There is a lot to see in Utah, especially around the dinosaur rich
region of Vernal. The town is the gateway to the National Dinosaur Monument;
while Vernal itself displays a number of old-time dinosaur roadside signs and
statues. Just a few minutes’ drive away is also a town called Dinosaur, with
streets named after the dinosaurs found in the region (all been covered
in Utah part 1 and 2 if you are interested to learn more about these locations).
I showed up bright and early at opening on a weekday, during winter, and had the run of the place…and what a place. This museum is a hidden treasure,
and if you are in the area, stop on by, you won’t be disappointed. Not only
does it contain high quality displays and a number of real fossils, it also
uses its space in a clever way, and I often found myself smiling and
thinking ‘nicely done.’
There are three main halls, all circling a large rotunda, with a few
small side spaces for temporary exhibits – and the majority of these contain specimens from the nearby, world famous, Unita basin.
The first version of the museum was opened in 1948, and has clearly undergone a number of renovations
as the display today is fresh and dynamic. After entering a reconstruction of
the local geological formations, where many of the fossils were found (this includes the display of a palaeontologist field camp), visitors are confronted with a canyon
wall embedded with fossils along various layers, encouraging you to try and figure
out what they are and where/when they belonged.
This path leads to the first hall, where three dinosaur skeletons make up
the Jurassic Gallery. Central is a Stegosaurus skeleton, which you can walk partly around, with fossils showing specific features lying about it. This includes
the part of the stegosaur spine where it was once believed a second brain was
housed. Today it’s believed this large cavity held a glycogen body, a mysterious
structure also found in birds.
Further back is Allosaurus,
feeding on the unlucky skeleton of a medium size sauropod, Haplocanthosaurus. One of the clever features I must tip my hat too
is the mural behind these dinosaurs.
The mural is not only world class, it has a sense of humour, something
rare in the world today. If you look closely you will noticed the painting seems
to be incomplete, especially around the edges and at the head of the Haplocanthosaurus. The reason for this
is a simple one, the head of the sauropod has never been found, so how can you
paint the head of an animal when you don’t know what it looked like? Clever!
There are some nice touches in this room, including a number of hands-on
activities for the kids. This all leads to a small ramp with light boxes
embedded inside. This path is like a time leap, skipping visitors from the Jurassic
to the Eocene- the other great fossil beds the region is known for.
What first confronts you is an impressive fossil wall, covered in the small, brick-like
slabs of fossil material from the Green River Formation. Visually stunning,
this wall shows the incredible diversity of species collected from these rocks,
and is a real eye opener.
The display also includes a number of the enormous mammals that once
lived in Utah, including the bizarre Uintatherium.
This includes a life-like diorama of a moment in the ancient past, with two of
the great beasts fighting each other- their combat watched by the various creatures they
shared their world with.
This includes a strange creature called Stylinodon; one of the last and largest taeniodonts,
a group of herbivores that grew as large as a leopard, and are unrelated to any modern species
of mammal alive today.
Utah also has an outcrop of Precambrian rocks, and the museum has a small
display of some specimens collected there. This includes a large wall-relief revealing where the rocks are in relation to many of the modern features of the state.
Another clever idea is the use of windows in the museum. These often open onto a model, such as a mammoth - models that would take up invaluable space
if they had to be kept inside.
The museum also houses a small display of fluorescing minerals, as well as paleo-art
by Prussian born Gerhard Ernest Untermann, Sr., also known as “The Artist of the
Uintas.”
In the main rotunda is housed the largest display in the museum, the enormous
skeleton of a Diplodocus. This stands
over a mosaic geological map of Utah, and it’s impressive to get up so close to
something this large.
One of the last displays is about the long anthropological history of
the region. This includes articles and images from the Fremont Indians - an
unfortunate name I feel as it reflects the name of the river, named after John
Charles Frémont - a man distinctly not Native American. The local people were
related to the Utes and Navajo, so it would be nice to have a name that
reflected this culture, but that's my own, personal opinion.
Once outside, there is also a garden walk, containing over a dozen life-like
models. These are not just dinosaurs, but numerous prehistoric creatures, including pterosaurs and models of Mochops, which I might be
mistaken, but could be the only life-size models on display anywhere (I could be
wrong about this, so please let me know if I am).
all in all, a great museum, well worth a visit.
all in all, a great museum, well worth a visit.
