Weasel shows his BONE! (Fossil collection, that is)

[ThunderWeasel]

Since I started the dinosaur thread, I thought it might amuse some of you to show off some of the fossils & fossil replicas I've collected over the years.

This first one is a replica of the hand of Allosaurus fragilis, a Jurassic period carnivorous dinosaur known mainly from the Morrison formation strata of Wyoming & Colorado. A ruler is included for scale, and a sign because I just felt like being weird.

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Next up, we have a series of Tyrannosaurus rex fossils. At the top is a T. rex tooth, bottom right is a foot claw core, and at the bottom left is an endocranial cast. This was formed when mud filled the space in the dinosaur's skull that was occupied by the brain in life. As the mud became stone over the millenia, it preserved the general size & shape of the animal's brain. (All of these are cast replicas of actual fossils.)

 

[ThunderWeasel]

These are replicas of various skeletons of Pterodactylus antiquus from the Solnhofen limestones of Bavaria. Once thought to represent different species, they are now thought to all belong to the same species, with any minor differences attributed to differing ages & sex of the particular animal.

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Here's a replica of the Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx lithographica. Only 10 specimens are known for this animal, 1 of which is a single feather impressed in the limestone. This animal was once the oldest known bird, but several older bird fossils have been found since. Like the Pterodactylus skeletons, this animal is known from the Solnhofen limestones of Bavaria.

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Here's a cast replica along with one of the real fossils in my collection. The full claw is a cast replica of a claw from the giant ground sloth Eremotherium. The broken claw below it is a real Eremotherium claw that I collected in a Florida shell pit over a decade ago. I never found the base of that claw, much as I searched for it.

 

[LaceyRoyce]

holy fucking shit.

I need to respond to this but ... wow.

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Too much BIG HARD BONE for you, Ms. Lolli? :evil2:

Just you wait, there's lots more in my collection. Lots more photos on the way.

 

[LacieLaPlante]

Do you have any that are real bone?

These are so cool, how do you store/display them?

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Do you have any that are real bone?

These are so cool, how do you store/display them?

I have a few real ones. That broken sloth claw tip just below the complete replica claw in the pic above is real. I keep most of them in boxes, I only keep a few out on display.

Adding more photos now, including some real fossils.

 

[ThunderWeasel]

More fossil replicas. The upper bone is a shoulderblade from a juvenile Apatosaurus. The lower bone is the upper arm bone of an Allosaurus.

 

[ThunderWeasel]

In answer to Lacie's question above, here are some real fossils. Carcharocles (aka Carcharodon) megalodon shark teeth. All but the largest were collected by me from phosphate mine tailings. The largest was collected in a South Carolina river, and won by me in a raffle. The large tooth came from a shark around the 50-60 foot long range.

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Replica fossil, the lower jaw of a Gorgosaurus libratus. (Sometimes referred to as Albertosaurus libratus.) Gorgosaurus was an earlier form of tyrannosaur, smaller than the T. rex. It's mainly known from fossils found in the Alberta province of Canada.

 

[Rose]

Way awesome!

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Thank you! Just wait til I work my down down the collection & start posting pics of the skulls. :shock:

 

[southsamurai]

dammit! i was gunna brag about my huge charcarodon tooth and then he whipped out his! do i always have to have the smallest one in the room? sheesh!

 

[ThunderWeasel]

dammit! i was gunna brag about my huge charcarodon tooth and then he whipped out his! do i always have to have the smallest one in the room? sheesh!

I know the feeling! When I found that sloth claw tip, other people were finding bigger parts of the same animal. I saw people finding finger bones, a shoulder blade, a vertebra or 2... the skull had already been found and removed.

 

[ThunderWeasel]

The first of 2 entries for tonight, this is a replica of the maxilla (upper jaw bone) of Ceratosaurus, a carnivorous theropod dinosaur of the late Jurassic, known from both the Morrison formation in the USA, as well as fossil finds in Portugal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratosaurus

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Next we have, on the left, a replica of the egg of Oviraptor, a small carnivore from the late Cretaceous in Mongolia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oviraptor

On the right is a model of what a living Oviraptor embryo might have looked like.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you! Just wait til I work my down down the collection & start posting pics of the skulls. :shock:

show skulls bb

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Thank you! Just wait til I work my down down the collection & start posting pics of the skulls. :shock:

show skulls bb

Teep 1st bb.

We're almost up to the skulls. Might get 1 or 2 up later today with some other stuff.

 

[Kickaz]

wow im quite impressed cool dude!

 

[ThunderWeasel]

wow im quite impressed cool dude!

Thanks, Kick! You haven't seen anything yet. :-D The best parts of the collection are yet to be posted.

 

[Aella]

Here's a cast replica along with one of the real fossils in my collection. The full claw is a cast replica of a claw from the giant ground sloth Eremotherium. The broken claw below it is a real Eremotherium claw that I collected in a Florida shell pit over a decade ago. I never found the base of that claw, much as I searched for it.

Omfg.
I just creamed. I want that.

 

[xSALTx]

Very impressive collection. I like the embryo replica, that was especially neat!

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Here's a cast replica along with one of the real fossils in my collection. The full claw is a cast replica of a claw from the giant ground sloth Eremotherium. The broken claw below it is a real Eremotherium claw that I collected in a Florida shell pit over a decade ago. I never found the base of that claw, much as I searched for it.

Omfg.
I just creamed. I want that.

PM on the way with a link to an even better claw replica.

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Very impressive collection. I like the embryo replica, that was especially neat!

Thanks, more photos coming tonight! You haven't seen it all yet! :mrgreen:

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Here we go again! This time, it's all about the dromaeosaurs, more commonly known as "raptors" in popular culture. Here we have the killing claws from 3 different species. (All replicas)

From left to right: Velociraptor mongoliensis, Deinonychus antirrhopus, foot claw of Utahraptor ostrommaysorum, hand claw of Utahraptor.

Velociraptor was about wolf-size, Deinonychus was the size of the raptors in Jurassic Park.. so you get an idea about how damned BIG Utahraptor was. Not to mention that it had killer claws on both hands AND feet!

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Now we head down Argentina way for Giganotosaurus carolinii. This late Cretaceous carnivore was longer than T. rex, but was estimated to have a weaker bite force. This is thought to be due to differing attack styles. A T. rex would deliver crushing bites, whereas a Giganotosaurus bite was more designed to inflict shearing wounds.

No way in HELL could I afford (or have room to store) a full-size Giganotosaurus skull replica, so I have this scale model instead. The tooth is a full-size replica of a Giganotosaurus tooth, so that should give you an idea of the scale of this beast.

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Now we come to one of the earliest, if not THE earliest, known dinosaurs. This is a life-size replica of the skull of Eoraptor lunensis, a small omnivorous dinosaur that lived in Argentina approximately 231 million years ago. It is thought to be close to the ancestry of both the later carnivorous theropod dinosaurs as well as the herbivorous sauropodomorph dinosaurs.

(Sorry about the bit of cobweb on the back of the skull, had this guy in storage and missed that bit of debris.)

 

[ThunderWeasel]

Now we come to a small dinosaur from the late Triassic/early Jurassic periods. This is the skull of Coelophysis bauri, many complete skeletons of which have been found at the Ghost Ranch site in New Mexico. Fossilized stomach contents show that this animal would cannibalize young of its own species, much as many modern reptiles do.