Boneyard #20: Meeting Prehistoric Creatures 'behind the scenes' at The Royal Tyrrell Museum

I was intrigued by Laelaps' Boneyard (#20) competition, and decided to throw my travel-worn hat into the ring. The topic is "Meeting a Prehistoric Creature," and I have just the post.

In fact, I've been wanting to post these photographs since I began Bond's Blog, but it never seemed appropriate. A few years back, I worked at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta (my favorite and the best dinosaur museum) and spent an afternoon "behind the scenes," exploring it's collections department.

Join me for a peek inside the prepared collections of the Tyrrell Museum, as we meet MANY prehistoric creatures!

(Please excuse the Batman t-shirt - just call it more viral advertising for this summer's The Dark Knight! - opens July 18th)

DINOSAURS"Never trust a man holding a skull."
Albertosaurus skull

"My, what big teeth you have, Granny!"
Tyrannosaurus rex (Stan) lower jaw

"So tell me about your problems, Mr. Bonehead..."
Pachycephalosaurus skull

"Makes a great indoor pet...and house-trained!"
Compsognathus skeleton

"Smile Big Guy. You smiling? Smile, damn it!"
Parasaurolophus skull

"Oh my god! He just flew into this slab of solid rock!
Archaeopteryx (the London specimen)

"Can I kiss it?"
The world-famous Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx
(Relax, it's a cast. I saw the original in the Humboldt University
Museum in Berlin a few years back!)

REPTILES"One for the girlfriend, one for the wife."

Two beautifully-preserved Pterodactyls

"How any ways can this kill me?"
Mososaur skull

"Yup, looks straight..."
Chamsosaurus skull

CEPHALOPODS

"Man... I hate counting sutures"
Ammonite

"Ingredients: ammolite, calcium carbonate, riboflavin, vitamin C..."
Ammonite displaying reflective iridescence.

"Bowling for extinction."
Large ammonite with limpit-marks
(which look like mososaur teeth-marks)

ARTHROPODS

"Mmm, smells like trilobite!"
Small trilobite

"You actually can hear the Super Sounds of the Silurian..."
Beautiful large trilobite

TRACE FOSSILS"Cross-species high-five!"

Hadrosaur hind-foot footprint

"You know, you can't make an omelet
without breaking some prehistoric eggs."
A nest of Protoceratops eggs

"Umm." No caption required.
Yeah. Actual dinosaur poop.

This concludes our quick peak inside the prepared collections of the Royal Tyrrell Museum!

As the repository for all fossils in Alberta, the museum's collection contains over 120,000 specimens and adds 2000+ annually. Included in the collection are unique Cambrian Burgess Shale fossils, Cretaceous dinosaur specimens from Dinosaur Provincial Park, and Triassic marine fish from British Columbia.

If anyone knows the species name of any of the fossils in the above photographs, please let me know what they are in the comments section. Thanks!


For more Tyrrell Museum and dinosaur-related Boneyard posts, check out Prehistoric Insanity Production's other entries:

• Traumador the Tyrannosaur's Primal Love
• Craig Dylke's Un-Professional Palaeontologist
• and Prehistoric Insanity Productions' Meeting a Prehistoric Creature

Busan and Back (Part 2 of 2: The Photographs)

BUSAN: The Photographs

After taking the overnight bus down to Busan from Seoul (~$30), Steve and I met up with some of his friends. Our first stop was Beomeosa, the largest Buddhist Temple in Busan - about 1500 years old.

Beautiful lanterns lined the pathway into the temple. This would have looked amazing at night.

The Main Gate and I

The lines and colours in the paint still show through after hundreds of years of exposure.

One of the Main Temple buildings had this huge drum inside and two fantastic dragons outside.

Close-up on Dragon 1: looking very serpent-like.

Close-up on Dragon 2: looking less serpent-like and more European dragon-like.

Tall, tall, tall bamboo

An amazing tree (that I don't know the name of). The picture is the right-way up!

The best shot I could bet of this cool earwig-like insect. It was about 3.5 cm long!

Overlooking a portion of the temple complex

The use of bamboo

As spring arrives, flowers bloom

The Waterfront

...Where development meets nature.

Steve and our two friends.

The domed space-age building where Korea hosted the leaders of countries bordering the Pacific Ocean for the 2005 APEC conference.

A friendly robot who greeted us in the lobby of the APEC conference center.

Ajashi (older Korean gentlemen) playing Baduk (or 'Go' in English)

Chillin' on the Beach

To the beach! Haeundae Beach - why Busan is so popular!

Beautiful

Steve juggling beer and water bottles.

I love this shot because it looks like wings are erupting out of the little girl's head!
Seagull hat!

Eating a Traditional Korean Seafood Dinner

Korean food is always eaten with many side dishes!

Eating Bundagae (Silk Worm Larvae)...

For more of me eating weird seafood, including *gasp* live octopus, watch the short film - the Peter Bond Travels: Food Attacks in Busan!

Dig in!

Busan and Back (Part 1 of 2: The Video)

When you travel, there are many experiences you have that you might not have expected to experience before traveling.

Eating strange and mysterious food is one of them.

Traveling to Busan (the second-largest city in Korea after Seoul) last month, I experienced some of the most unusual and dare-I-say disgusting seafood I have ever tasted. Bundagee (Silk worm larvae), mongae (maybe a sea squirt), some sort of Korean sea worms, and the topper: Live Octopus.

Yes, live. Alive. Octopus. Live. I know.

See it for yourself here, in this new episode of The Peter Bond Travels: Food Attack!




My defense for eating a very smart creature alive and in pieces is that Steve and I didn't order it. My Korean friends did. It is a delicacy here. And as they say, do as the Romans (or Koreans) do.

Even though I liked the taste, I won't be ordering it again. My conscience won't allow it. But if you're so bold, give it a try...

Spring Comes To Seoul Town

Spring is here! Life is returning from the cold, and the colours are sprouting everywhere!

Happy Kids Day, Everyone!