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BOZEMAN, Mont. - April 11, 2015, Montana State University's,
Museum of the Rockies hosted a public sendoff of the Wankel T. rex
on a journey to represent Montana's Dinosaur Trail to the nation and
the world at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
becoming the “Nation's T. rex.” As promised, exactly one year later,
another T. rex specimen entrusted to the Montana museum goes on
public display ... and in massive form.
On April 11, Montana
State University's, Museum of the Rockies opened a new permanent
exhibit in its Siebel Dinosaur Complex called “The Tyrant Kings.” At
the center of the exhibit is a nearly 12-foot-tall, 40-foot-long
fossilized Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton.
The fossil is known by
many names: formally “Peck's Rex” because it was found in 1997 near
Fort Peck Dam and Reservoir in Montana and scientifically, “MOR 980”
the specimen number assigned to the fossil when the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers entrusted it to the Museum of the Rockies in 1998. With
the opening of the exhibit, the museum will refer to it as
“Montana's T. rex.”
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April 11, 2015 - Montana's T. rex is curated into the Museum of the Rockies National Paleontological Repository, on long-term loan from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The 40-foot-long skeleton is mounted on a steel frame that allows each individual bone to be removed for study. The science presented in this new exhibit was accomplished and published in scientific journals by the students, staff and faculty here at Montana State University, a tremendous benefit of placing these finds in the federal repository. (This photo is a panoramic - composed in camera with a smartphone by Eileen Williamson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.)
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“The exhibit not only fulfills a promise made by [the
Museum of the Rockies] to all of Montana, but also the
mission of [the museum] to inspire life-long learning and
advance knowledge through collections, research and
discovery,” said Shelley McKamey, executive director for the
Museum of the Rockies.
When discoveries including
historical and archeological relics and specimens such as
“Peck's Rex” and the “Wankel T. rex” are found on federal
lands, federal repository agreements allow museums such as
the Museum of the Rockies to allow fossils or historical
artifacts to be placed within collections where they can be
shared with the public and studied, evaluated, protected and
preserved.
Through these agreements, Peck's Rex has
been the subject of considerable research and has been part
of several exhibitions on dinosaurs. Research on Montana's
T. rex and other T. rex specimens in the exhibit was
accomplished and published in scientific journals by the
students, staff and faculty from Montana State University.
“The Montana's T. rex exhibit exemplifies an
approach for presenting research results from seven
different projects dealing with Tyrannosaurus rex,” said
Jack Horner, Regent's professor and curator of paleontology
for the Museum of the Rockies and Montana State University.
While Montana's T. rex is not the largest or the most
complete, it has some very interesting features that have
been part of this research.
It is the only T. rex
specimen found with floating belly ribs, also known as
gastralia. It is also the first specimen of its species to
have the metacarpal III, on the left forelimb preserved –
that's the third finger. This discovery proved the existence
of a third finger on the T. rex.
About the size of
an adult human pinky finger, different researchers have
formed opinions on the metacarpal III ranging from it being
vestigial and useless to a part of powerful forelimbs that
possibly served a function such as tearing flesh. Their
evidence is based on the varying conditions of the third
finger, including that of “Montana's T. rex”, as well as
repeated fractures in the furcula, or “wishbone.” Other
research suggests fractures to the fingers and wishbone may
have resulted from a fall and difficulties getting back up.
The specimen has also been the subject of studies on
parasitic infections in dinosaurs including possible bite
injuries to its jawbone or diseases caused by eating rotten
flesh caused the jawbone to become infected, decay and the
creature to starve to death.
Many casts of Peck's
Rex have been made and are featured at museums including the
Maryland Science Center, the Fort Peck Interpretive Center
and Museum (next to a life-sized model), and the Carnegie
Museum of Natural History.
Since 1906, Congress has
passed numerous laws and regulations that recognize the
importance of preserving and showcasing our nation's
heritage and paleontological resources for the benefit of
the American public. These laws and regulations identify
nonrenewable heritage resources as significant components of
our nation's history and require that they be preserved for
the education and use for future generations. USACE is proud
to participate in the effort to protect and preserve the
nation's paleontological resources by maintaining
state-of-the-art expertise in natural resource and heritage
assets stewardship in support of U.S. government agencies.
“Peck's Rex” or “Montana's T. Rex” as well the “Wankel
T. Rex” or “Nation's T. Rex” only become available for study
and public viewing when such as these that are made on
federal lands within the public trust. The value of
protecting these scientifically important specimens and the
need to place these discoveries in federal repositories are
key to helping preserve and protect items of historical
significance.
“Montana's Rex” has become the first
T. rex specimen in the public trust, because it is owned by
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to be displayed to the
public.
“The Tyrant Kings” exhibit makes the Museum
of the Rockies one of few museums displaying a real
fossilized skeleton, which is about 60 percent complete,
instead of a replica or a cast.
“It is the most
completely mounted T. rex in the Northwestern United
States,” said Horner.
The 40-foot-long “Montana's T.
rex” is mounted on a steel frame, which allows each
individual bone to be removed for study. A cast of the skull
is on the mount and the real skull is in a case beneath the
tail for up-close viewing.
By Eileen Williamson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
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