Stegosaurus was as big as a bull elephant and the largest known plated dinosaur.
(Photo by Josh Franzos)
dinosaur
Dinosaurs in Their Time
Dinosaurs in Their Time and the rest of Carnegie Museum of Natural History will be open July 4th!
(Photo by Josh Franzos)
Lariosaurus
This Lariosaurus was a Middle Triassic nothosaur that could grow up to 10 feet long!
Race for the Cure
Dippy, our 22-foot tall dinosaur sculpture, is sporting pink this week for Sunday’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Pittsburgh!
Dippy Makes an Impression
By Laurie Giarratani
Recently I had dinner with friends, one of whom recently visited Carnegie Museum of Natural History on a school field trip. After dinner Mira Conti, age 5, showed me a project that she completed as homework after her visit. The task: to create a three dimensional dinosaur based on what she learned at the museum.
Mira chose Dippy as her model, shown above. Three things delight me about this creation:
1) It features a plant! In Mira’s mini diorama, Dippy gracefully grazes on a leafy tree top, showing that dinosaurs were part of a complex ecosystem and evolved alongside diverse plant life.
2) Dippy’s tail extends in a powerful arc, held high off the ground. Form and function are key evolutionary concepts that we strive to make accessible to every age level through the museum’s education programs. It’s nice to see how one such detail sticks in a young mind.
3) We welcome over 25,000 school children annually on field trips, and every day we are astounded by their joy, curiosity, and the unpredictable ways that they connect their existing knowledge to new discoveries at the museum. Very rarely do we get a window into what aspects of their museum experience resonate with them later at home, at school, and in their communities.
I’d like to thank Mira for showing me her project, and thank her teachers at Sacred Heart Elementary School for taking the time and effort to plan their field trip along with such a creative homework assignment. I hope to see you all again at the museum soon!
Laurie Giarratani works in the Education department at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.
Live from Antarctica!
Undeterred by rain, about 65 people attended Live from Antarctica! to ask a paleontologist on the southernmost continent questions about his search for fossils.
Using Skype and a large, high-definition digital screen, Dr. Matt Lamanna, Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s principal dinosaur researcher, answered questions from museum director, Dr. Eric Dorfman, and members of the audience on March 10 during the free community event at Forbes Digital Square in Oakland.
Along with a team of experts, Dr. LaManna is searching for fossils on the Antarctica Peninsula. He Skyped in from aboard the research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer to talk about his work to answer questions about Antarctic weather, live animals he’s seen, fossils his team has found, and what he will bring back to our museum here in Pittsburgh.
Its summer in Antarctica, but Dr. Lamanna said weather has still been challenging with occasional snow, rain and fog. Interestingly, some of the fossils his expeditions have found have been of leaves, which he said indicate that the coldest continent was once covered in forests, much like Western Pennsylvania.
“It’s a great example of how environments can change over time,” Dr. Lamanna said. Because days and nights that far south are extended and shortened the changing seasons, he said there’s no contemporary equivalent of the ancient environment that existed there as the age of the dinosaurs ended.
“We’re unearthing an ancient ecosystem and bringing that ecosystem back to Pittsburgh,” he said.
Other fossils found include clams, fish, and even dinosaur bones. Dr. Lamanna said they’ll carefully pack and ship an estimated three to four tons of fossils back to Pittsburgh.
Visitors will be able to view many of the new specimens in the museum’s PaleoLab this summer.
Many thanks to Oakland Business Improvement District for helping put on the event, the Taylor Allderdice High School jazz band for a great performance, and Dunkin’ Donuts for passing out dino donuts.
Dr. Lamanna’s expedition ends next week, but you can see photos of his work, wildlife he’s seen and the stunning landscape of Antarctica by following the Carnegie Museum of Natural History on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook .
