Cast Your Vote for the #1 Dinosaur Museum
A few of the dinosaurs at the National Museum of Natural History.
Earlier this summer I asked readers to decide which city deserved the title of “Dinosaur Capital of the World.” Glen Rose, Texas took an early lead, but Drumheller, in Alberta, Canada, is now sitting comfortably in the top spot. A more contentious question, though, is “What is top museum to visit if you want to see dinosaurs?”
There are a number of institutions that could claim the title. I will list a few here, but please add your own picks in the comments if you think I have missed any!
The American Museum of Natural History
The AMNH will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first major museum I ever visited, and it was the first place I saw real dinosaur bones. Back then, in the late 1980s, the halls were dim and the dinosaurs were still dragging their tails, but seeing those skeletons made me want to be a paleontologist. Most of the mounts have since been updated, though, and the museum has long been home to a vibrant community of dinosaur paleontologists. It is definitely a required stop for any dinosaur fan in New York City.
The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
I had never been to the National Museum of Natural History before this past spring, but I was very impressed by the dinosaur displays and the scientists working there. The exhibit layouts were great and all the classic dinosaurs stars, like Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops, were there. Word has it that the dinosaur exhibit is going to get a facelift soon, too, so I will definitely have to go back there when it is finished.
The Natural History Museum in London
I can’t speak from personal experience about this one, but from what I have seen the British Natural History Museum mixes classic architecture with plenty of dinosaurs. It looks like a beautiful place to meander among the skeletons, and they have a really neat animatronic Tyrannosaurus to boot!
The Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, Canada
This museum helped Drumheller lay claim to the title of the “Dinosaur Capital of the World.” Situated near many fossil-bearing deposits, the museum boasts an impressive array of dinosaur skeletons that seem even more imposing against the dark backgrounds of the exhibits. I have only seen the displays in photographs and television documentaries, but it is definitely a museum I would like to visit.
Chicago’s Field Museum is one of the top museums in the United States, and as with the other institutions on this list dinosaurs are among the museum’s main attractions. Even better, they have placed dinosaurs into an evolutionary context with their other fossil exhibits. They can also boast the skeleton of “Sue,” the most complete Tyrannosaurus ever found.
The Paleozoological Museum of China
Created by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) in China, this museum holds an impressive collection of specimens, including many not seen any display elsewhere. Every major museum has a Tyrannosaurus or two, but the IVPP’s museum contains many exhibits showcasing the prehistory of China.
All of these museums carry out important research and have absolutely stunning exhibits, but if you had to pick just one to visit, which would you choose? Cast your vote in our poll below, and don’t forget to tell us why you picked your favorite!
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I can’t vouch for any of them apart from the NHM London, and even though I work there, and it’s my favourite building in the world, I don’t think much of its dinosaur exhibit. The animatronic T. rex is cool (not to mention the two Deinonychus ones too), but the skeletons are mostly casts and the exhibit must win the prize for the most poorly lit museum exhibition ever. From what I’ve seen here and on Laelaps though, I would vote for the AMNH.
Comment by Mo Hassan — August 20, 2009 @ 12:02 pm
It is such a difficult choice to choose just one – perhaps we could rank them. I have never been to China or Chicago, so I can’t comment on those museums, but of the remaining three, I would choose #1 – the Tyrrell, #2 – the AMNH (a very close second), and #3 – NHM London. I agree with Mo that it is an incredible museum and building, but not the best place to see dinosaurs. My vote goes to the Tyrrell for it’s singular focus on palaeontology, it’s amazing amount of fossils, and it’s stunning location.
Comment by Peter Bond — August 20, 2009 @ 2:03 pm
I have only visited two of those (Tyrrell and Smithsonian), so i can’t wiegh in on the others because you can’t judge them on pictures alone. I found Smithsonian’s fossil halls (not just dinosaurs) drab and cramped. So i am excited to hear that such a renovation could be in the wing. I mean, the quality and quantity of fossils is impressive, they just need to improve the environment. Which is one of the reasons i voted for Tyrrell, in addition to the reasons stated by Peter.
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is currently renovating their fossil halls (as usual, mammals take a back seat). Dinosaurs will get 2 large galleries exploring how they lived, what they were like when alive, their extinction, and why they are so popular (a section on our changing view of dinosaurs featuring movie posters, props, and other items). Highlights will include the only t. rex growth series (baby, juvenile, teenager, and adult) and the rare California dinosaurs. They are taking the 21st century approach as far as design goes. So we will see if it can join the ranks of the museums listed above when it opens in 2011.
