Discover more about the creatures that roamed the earth millions of years ago.
By Lowell and Kaye Christie, F47246
October 2008
Kids aren’t the only ones fascinated by dinosaurs. Plenty of adults are amazed by these animals that once flourished. Since remnants of these prehistoric creatures have been uncovered in most, if not all, of the United States, it’s easy to find a place where dinosaurs roamed. You won’t be able to spot a live dinosaur these days, but you certainly can see what they likely looked like by visiting these and other museums across the country.
1. The Dinosaur Museum, Blanding, Utah
This is a great place to explore the history of dinosaurs. You’ll see skeletons, fossilized skin, eggs, footprints, state-of-the-art graphics, and spectacular sculptures of dinosaurs from the Four Corners region and around the world. You also will learn about the latest in dinosaur skin research, and see sculptures of baby Protoceratops and Maiasaura dinosaurs. This museum provides a quick education about the distant past.
2. The Wyoming Dinosaur Center And Dig Sites, Thermopolis, Wyoming
This is not only a world-class museum with life-size dinosaur mounts but also a working dig location. You can take a tour bus to visit a fossil discovery site, and kids ages 8 to 12 can dig dinosaurs and work in the fossil prep lab on special summer “Kids Dig” dates. The center has the only Archaeopteryx specimen on display in North America. This is the dinosaur that looks most like a modern-day bird.
3. Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center, Woodland Park, Colorado
Here lie fossils from the late Cretaceous period, including dinosaurs, prehistoric marine reptiles, pterosaurs, and fish. But it’s not just fossil bones. After you view the large collection of fossilized animals, check out the fossil laboratory and watch the restoration of the skeletons. The exhibits change periodically.
4. Dinosaur State Park, Rocky Hill, Connecticut
Dinosaur State Park opened in 1968, two years after 2,000 dinosaur tracks were uncovered there. Five hundred of these tracks are now enclosed within the Exhibit Center’s geodesic dome, making this one of the largest dinosaur-track sites in North America. Here you’ll find a display of early Jurassic fossil tracks made 200 million years ago, as well as the Dinosaur State Park Arboretum, which contains living representatives of plant families that appeared in the age of dinosaurs.
5. Sternberg Museum Of Natural History, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas
Step back in time and visit this museum’s walk-through diorama featuring life-size animated models of dinosaurs. When possible, the Demonstration Laboratory is staffed by student and volunteer workers so visitors can view fossil preparation and other tasks that are part of the museum’s research programs. It’s a great place to learn.
6. American Museum Of Natural History, New York, New York
More than 130 years of exploration have led to one of the largest collections of dinosaur fossils in the world. In addition to computer timeline simulations, you can follow marked paths through two dinosaur halls and trace the evolutionary development of two distinct groups of dinosaurs, the Saurischians and Ornithischians.
7. Hadrosaurus Foulkii National Historic Site, Haddonfield, New Jersey
For those more interested in the history of dinosaur study than the critters themselves, it all began in Haddonfield, New Jersey. Until the discovery of the skeleton of Hadrosaurus foulkii a century and a half ago, knowledge of dinosaurs was just a mixture of small collections of bones and a lot of imagination. But at Haddonfield diggers under the direction of fossil hobbyist William Parker Foulke actually found the first nearly complete set of dinosaur bones in 1858. Today, located where a tidy suburban street dead-ends against deep woods, the historic site is marked with a modest commemorative stone and a tiny landscaped park. Just beyond the stone the ground drops away and you can hike into the steep ravine where the bones were originally excavated.
8. Mesalands Community College’s Dinosaur Museum, Tucumcari, New Mexico
Open to the public since 2000, this museum is visited by more than 14,000 people each year. The Dinosaur Museum at Mesalands Community College displays skeletons and bronze representations of dinosaurs, fossils, and prehistoric creatures. The facility has approximately 10,000 square feet of exhibit area and a spacious, well-equipped paleontology/geology laboratory where visitors can learn more about dinosaurs.
9. Buffalo Museum Of Science, Buffalo, New York
Organized into four sections, this museum guides you through “” and beyond “” the era of dinosaurs. From the early seas, conquest of the land, the age of dinosaurs, and on to the age of mammals, each reflects a major episode of natural history. While nearly all of the specimens are real fossils, a few are casts or precise replicas. You can study 50-million-year-old birds, feathers, and flowers. View an exceptionally fine specimen of Mesosaurus, a reptile that provided early evidence of continental drift. Stand face-to-face with Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, Allosaurus fragilis, and other popular creatures from the past.
10. Museum Of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, Arizona
A once-in-a-lifetime find in 2000 by paleontologists from the Museum of Northern Arizona led to the discovery of the most complete Therizinosaur skeleton ever unearthed. In a special display available through March of 2009, you can see the bones of this sickle-claw dinosaur in a reconstructed quarry showing how it looked while being excavated in southern Utah. Then you can view a freestanding skeleton, made from casts of the 93-million-year-old bones of this 13-foot-tall, 2,000-pound, feathered dinosaur.
11. Museum Of The Rockies, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana
Featuring the largest Tyrannosaurus rex skull in the world, the world’s most complete Triceratops growth series, and some of the only dinosaur embryos and nests in existence, the Siebel Dinosaur Complex at Montana State University is home to one of the largest collections of dinosaur fossils in the world. This complex includes many species of dinosaurs that can be seen only at the Museum of the Rockies.
12. Dinosaur National Monument, Colorado And Utah
This was one of our favorite dinosaur sites, but, unfortunately, the main visitors center was closed in 2006 due to structural problems caused by shifting soil. It may be several years before the center reopens. However, there is a temporary visitors center where you can view fossils and exhibits. You also can take the 1.5-mile Fossil Discovery Hike and see a variety of fossils still embedded in rock.
13. The Dinosaur Hall, National Museum Of Natural History, Washington, D.C.
And last, but never least, check out the largest natural history museum in the world at the Smithsonian Institution. Not surprisingly, the Dinosaur Hall is its most popular exhibit. From a 40-foot-tall Tyrannosaurus rex to the 90-foot-long Diplodocus longus, you can see some of the largest creatures to ever walk the earth.