Top Fossil Exhibits I've Been To

Hello, and welcome back to Mesozoic Mind. To cap off Juneseums month, here are the exhibits for extinct life I've visited in life, worst if not least good to absolute best.

Do be aware that 1) I'm focusing on permanent exhibits, and 2) I haven't visited most of these in years if not months, so I don't have the most accurate memories at the time of writing, and I made have forgotten a few exhibits and a lot of the details over the years.

#5 - Ripley's Believe it or Not, Niagara Falls

This may seem like a weird place to list, but this franchise of the famous "museum" at the Tourist Trap that is Clifton Hill, Niagara Falls, does have a dinosaur skeleton and a few other fossils on display, specifically Monolophosaurus, an ichthyosaur, and a proboschidean skull, and not a whole lot else (though I do remember a tuft of mammoth fur somewhere here). A further gallery also has an Allosaurus skull, which in total is a quota y. I am certain they're all casts and not real specimens, and by any rate, they're just there for wow factor, since Ripley's Believe it or Nots are more about showmanship then actual education. The pronated hands are a sign of either not being updated in years or a lack of rigor here. Really, what can one expect when Ripley's is right next to fellow Niagara Falls tourist trap Dinosaur Adventure Golf?

So bad, I could only be bothered to screengrab off Google Maps

By any rate, I visited it four or five years ago in the late 2010's, and I didn't like Ripley's overall. Won't say much since it , but I do hate how it otherises other cultures and people with physical disabilities. But's that's for another time and place. Ripley's is forgettable. Moving on.

And no I didn't take photos. Just accept this video around the 3:32 mark and see if you can spot anything I missed.

#4 - Age of Dinosaurs and Mammals at Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto

Ah, that's more like it...

This is my stomping grounds for dinosaur exhibits. The Royal Ontario's galleries have quite a decent variety of genera, and provides some. The signage even details which of the fossil mounts are casts and which are real fossil specimens, a nice choice of candidacy when even today many people still assume all fossil mounts in a museum are real. Aside from the Field Museum, I'm not sure what other institutions do that. And of course, you can't go wrong with Gordo the Barosaurus, who's one of my favourite fossil mounts.

However, I admit its not perfect and is a lot worse then I remember: the blank white walls are drab to see while the angled halls and walls of it leave little room for expansion and creates a cramped feel. meanwhile, in several parts the information and poses are outdated after 15 years with little updates save addition specimens added. It resultantly feels more like an old-school fossil pageantry parade that has little to say about its subjects or has any real message. Also, most of the signage and text on it is pretty small and easy to miss, and consists of large, crammed blocks of text. Casual visitors aren't going to follow it easily, those hard of seeing will hate it, and even palaeo-nerds will scrutinise them regardless.

The mammal section is a bit better then the dinosaur section, as there are mural backdrops to many displays showing places that, and many of the skeletons are bending down or are otherwise in positions that are not just neutral stances, as well as having some choice genera mounted, like the aquatic desmostylian; even the layout is an improvement, as its arranged in a way that emphases environmental change in a Walk Through Time manner.

I just hope a renovation comes this decade that really takes it to good.

#3 - Fossil Gallery at the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa

The Canadian Museum of Nature's Fossil Gallery is...good to say the least. The gallery, while is focused almost solely on taxa from both Mesozoic and Cenozoic western Canada, so the scope is while limited, does keep things focused, aided by the myriad of holotypes on display to enjoy. Aesthetically the dinosaur gallery feels like the classic early-mid 20th century dinosaur galleries, whether its the brown and yellow colour schemes of the gallery and walls or the many wall-relief mounts, which gives it a charm the ROM lacks. Meanwhile, a walkthrough diorama for both Daspletosaurus and Chasmosaurus offers a great deal of memorability thanks to its detailed models, though that's probably my pro-habitat immersion exhibits love, and finally the interpretives are larger, easier to see, and do try to tell things beyond the basics.

Overall, its good, though compared to others out there and those I've seen it's fairly generic.

#2 Dawn of Life at Royal Ontario Museum

Oh this is definitely where things really get good. Taking advantage of the more brightly-lit gallery with windows and a more open and colourful gallery, the Wilner Madge Dawn of Life gallery is just about everything a palaeo-lover could want, and improves on the Dinosaur/Mammal galleries it's attached to. Just to name a few of what makes it so good, the signage and interpretives is concise and informative and gets complex information through, whether its interactive videos, casts you an touch, or a whole room for a CG recreation of Burgess Shale (which is quite relaxing at that too). A wide variety of fossil specimens from both Canada and around the world is featured, from stromatolites, to eurypterids and orthocones, to fossil fish and early tetrapods and every obscure but underrated taxon of the era you can think of, highlighting just how remarkable they are in how evolution on Earth was affected. Excellent artwork is provided from the likes of Julius T. Csotonyi. And of course, the science is all up to date as much as it can, and conveyed in a way that is very well done.

This is definitely one of the best fossil exhibits in Canada and a must-see. It's all pretty high praise from a person who admits he's even recently isn't a Paleozoic lover, with literally no quibbles with it that aren't minor nitpicks. Whether you're spending a long time here, or just breezing through, it's a great experience worth coming back for again and again.

However, there is one other palaeo-exhibit I love even more then it and consider it higher then even Dawn of Life.

#1 Griffin Halls of Evolving Planet at Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

By Ben Miller for Extinct Monsters.

While I admit I haven't been to the Chicago, Illinois museum in years, I will say its probably the best palaeo-exhibit of its kind I've seen so far. Taking a classic Walk Through Time approach, it covers just about every period of time and the fauna of each through to ours. It takes everything good about Dawn of Life is and applies it to the other eras (or rather DOL borrows a lot from EP), and conveys its information on evolution in a way that reaches you without overwhelming one. But of course, the real stars are some of the most famous fossil mounts around and the way they are interpreted. For the former, you have Apatosaurus; and the going for the latter its a walkthrough Carboniferous diorama, a Cambrian panorama, or the historic Charles R. Knight's paintings throughout Evolving Planet.

And do I need to mention SUE the T. rex has an incredible new multimedia suite?

If my family ever visits Chicago (and we might in August and judge it for myself), I will drag them there and stay as long as I want.

So yeah, compared to others in the palaeosphere I haven't visited all that many museums. I'll try to remedy that in the future.

Well, with that I'm off to vacation to the Grand Cayman Islands. Don't worry, when I get back I will show you something really good.