A set of triceratops horns took five workers two months to prepare for display.
A juvenile triceratops’ horns are 8 inches long; about one-third the size of an adult triceratops’ horns.
The triceratops itself was a food source for the tyrannosaurus.
These and other fun facts, not to mention the sights they provide, will be part of the 24th annual Dinosaur Day on Saturday at Seattle’s Burke Museum.
“We chose the triceratops (theme) for two reasons,” Christian Sidor, the museum’s vertebrate paleontology curator, said. “First, it’s the dinosaur best-represented in the Burke’s collections, with about 300 specimens — the total number of fossils in the vertebrate paleontology collection is about 50,000.
“Second, we collected fossils of triceratops last summer in Wyoming and we knew these could be opened up on Dino Day for the public to see, cleaned off. We have part of the beak, part of the side of the face, plus limb bones.”
Another activity to look forward to will be the ongoing opening of rocks with Stonerose Interpretive Center employees. Each visitor gets to take home whatever is found inside his or her rock. Burke staff members say past discoveries have included fossilized pine needles and leaf imprints.
Burke scientists will be working to clean off triceratops fossils for the dual purposes of explaining the process and for revealing the inner layers. At the same time, they’ll be prepared to answer visitors’ dinosaur- or fossil-related questions.
Young visitors can try on dinosaur tails, feet and claws and walk around feeling like the real creatures.
Illustrator Mark Orsen will lead dinosaur-drawing sessions for visitors inclined to show their artistic sides.
And back to those introductory facts: Burke members note that this Dino Day is not only about the triceratops, but will include fossils of the sea animals that lived during the same period, as well as fossils of plants the triceratops ate and fossils of animals who ate the triceratops.
Dinosaur Day
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Burke Museum, NE 45th Street and 17th Avenue NE, UW campus, Seattle; Dino Day activities are free with museum admission of $9.50, $7.50 seniors, $6 students and youth, free ages 4 and under; 206-543-5590, www.burkemuseum.org.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
