Dinosaur Discovery Museum

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Dinosaur Discovery Museum
Tyrannosaurus rex.jpg
A mount of "Stan", a Tyrannosaurus rex cast that greets visitors to the museum.
Dinosaur Discovery Museum
Established2006
Location5608 10th Avenue, Kenosha, Wisconsin
Coordinates 42°35′02″N87°49′25″W / 42.5839°N 87.82365°W / 42.5839; -87.82365
Type Paleontology, with a focus on theropods
CuratorNick Wiersum
Website museums.kenosha.org

The Dinosaur Discovery Museum in Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States, is dedicated to the exploration and explication of the relationship between modern birds and ancient carnivorous biped dinosaurs, the theropods, which include Carnotaurus , Tyrannosaurus rex , and Archaeopteryx . This link is especially well documented in the fossil record. The museum has the largest skeletal cast collection of theropods (meat-eating) dinosaurs in North America and is the only museum to focus a gallery specifically on the evolution of birds (avian dinosaurs) from non-avian dinosaurs, with a second smaller gallery focusing on "Little Clint", a three-year-old Tyrannosaurus uncovered by a dig conducted with the Carthage Institute of Paleontology. [1]

Contents

The museum is located in the former post office (later the home of the Kenosha Public Museum building) and is a part of the Kenosha Public Museums system. [2] The museum is unrelated to the Dinosaur Discovery Center in Maine.

Carthage Institute of Paleontology

The museum houses the Carthage Institute of Paleontology. The institute conducts field explorations with students from Carthage College and volunteers on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation. [3] Fossils collected are kept at the museum and cleaned in the prep lab, as it is a federal repository. During the 2006 season, they discovered the remains of the youngest known Tyrannosaurus rex , nicknamed "Little Clint", with more bones of Little Clint found in 2007, along with hadrosaur and ceratopsian bones. [4]

History

The museum opened in 2006. [5] During the Kenosha unrest following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Dilophosaurus statue outside the museum was toppled, and the museum was temporarily closed for repairs. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Albertosaurus is a genus of large tyrannosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in northwestern North America during the early to middle Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous period, about 71 million years ago. The type species, A. sarcophagus, was apparently restricted in range to the modern-day Canadian province of Alberta, after which the genus is named, although an indeterminate species has been discovered in the Corral de Enmedio and Packard Formations in Mexico. Scientists disagree on the content of the genus and some recognize Gorgosaurus libratus as a second species.

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Tyrannosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex, often called T. rex or colloquially T-Rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It lived throughout what is now western North America, on what was then an island continent known as Laramidia. Tyrannosaurus had a much wider range than other tyrannosaurids. Fossils are found in a variety of rock formations dating to the Maastrichtian age of the Upper Cretaceous period, 68 to 66 million years ago. It was the last known member of the tyrannosaurids and among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tyrannosauridae</span> Family of dinosaurs

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theropoda</span> Clade of dinosaurs

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<i>Majungasaurus</i> Abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue (dinosaur)</span> Very complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil

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References

  1. City of Kenosha. "Exhibits". Dinosaur Discovery Museum. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  2. Tanzilo, Bobby. "Digging Kenosha's Dinosaur Discovery Museum". OnMilwaukee. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  3. "Paleontology at Carthage". Carthage College. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  4. "Carthage College Institute of Paleontology". Dinosaur Discovery Museum. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  5. Jones, Tara. "Travel Guide: Visit Kenosha's Dinosaur Discovery Museum, tour downtown in an electric streetcar and see the Washington Park Velodrome". Sheboygan Sun. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
  6. Anderson, Scott (September 8, 2020). "Dinosaur Down: Discovery Museum Hoping To Get Back On Its Feet". Patch. Retrieved August 27, 2022.