Small projects

Yep we all have them. In addition to the decades of prep backlog of big, complete and interesting specimens there is always that nagging pile of individual bones and small specimens that gets collected then sits as priority number 12 on the shelf. Sometimes it's a good organizational effort (and therapy) to get these things knocked off the to-do list. Plus it frees up a bit of space for the next season's collecting efforts (which should begin any week now, hopefully.

You ever get the feeling you're being watched?

This past summer during beer week in Montana I found a small shard of tyrannosaur tooth sticking out of a lag deposit. I suggested to one of our guests, Terri, that she could spend some time excavating it. Turns out she discovered that the tooth was still connected to a chunk of jaw. Unfortunately digging it out was a bit of a chore since the sandstone got really hard really quickly. It did clean up nicely though, and will be going on display sometime today.

Tyrannosaur maxilla and tooth

Some progress is being made on Pete III, our challenging Daspletosaurus torosus, also from Montana. This huge 70 pound monstrosity of a jacket contained just one spindly rib. That and lots of sandstone. Whatever, it's off the shelf now and nearly in the clean room.

There's the rib!

We're not all about preparing partial dinosaur bones though. This Pteranodon sternbergi metacarpal was pulled from the lower chalk in western Kansas a few years back. Should have been prepared years ago.

Isolated bones are so pretty