Natural History Museum of Utah: wall of ceratopsians

July 8, 2015

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Now that, faithful readers, is a monument to evolution and its endless forms most beautiful. I’m talking about the wall of ceratopsian skulls at NHMU, of course, not the back of Brian Engh’s head (bottom center).

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If you don’t know them all on sight (yet!), here’s a cheat sheet. I goofed on a couple myself: before I looked at the sheet I figured Coahuilaceratops as Pentaceratops and mistook Kosmoceratops for Vagaceratops. Still, 12 out of 14 isn’t bad for a minor-league ceratopsian scholar such as yours truly.

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Here’s the chasmosaurine-centric view from lower right.

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And the centrosaurine-centric view from distant left.

The world needs more things like this. Good on ya, NHMU.

For other NHMU posts, see:

Natural History Museum of Utah: Barosaurus

Posted by Matt Wedel
Filed in Ceratopsians, gratuitous badassery, museums, Natural History Museum of Utah, People we like, public galleries, stinkin' heads, stinkin' mammals, stinkin' ornithischians
7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Natural History Museum of Utah: wall of ceratopsians”

  1. Mike Taylor Says:

    July 8, 2015 at 2:01 pm

    Spitfire : Hurricane
    ::
    X-Wing : Y-Wing
    ::
    Brachiosaur : Camarasaur
    ::
    Chasmosaurine : Centrosaurine.

    Sorry, centrosaurines, but you know it’s true. You’re kinda cool, but not really right. You’re mis-proportioned. You lack elegance.

  2. Jordan Mallon Says:

    July 8, 2015 at 2:05 pm

    The cheat sheet is wrong, too. Anchiceratops CMN 8535 is acutally TMP 83.1.1. ;)

  3. Stephen Says:

    July 8, 2015 at 3:10 pm

    Beautiful

  4. Zach Miller Says:

    July 8, 2015 at 9:35 pm

    Now this is what I’m talkin’ about. Stinkin’ sauropods–ceratopsians are where it’s at! :-)

    I’m kind of horrified that Coahuilaceratops was included because it is so damn scrappy and possibly non-diagnostic. They could have gone with Pentaceratops, “Titanoceratops,” or Arrhinoceratops instead–all are known from MUCH better skulls.

    Kosmoceratops remains the coolest chasmosaurine (although Regaliceratops is that subfamily’s black sheep).

  5. Chase Says:

    July 9, 2015 at 1:36 am

    You can’t beat awesome background illustrations of plants, dynamically posed dinosaur skeletons, and the wealth of recent knowledge showcased in this exhibition. Bravo, Natural History Museum of Utah, Bravo.

    Mike, I have to disagree with you about the comparative coolness of centrosaurines and chasmosaurines. Something about block-nosed, polar ceratopsians is just fantastic.

  6. Saiton Says:

    July 9, 2015 at 12:08 pm

    most beautiful and cool one ever seen.


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