Interest in the existence of dinosaurs, their life and the cause of extinction is shown not only by children, but also by adults on the entire planet. Thanks to this curiosity, the skeletons of dinosaurs found in different countries are exhibited in the paleontological museums of large cities. The work of paleontologists in the search for new species of extinct animals continues today, as the Earth every time surprises them with its secrets and new finds.
Science paleontology
If in the last century a museum with dinosaur skeletons was a boring repository of dusty exhibits, then in our time of high technology it is also a spectacular institution, telling about the life of prehistoric animals.
Thanks to the science of paleontology, scientists are gradually reconstructing the picture of the origin of species and life on the planet before the appearance of people on it. Modern equipment allows to determine the age of fossils and prints of plants in the layers of the earth with an accuracy of 90-95%. You can find out about living conditions, reproduction and care for the offspring of prehistoric animals from the remains of cubs and fossilized eggs. The first dinosaur skeleton found in an egg belonged to a hypselosaurus and was found in France in 1859.
Thus, a more complete chronology of the change of prehistoric periods and species that inhabited at this time is built. The found remains of both the earliest ancient organisms and huge vertebrates and later mammals can be seen in the paleontological museums of the world, but not all of them contain complete dinosaur skeletons among the exhibits. Most often, individual fragments of bones or skulls of ancient animals are found, therefore whole remains in paleontology are considered to be finds of the century, and even specimens are given names.
The most famous museums are in America, Canada, Russia, China, Turkey and England. In the USA, 4 cities can compete among themselves, who have which skeletons of dinosaurs are more ancient, more dangerous and interesting.
Museum of Chicago
The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago contains 21 million exhibits in its halls, but not only that makes it famous. Tickets to the museum from Friday to Saturday are sold out several months in advance, since here from January to June everyone can stay overnight.
It is enough to bring sleeping bags, choose a model of the skeleton of a dinosaur and spend all night near it. This event is very popular not only among families with children, but also among adults.
The museum was founded in 1893, and got its name thanks to Marshal Field, who donated $ 1 million in 1894 for its development.
The most famous in the world of not only paleontologists, but also dinosaur lovers, the most complete skeleton of a tyrannosaurus named Sue is located in the Chicago Museum.
The exposition of the Museum “Planet Evolution” in chronological order displays historical events in the history of the Earth. Here you can not only see the skeletons of dinosaurs of various periods, but also watch a very realistic film in 3D-format about the life of mammoths or how “Sue” was found.
Natural History Museum in New York
This museum was famous even before the film "Night at the Museum" was shot in it. Founded in 1869, it spans 4 blocks in Manhattan and is considered the largest natural history museum in the world. Symbolically, it is divided into halls, each of which presents not only different periods of the planet’s development, but also people and space.
The famous “Fossils” hall is never empty, as it is filled with dinosaur skeletons collected in full growth, their bones, skulls, eggs and prints of tracks and bodies.
A separate room is dedicated to each period of dinosaur life here. Visitors, moving from one room to another, observe how the flora and fauna of the Earth changes with each new historical period. Among the exhibits are not only fossils found in America, but also brought from Africa and Canada.
Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh
This research museum appeared thanks to the interest of dinosaurs in billionaire and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. It was he who allocated money in 1899 to search for fossils in Wyoming. The most interesting thing is that these excavations brought the skeleton of a dinosaur of a previously unknown kind of diplodocus.
This specimen was cleaned of terrestrial rocks for several years, restored and collected, after which the ready-made representative of the diplodocus was named Carnegie. In total, the museum features 19 complete dinosaur exhibits placed in their "natural" environment. Thus, visitors to the museum see what vegetation was at that time, and how it changed under the influence of external conditions.
Today the museum has 20 rooms dedicated to the history of the development of life on the planet and has the largest collection of restored dinosaur skeletons in the world. A specialized platform has been created for children on which they can excavate, learn how to use archaeological tools and feel like paleontologists.
Fernbank Museum Atlanta
Those who prefer their giant representatives to all kinds of dinosaurs should visit the Fernbank Museum in Atlanta, USA.
