycephalosaurus, a truly superb Struthiomimus, and Tyrannosaurus....er, again. Thanks to the lack of protective glass (for all but the T. rex skull cast), it's possible to poke one's camera lens into all sorts of improbable places (ooh er). If you enjoy inspecting every last minute little nodule on Pachycephalosaurus' preposterously adorned cranium, then you're in for a treat.

There's also this little fellow...why, it's Bambiraptor feinbergi! Or at least, that's how most of us know him - of course, the person who writes the signs at the OUMNH has taken it upon themselves to sink it into Velociraptor (nice 1990s-style illustration too). I believe it's known as 'doing a Paul'. It's a very minor nitpick, of course, but worth bringing up 'cos it's amusing, and also because I'm not aware of anyone else having proposed this lumping (but feel free to enlighten me if you have [And right away, someone did - see Alberta Claw's comment]).

Speaking of, er, maniraptors, Archaeopteryx gets the life restoration treatment too, and just for a change the model's actually very good, rather than being a hideous lizardy freak with miniature hands. There's also an excellent cast, of course. Compsognathus gets a similar deal, and the model's very lovely, although advances in palaeontology have dated it a little more. Nevertheless, it remains admirable for its high level of craftsmanship and stunning, intricate attention to detail.

On the other hand, it's pretty safe to say that Utahraptor didn't look like this. At all. Of course, this isn't entirely the model makers' fault - rumours abound that new(ish) material, yet to be published, indicates that this animal was a lot weirder than previously thought. Actually, I'd be very interested to learn where this model came from - it looks like it might be another Walking With Dinosaurs artefact (the 'raptors' in said show were also buck-ass nude), but the strangely allosaur-esque head and colour scheme don't seem like a good match. Any ideas?

I'd like to round things off - for the time being - on a pleasant note, so just take a good gander at this lovingly sculpted Iguanodon head (below and, if you squint a bit, above). It's a seriously impressive work of art and no mistake - the subtly rendered skin folds and bony nature of the face remind me a great deal of modern ungulates like horses and giraffes. Er, except for the beak. Entirely too rarely for palaeosculpture (if I may call it that), this has the appearance of a living animal rather than a monster or an inert, clinical restoration. Just excellent.

That'll be all for now, but there's far too much great stuff in the OUMNH to contain in a solitary post, no matter how photo-laden. We will return!