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RMDRC Newsletter
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
& Happy Easter
Hooray, it’s March!!!
March makes me feel like spring
is within reach. Although in Teller County we are more likely to get large
dumps of snow
in March and April, I always feel like celebrating that we’ve made it
through another winter. As you may have guessed, I’m not a big fan of cold
weather. It may seem a poor choice to live in the
Colorado mountains
when you don’t like the cold but
we came here from North Dakota
where winters are brutal and that makes our cold here seem more tolerable.
We recently returned
from the Tucson Fossil
and Mineral Show where we
exhibited our newest cast mount of the 15 foot turtle,
Protostega Gigas.
It was a huge hit and provided
a great photo op for the crowd at the
Inn Suites Ballroom
where we had our booth. This turtle has been temporarily installed in our
marine hall so make time to come see it soon.
In addition to
exhibiting in Tucson,
our gift store manager was on site purchasing new and exciting merchandise
for the Prehistoric Paradise store. Be sure to come to peruse the new
selection of Amber,
Tibetan Turquoise,
Opal
and the carved
Mammoth
jewelry. We also have a fresh stock of fossil fish, shark teeth and fossil
poop! For the decorator in you, we have a new selection of
henna lamps
from Morocco
and sandstone bookends, candle holders and even a couple of sculpture wine
bottle holders from Utah.
Dino Art
2008 is under way. Now’s your
chance to show us your paleoart skills and win a
gift card
to buy some of the new merchandise in the gift store. See Tracie’s column
below for details.
Don't forget that on
St. Patrick's Day,
wear green
to the museum and receive
$2.00
off any admission (discounts cannot be combined with any other coupon or
discounts) Also remember RMDRC
will be closed
on Easter Sunday,
March 23, for the first time this year. However,
Spring break
will be in full swing this month and if you have out of town guests, be sure
to bring them in to visit us. See you soon at
RMDRC.
Sincerely,
JJ Triebold
President, RMDRC
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From the Education Desk
Happy almost
Spring (Mar. 20th) and Happy
almost Easter (Mar. 23)! Easter break
is almost upon
us and we hope you will take time out
from your busy lives to visit us at
RMDRC.
Did you know
that the first phone call was made in March
1876 and that the formula for Coke was
invented in March of 1886? March is also
Women’s
History
Month
along with March 8th being
International Women’s Day.
Science, for
many centuries, has been considered the
domain of men. This included paleontology
even though many women have contributed to
the science of paleontology. Among these
women was
Mary Anning
who was born in 1799 and has been credited
with being the first commercial
paleontologist. She found the first
plesiosaur in 1811 when she was just 12
years old, and found the first pterodactyl
in
Britain.
Dr. Karen
Chin of the United States
Geological Survey is considered the world’s
foremost expert on dinosaur coprolites
(poop). In 1998 she studied the first
fossilized T-rex coprolites that contained
bits of Triceratops frill. In 1990
Sue
Hendrickson found the remarkable
T-rex that is now known as Sue. It is the
largest and most complete T-rex found to
date.
Ruth Mason
found a huge dinosaur fossil bone bed when
she was 7 years old. Since then, tens of
thousands dinosaur fossils have been found
at the “Ruth Mason Quarry” in South Dakota.
Elizabeth Nicholls is a
paleontologist who studies Triassic period
marine reptiles.
Dr.
Patricia Vickers-Rich is an
Australian geologist, paleontologist and
author who has unearthed many important
finds over the world.
Joan Wiffen
is a self trained amateur fossil hunter who
pioneered dinosaur hunting in New Zealand.
Cathy
Forester is best known for her
theories on dinosaur-bird evolution.
Mary Lyon,
born in 1797, was the founder of
Mount Holyoke College and a pioneer in
women’s education.
Eugenie
Clark is a world renowned
ichthyologist and authority on sharks.
In 1949,
Winifred
Goldring became the
first women elected as president of the Paleontological Society.
Marjorie
Courtenay-Latimer identified the
coelacanth in 1938, a fish thought to have
been extinct for 70 million years.
These are just
a few of the many outstanding women
scientists who we pay tribute to this month.
As I sign off
there is a quote credited to Michelangelo
that I think is worth mentioning…..“The
greater danger for most of us lies not in
setting our aim too high and falling short,
but in setting our aim too low and achieving
our mark”
Geri LeBold
Education Director
geri@rmdrc.com
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From the Business
Development Desk
Our 2007-2008 CAST
(Community and Students Together) program is winding down with only 4
early-release Wednesday’s left. RMDRC has some exciting programs planned
including a Craft Day for elementary students and a Green Day for middle
school students. There are still spots available for high school students to
sign up for lab day.
