Museums

Museums have many purposes other than displaying cool fossils, skeletons, and artifacts to the public. Some are research facilities, archivists, conservationists, and libraries. Museums are actively conserving artifacts and specimens

Museums provide public education, support extensive research, and offer discoveries for everyone to access.

The Field Museum is known for its scientific research, conservation, labs, and most importantly its mission to connect people to the natural world and the human story through science and education by making it accessible to everyone. Their prehistoric history covers from early life, The age of fishes, the Permian period, to the Triassic period, Jurassic period, Cretaceous period, and at last the Cenozoic era. Now I will be covering the legendary dinosaur of The Field Museum that gets estimated 1.4 million visits a year. Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex was discovered in August 12, 1990 while exploring the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota by fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson who they named the Tyrannosaurus rex after, and was excavated by a team from the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research. Sue impressive length stretches up to 40 feet long and standing at the hip 13 feet. Sue is the most complete and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex ever found, 90% of her skeleton is completed. The Field Museum acquired Sue by bidding at a highly publicized contested auction in 1999 with the support from corporate sponsors like McDonalds and Disney and individual donors. A bid record of $8.36 million Sue was brought to The Field Museum. The great bid won more than a valuable fossil but a great scientific and public education resource. Sue arrived at The Field Museum in 1998, scientists spent two years cleaning, stabilizing, mounting, and studying the bones. Sue served as a resource for understanding the biology and behavior of Tyrannosaurus rex, it has provided insights into dinosaur growth health, and predatory lifestyle. In 2000, Sue was unveiled in the museums Stanley Field Hall becoming the museum's star attraction. Sue's real skull is so heavy that it's displayed separately in a nearby gallery, while a lightweight replica sits on the mounted skeleton.

The museum houses more than 30 million zoological, paleontological, and mineralogical specimens, including more than ten thousand types of specimens. It is famous for two exhibits the largest mounted dinosaur in the world and a well-preserved specimen of the earliest known bird, Archaeopteryx. The Giraffatitan brancai (formerly Brachiosaurs) in the central exhibit hall is the largest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world. It was found by paleontologist Werner Janensch from Tendaguru beds of Tanzania between 1909 and 1913. The team excavated more than 225 tons of fossil material, including the nearly complete Giraffatitan brancai skeleton. Giraffatitan brancai was 41 feet and 5 inches tall and 73 feet long. In 2007 it was remounted due to new scientific research regarding modern scientific research understanding of Sauropod anotomy, now reaching 13.27 meters due to its long tail and neck.

The Archaeopteryx the "first bird" is displayed in the central of exhibit. It is described as having a dinosaur figure with feathered wings, claws, and a long lizard tail. Recovered from the German solnhofen limestone beds in 1871, it is one of the 12 Archaeopteryx to be discovered and the most complete. It's feathered wings were so well preserved that scientists can study their structure under microscopes to learn how feathers evolved.

The museum has 21 interconnected buildings housing 45 permanent exhibition halls, including a planetarium and a library. The museum collections contain 13 million specimens of plants, animals, fungi, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, human remains, and human cultural artifacts. As well as a specialized collections for frozen tissue and genomic and astrophysical data (only a small fraction can be displayed at any given time). The museum sponsors over 120 special field expeditions each year and averages about five million visits annually. The Theodore Roosevelt Hall is home to Theodore Roosevelt's memorial and known for the iconic dinosaur exhibit. The Barosaurus and Allosaurus display show a mother rearing up to defend her baby from an attacking Allosaurus. While the display is made of lightweight replicas since the real bones are too heavy to be mounted this way. The real fossil bones originally excavated from the Morrison Formation in Utah are preserved behind the scenes in the museum's paleontology collections safely stored in a climate controlled room to prevent damage from humidity, light, vibration or handling.

The Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology is Canada's only museum dedicated exclusively to the study of ancient life. Featuring one of the world's largest displays of dinosaurs. The museum displays sabertooth tigers attacking a mammoth as well as a living garden that recreates life during the Cretaceous period in Alberta. Visitors can watch paleontologists at work in the preparation lab to see how they prepare fossilized bones. More than 13,000 fossils are located in this paleontological research center home, including the "Black Beauty"Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton with its unique dark sheen. The Borealopelta dinosaur was discovered on March 21, 2011, at the Millennium mine, it was discovered by a miner Shawn Funk, who was digging in the bank and noticed the specimen by striking it. The operators alerted the Royal Tyrell Museum of paleontology. After three days of safety training, museum staff and Suncor began working to recover the pieces. It preserved not only the armor in their life positions but also remains of their keratin sheaths, overlaying skin, and stomach contents from its last meal

the Dinosaur museum in Zigong sits atop the Dashanpu fossil site, allowing visitors to get firsthand view of an excavation site. This attraction has 18 complete skeletons among the 200 individuals pulled from the graveyard. The Mamenchisaurus was discovered in 1952 on the construction site of the Yitang Highway in Sichuan Province of China. The fossil site belonged to the Upper Shaximiao Formation dating the late Jurassic.