Comment by Doug — August 20, 2009 @ 8:21 pm
Brian, how *can* you leave out Fukui? It’s a dedicated dinosaur museum with about 50 complete skeleton mounts!
Start here: http://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/the-fukui-prefectural-dinosaur-museum/
Comment by Dave Hone — August 21, 2009 @ 12:53 am
“Word has it that the dinosaur exhibit is going to get a facelift soon”
I hope not. I think I may be the only person in the world who fells this way, but to me the skeletal mounts are works of art in themselves and should not be changed. Although it’s small, the Exhibit Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor, Michigan is one of my favorate museums. Their Allosaurus, which was put up in the 1920’s, is dragging its tail of course, but rather than dismantling it and putting it back up in a more modern pose, they simply placed a skeletal model beneath it to inform visitors how the beast really looked. Why can’t all museums do that?
Comment by Michael — August 21, 2009 @ 2:23 pm
I’m a native Albertan so I’ll go with the RTM…
On another front, one of the three itsy bitsy creationist museums in Alberta has on its homepage an endorsement by a visitor who said they (s)he spent more time at “Big Valley Creation Science Museum” than the Smithsonian. Take that, Smithsonionists!
Jim
PS, my blog has a few posts with my RTM photos and some from BVCSM, if you wish to compare…
Comment by Jim Linville — August 21, 2009 @ 7:52 pm
I note that the Nat’l AMNH in D.C. is ahead – but let’s look at the size of its voting public, v/s tiny Drumheller’s Royal Tyrell Museum. Also consider that in the early years very many of the dinos found in the Badlands near Drumheller were, due to lack of provincial regulation at that time, shipped to the AMNH. Also you should know that the term “Royal” applied to anything in the British Commonwealth is in fact a prestegous term granted only by Royal decree of H.M. Elizabeth II, and this is done only for extreme excellence; since she represents a very huge populous, I think both her vote, and those of the much more limited population of Drumheller and the Province of Alberta should be pro-rated. Please, do come and visit an incredible paeleontological museum!!!
Comment by Peter Proudlock — August 21, 2009 @ 11:03 pm
Michael @ #5:
Why don’t museums leave their skeletal mounts alone? Well, the way i look at it, the reasons are many. Likely the biggest reason is scientific accuracy. Museums try to be on the edge (funding permitting) of scientific information. They try to infer the best of our current knowledge. How do you do that when your mounts are in outdated, scientifically inaccurate poses? The Ann Arbor’s idea may not be all that practical. People don’t always stop to read the plaques. They are usually enthralled by the big, attractive skeletons. They might not notice the little accurate model.
Another reason is exhibit dynamics. I found a book at my school library of the Smithsonian from the early to mid 80’s, and the fossil halls look exactly the same. While the Smithsonian likely gets enough visitors to get away with not refurbishing their dinosaur hall, it would be left in the dust by other museums. Museums need to keep things fresh to keep people coming. Reposing your skeletal mount in a new, more exciting pose is one way to do that. A face lift isn’t just reposing the mounts. It’s also about creating a new, dynamic environment, bringing new specimens into the public eye, installing new, innovative media displays.
The last reason is to portray these bones as the living, breathing animals they were. They need to be in accurate, often dynamic poses to make them “come alive”. Most old timey mounts conveyed the idea that dinosaurs were slow, sluggish, tail-dragging behemoths, when most fossil evidence speaks to the contrary. The State Museum of Pennsylvania is renovating, and part of that is the reinvention of the Marshalls Creek mastodon. Since 1970, it has been a panel mount. But in 2008, it was taken down to remount it into a more life like pose. From Phil Fraley Production’s website: “As one thinks of this animal as massive and burly, the mount design will visually imply the lumbering motion and the immense weight of the creature as it existed 10 to 12,000 years ago.” As noted above, museum are about accurate science, and since we now think of dinosaurs as active animals, old mounts are not doing that mission any justice. Remember, they have to reach a wide audience, and frankly, not everyone shares your appreciation for historical mounts.
At least, that’s to my understanding. Anyone feel free to add to or correct any of that.
Comment by Doug — August 22, 2009 @ 12:21 am
For anyone that has not visited the Drumheller Valley in Alberta Canada and walked through the hills in the valley, you are in for a treat. Walking any where in the valley, you will more than likely be stepping on Dinoaur remains where ever you walk. The Royal Tyrrell Museum is a master piece of displays, many of which came from Drumheller, Dinosaur Provincial Park and other parts of Alberta. The museum is ever changing, this is why it keeps drawing the visitors back again and again. It is a training centre for rthose who wish to make the study of Dinosaurs a life ambition.