It is here that the giants are represented, most of which were found in Patagonia. The smallest specimens of the museum lived in the Upper Cretaceous period and weighed about 3 tons - these are loforotons, better known as duckbill dinosaurs.
If you ask the question, in which museum are the largest dinosaur skeletons, then the answer will be the Fernbank Museum. It is here that the skeleton of the Argentinosaurus is located, whose weight reached 100 tons, and the length is more than 35 meters.
Museum visitors can not only admire the ossified remains of ancient giants, but also pass through time by visiting an exposition dedicated to the state of Georgia from the time of dinosaurs to the present day. This helps to see how the flora, fauna of the state and its landscape gradually changed.
Jurassic Park in Turkey
The most famous and largest park of prehistoric "animals" in Europe is Jurassic Land in Turkey. There are no real skeletons here, but their animatronic copies are so realistic that it becomes scary when you get into their world using a 4D simulator.
An excavation site has been organized for children, where they can find "real" eggs and dinosaur remains and obtain a paleontologist certificate.
Zigong Museum of Natural Sciences
This is the only museum in the world located at the excavation site. Zigong City has 200 places in which the remains of dinosaurs were found. The museum itself covers an area of 25, 000 square meters. meters and is one of the largest in the world.
Many exhibits of the museum are located where they were found, and in total 18 remains of lizards were collected and restored in this historical place, many bones of other prehistoric animals, amphibians, reptiles and birds were found.
The first skeleton of a dinosaur found in Zigong was called the Gasosaurus. It was discovered at the gas pipeline construction site as far back as 1972, but they were only able to stop the construction and turn the vast archaeological site into a museum only in 1987.
Since that time, the museum has gained worldwide fame, and it is visited annually by 7 million people. Thanks to modern technology, visitors can “plunge” into the world of dinosaurs in 3D in a specially equipped cinema.
Royal Museum of Paleontology in Alberta, Canada
This museum has more than 80 thousand exhibits located on more than 4000 square meters. meters, among which 40 restored dinosaurs. He leads among other paleontological organizations in the number of complete skeletons.
In addition to the land representatives of the prehistoric world, the museum in Alberta presents visitors a life-size reef model that existed more than 300 million years ago.
There are also halls with closer and familiar to many people representatives of ancient cats, reptiles, mammoths and many other representatives of the flora and fauna of those times.
Thanks to audiovisual projectors, exhibits “come to life” and visitors can see how they actually looked, how they hunted and cared for posterity.
Moscow Paleontological Museum and its halls
The Paleontological Museum of Moscow dates back to the Kunstkamera, but became a separate organization in 1937, presenting visitors with finds from the time of the Mesozoic, Cenozoic and other eras. From the beginning of World War II and until 1987, it practically did not work, since the room was not suitable for receiving visitors.
Today, the dinosaur skeleton museum in Moscow occupies 5, 000 square meters. meters in a large beautiful building made of red brick and has 6 large halls, each of which is dedicated to a certain prehistoric period.
In the first room, visitors are introduced to the science of paleontology and the history of the museum itself. The most striking exhibit of this department is the famous skeleton of a mammoth, which was found in Siberia in 1842. He lived in these parts about 40, 000 years ago, weighed about 5 tons and was 3 meters in height.
The following five rooms are dedicated to specific prehistoric periods.
Halls of the Precambrian, Early Paleozoic and Moscow
Perhaps this hall is not the most interesting in the museum, since it does not have giant dinosaurs, but it fully gives an idea of how the planet developed and was filled with living beings.
The Precambrian era and the Early Paleozoic are represented by imprints of the most ancient living creatures on Earth - multicellular organisms, many of which have survived to this day.
Huge mollusk shells and prints of ancient plants narrate about the era before the advent of the dinosaurs.
This is the smallest hall of the museum, as it displays a few exhibits of invertebrates and marine arthropods that lived on the territory of Moscow during the Carboniferous period. Their presence suggests that once upon a time there was a sea bottom.
