Russian Dinosaur Exhibit in Daytona Beach

Photographed at the Museum of Arts and Sciences, Daytona Beach, Florida
Click on the pictures to see the full sized version

Page 1: Dinosaurs
The Dinosaurs that were included in this exhibition are primarily from Mongolia and late Cretaceous in age. Some like the Tyrannosaurus and the Saurolophus were virtually indistinguishable from those found in North America. Others like the Protoceratops, Altirhinus and Saichania were related to those found in North America but had their own unique characteristics. It is pretty obvious that in late Cretaceous times there was a large land bridge between western Asia and North America. Click on the pics to see an enlarged view.

Tyrannosaurus
bataar
mature adult
Upper Cretaceous
Negemt Valley
Mongolia
old style mount

Tyrannosaurus
bataar
mature adult
Upper Cretaceous
Negemt Valley
Mongolia

Tyrannosaurus
bataar
Skull
Upper Cretaceous
Negemt Valley
Mongolia

Tyrannosaurus
bataar
young adult
Upper Cretaceous
Negemt Valley
Mongolia

Tyrannosaurus bataar is also known as Tarbosaurus bataar. It was slightly smaller but otherwise virtually identical to T. rex The mature adult is shown in the old upright type pose, and the young adult, which is a cast is shown in a more modern horizonal type pose.

Protoceratops andrewsi
Upper Cretaceous
Mongolia

Psittacosaurus
mongolensis
Lower Cretaceous
Mongolia

Protoceratops and Psittacosaurus are early members of the group of horned plant-eating dinosaurs called Ceratopsians. This group migrated from Asia to North America and evolved into many larger species including the well known Triceratops and Styracosaurus..

Saurolophus augustirostris
Late Cretaceous
Altan Ula
Gobi
Mongolia
Type Specimen

Altirhinus kurzanovi
Lower Cretaceous
Kuren Duhk,
Mongolia
Reconstructed
Skull

Saurolophus, a large duckbill ornithopod is shown in an old upright pose. The genus also occurred in North America. Altirhinus is sometimes placed in the Iguanodon genus. It differs primarily from Iguanodon by the enlarged nostrils.

Deinonychus antirropus
Lower Cretaceous
USA
Skeletal cast

Probactrisaurus gobiensis
Lower Cretaceous
Alashan Desert
Nei Mongla
China

The discovery of Deinonychus by John Ostrom in the early 1960's forced a total rethinking of bird-dinosaur relationships. John Ostrom noticed that structure of the front arms, wrists and hands of both Deinonychus and Archeopteryx were very very similar. The result is that these days most Paleontogists think that birds are directly decended from therapod dinosaurs similar to Deinonychus.

Saichania chulasnensis
skull
Upper Cretaceous
Mongolia
An Ankylosaur

Therizinosaurus chelonformis
hand claw
Upper Cretaceous
Negemt valley
Mongolia

The bony skull of Saichania is a good example of the armored tanks of the Late Cretaceous, the Ankylosaurs.Too bad they didnt include a complete skeleton. Quite a few different types of Ankylosaurs evolved in mongolia. I was quite excited about seeing the extremely large claw of the Therizinosaurus. For quite a long time Therizinosaurs were a mystery. All that was known of them was a pair of large arms with extremely large claws. It was only recently determined that they belonged to what were then called segnosaurs, a therapod with a long neck, small head and teeth that indicated that it was a plant eater.

Nest of Dinosaur Eggs
Upper Cretaceous
Mongolia

Protoceratops andrewsi
Upper Cretaceous
Mongolia

The first dinosaur eggs were discovered in 1921 in Mongolia. It was assumed that the eggs were from the extremely common Protoceratops and that a skeleton of Oviraptor that was discovered over a nest was killed in the act of stealing the eggs. Recently however, identical eggs have been found with fossilized embryos inside that showed the eggs were Oviraptors and that Oviraptor was sitting on the nest like a bird. Several more nest-sitting Oviraptors have been found.

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