Comment by Robert L. Llewellyn — August 22, 2009 @ 10:11 am
Doug, @ #8:
Everything you said is quite true. But what I will add is that if you are going to dismantle a team’s hours worth of hard, sweaty work, a peice that may have actually inspired famous names to become paleontologists (the AMNH Tyrannosaurus rex and Stephen Jay Gould comes to mind), at least do it right. Most of the time, the “new and improved” mounts have hideous inaccuracies themselves – the new AMNH T. rex mount with its widely separated coracoids, hyperextended left knee, misaligned forelimbs, and non-artometatarsalian feet for example. If you are going to do it, it really wouldn’t kill you to do it right.
Comment by Michael — August 23, 2009 @ 2:25 am
My vote is for the Royal Tyrrel Museum.
Why? As they say in real estate .. location location location!! Alberta badlands at their finest!
There is nothing like spending a couple of days a summer in ‘The Drum’ with the little ones.
I take the family out one day to see the museum and then the next hunting in horseshoe canyon or the lesser known horsethief canyon for the next ‘big find’
There are other natural fossil sites in the area like the large outcroppings of fossilized clams and petrified wood.
If you ever dig up a photo of the canyon the dark bands are coal seams and figuring out what era you are walking into is pretty easy.
Comment by Brent Dawson — August 24, 2009 @ 3:43 pm
Royal Tyrrel Museum was amazing. Not just the massive and extensive displays inside, but the location.
The location is second to none. Literally right outside you can walk down the banks of the Red Deer river and find remains and bones.
Definitely the most memorable and exciting museum trip I have ever made.
Comment by Tomas Richardson — August 24, 2009 @ 4:57 pm
The Field…Go Cubs…Used to go with my numerous siblings in a packed station wagon on weekends, or any time I could just get dropped off and left for the day. I left chicago as a young teem and only recently went back. Good job on the updated exhibits (love the window walls for the lab)and journey through time walk, but a bit too contempo for me; I still prefer the old style. Awesome dinosuar stuff includinging the old Charles Knight paintings, the primitive man dioramas (so incorrect and yet so vibrant. I miss ‘em.)
In same museum is a fantastic collection of North American artifacts, including Alaska (part of the 1899 Harriman exp?)
I’d add, the Page Museum in LA..not dinosaurs but the skeletons from the LaBrea Tar Pits. Also, at entrance to LACounty Musuem at USC..the most incredible lifesized bronze sculpture of a tyranasaurus in a highly energetic movement battling a triceratops, using colored patinas for a irridescent look that is really a wonder to behold.
The Mammoth Site in Warm Springs, South Dakaota…marvelous. The Black Hills themselves ain’t bad either.
Comment by doug l — August 24, 2009 @ 7:55 pm
Visited both AMNH and Tyrrell. Tyrrell is far superior in terms of pure dino content. Simply way more stuff to see.
Comment by Jose — August 25, 2009 @ 12:30 am
What puts the Royal Tyrell Museum ahead in my books is the fact that it’s right in the middle of one of the richest dinosaur deposits often you may be lucky to see scientists working on cleaning up a bone brought in from a nearby dig. Every time I go there is something new on display.
It’s not just the museum that is the attraction but the land itself where the bones are dug from that is beautiful.
Plan a trip here you won’t be disappointed
Comment by Kim Martin — August 25, 2009 @ 5:11 pm
AMNH ROOOLZ
Comment by D Bagg — August 28, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
http://the-arc-ddeden.blogspot.com/2009/08/humboldt-natural-history-museum-closure.html
Pterosaur, redwoods, oysters & humpback whales
What more could you ask?
Comment by DDeden — August 30, 2009 @ 1:19 am
Michael @ #10:
A good point, but perhaps rather moot and trivial. “hideous” may be taking it a bit far. While inaccuracies, do you really think the average museum goer is going to see them? Hell, i don’t even see them, but then again dinosaur are not my area of expertise, simply an interest. But if you have such an issue with it, take it up with the company that mounted it. Usually museums hire out to specialist companies to mount their skeletons. Well, then maybe you could fault the museum for not being strict enough in their instruction. Or take it up with the museum if they mounted it themselves. Point is, there are there, you’ll just have to deal with them, because lord knows what it would take to fix them, and if it would be worth it.
Comment by Doug — August 31, 2009 @ 7:36 pm
how about the Museum of the Rockies?
Comment by eric — September 3, 2009 @ 11:52 am
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