A Finale

 Horned dinosaurs would have been quite a sight to see.

Here we have the reconstructed skull of a brand new species.

Her original skull is in the display case beside it.

Spiclypeus Shipporum is the scientific name of this horned dinosaur. Her nickname is Judith, given because she was found in the Judith River Formation in Montana. That river was so named after a woman in Virginia- by the explorer William Clark, who was one of the leaders of the Lewis & Clark expedition across the American west.

Daspletosaurus, the predecessor to tyrannosaurus rex, looms overhead.

One last look at him for this visit.

I departed, taking one last look at the main entrance of the building.

Holotype

 This is the fossilized skull of a panoplosaurus, an armoured herbivore.

Here we have a leptoceratops, an archaic cousin of the horned dinosaurs that lived at the same time as the others.

Hello, beastie.

Fossilized skin impressions, droppings, and footprints tell paleontologists a lot.

Styracosaurus was one of the horned dinosaurs.

In the background casing is an example of anchiceratops.

Below is a holotype- the first example discovered of a species. Chasmosaurus irvinensis is yet another of the family of horned dinosaurs.

Triceratops is one of those dinosaurs whose name is the earliest learned by children.

Old Bones

 Picking up where we left off yesterday in this part of the Fossil Gallery.

Here are the bones and skulls of the animals we left off with.

Merycoidodon was a grassland browser, an early ruminant.

Camels first evolved in North America before crossing land bridges into Europe and Asia during ice ages.

A view from above of the confrontation between dinosaurs.

More examples of fossils.

Hesperornis was a diving bird from 85 million years ago.

Resilience

A reminder to those in the area- the Tulip Festival is underway and will wrap up in a week. From the look of the tulips, they're late this year, not a surprise given the cold spring. I've been busy taking photos. And as another reminder to locals, there is an exhibit going on at the Canadian War Museum on black Canadians in military service that wraps up in early June.

Life had once evolved from the sea, and for some species, life led to a return to the sea. Whales evolved from land walking animals over millions of years and through key species into becoming a marine mammal family. Pakicetus was the beginning of that process.

Ambulocetus and dorudon would also be part of that adaptation over time

Examples of all three are found here.

Notharctus was an early primate in what is now North America.

The horse first evolved in North America, growing larger over time. Hyracotherium was the size of a small dog.

Up a flight of stairs is a second level with reproductions of some mammals of this new world you can walk around. The biggest have the look of a rhino. This is megacerops.

This was a cat-like predator, but before true cats evolved. Hoplophoneus was a carnivore.

While this was an early boar, and an omnivore. We'll get a look at these animals in bone form tomorrow.