Great Little Dino Museum

The Mesalands Community college in Tucumcari, NM has a great dinosaur museum. Rather than use fossil replicates cast in fragile plastic, they partnered with the Fine Arts department's foundry to cast dino fossils in bronze. You are encouraged to touch and examine these unique sculptures of actual fossils.

The green hand print says yes you can wrap your hand around my big teeth.

Tyrannysaurus Rex skull.
Its large teeth were serrated like steak knives

Sea Lilies, Crinoids, look like plants but are
 actually animals that inhabited the
ancient sea floor 339 million years ago

210 million old Coelophysis is New Mexico's state fossil.

The paintings help you visualize the habitat hundreds of years ago. The gigantic horsetails, ferns and cycads surrounding this pond inhabited by crocodile-like phytosaur, Leptosuchus, that is chasing  away a pack of light-footed early dinosaurs, Coelophysis, which were scavenging the carcass of the heavily armored aetosaur, Desmatosuchus. 

Several Postosuchus of the later Triassic are closing in
 on a rauisuchian, not a true dinosaur. 

This heavily armored herbivore is a Desmatosuchus. 

It roamed the area 230 million years ago.

Hesperosuchus agilis above in an ancestral crocodile that lived on land. 

Approaching the pond is the herbivore aetosaur.

Celebrating my inner child.

5/13/14

Current location  35.158761, -103.722091