What is the CAST
Program?
A group of parents,
educators and local businesses formed a community collaboration committee to
gather community resources for this program. This program offers activities
available for students during the thirteen Wednesdays when students are
released early from RE2 School Districts to accommodate teacher work
sessions. Contact us or visit the website
www.rmdrc.com for additional information and to
sign up.
One of our favorites
was the
Marine Reptile & Croc Day where the kids
got to see the real thing.
We are beginning to
see some signs of spring with warmer temperatures and we are not using our
snow blowers quite as much. This time of year brings schools out for field
trips and our calendar is beginning to fill up so book your school tour
today!
RMDRC is a great
place to celebrate your birthday! For a small price children and adults get
to enjoy a party in the company of dinosaurs.
RMDRC Paleo Patch
Program meets all the requirements for the Girl Scouts Dinosaur badge, the
Jr. Girl Scout Try-It badge, and some requirements for Boy Scout badges.
Call and book your
School Tour, Birthday Party or Paleo Patch today! Contact me at
719-686-1820 x 111.
See
you soon!
Carla Deemer
Business Development
Carla@rmdrc.com |
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From
Triebold Paleontology, Inc.
Whew! What a month.
The Tucson Fossil Show was a big success for TPI again this year with the
unveiling of three new specimens, the Protostega gigas, Prionochelys
nauta and Icthyornys dispar. These specimens can be seen in the
exhibit halls at RMDRC so look for them on your next visit.
Savage Ancient Seas,
our prehistoric marine traveling exhibit, is currently on display at the
Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk through Labor Day. Be sure to tell any friends
and relatives on the East coast to go see it. They’ll be amazed at the cool
specimens you get to see every day at RMDRC.
For those aspiring artists out there, it’s time for Dino Art 2008. This
year’s theme is Savage Ancient
Seas. Winning entries will
have the opportunity to become part of our traveling exhibit. Please
download an entry form and start designing your entry for this year. The
competition is open to artists of all ages with four judging categories:
pre-school through 2nd grade, 3rd through 5th
grade, 6th through 8th grade and high school through
adult. Deadline for entries is May 23, 2008. Winners will be announced the
following week. Prizes will be awarded during the
RMDRC anniversary celebration
June 7th.
Guest artist this year is Savannah College of Art and Design's Professor
Paul Hudson. Working through both fields of art and science, Paul has
explored this world and worlds beyond. Originally an Imagineer for Walt
Disney, he began his career designing future habitats and vehicles for EPCOT
(Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow). Then for Boeing Aerospace,
Paul worked with astronauts and engineers on the International Space
Station. His concept design work illustrating infrastructures for a return
to the moon and a manned mission to Mars earned him the National Wernher Von
Braun Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Nation’s Space Program.
The wide scope of clients and industry that have sought the talents of Paul
Hudson attest to his passion for art and science; National Geographic,
Time-Life Inc., Universal Studios, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
NASA Ames Research
Center, NASA
Goddard Space Center, and the NASA Houston
Manned Space Flight
Center. He served on the President’s National Commission on Space and is an
active contributor to the prestigious think-tank group Foundation For The
Future in Washington. He has also
created future exploration scenarios and murals for The National Air and
Space Museum’s “Where Next,
Columbus?”
exhibit celebrating the 500th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage of
discovery.
He continued his own education in the arts by attending the
Florence Academy in Italy where
he learned the sculpting techniques of the Renaissance and Baroque Masters.
He now passes this information to his many students at the Savannah College
of Art and Design where he teaches as a full time professor. Over the last
seven years, he has created a multitude of courses that are sought out by
students throughout all majors desiring to expand their skills in the fields
of Sculpture, Anatomy, and Conceptual Design.
Professor Hudson most recently initiated a partnership with the
Oatland Island
Wildlife Center resulting in
live animals brought into his Constructive Animal Anatomy class for students
to draw, sculpt, photograph and animate. In 2007, Professor Hudson founded
the Scientific Illustration Department at SCAD, where students are afforded
the opportunity to explore and discover the wonders of Paleontology,
Astronomy, Botany, Entomology, Geo-science, and Medical Illustration. He is
currently completing his book Sculptural Anatomy for Abrams Books for
release in January of 2009. Professor Hudson is also working with Triebold
Paleontology, Inc. to illustrate a number of our specimens. Watch for some
updates on this project in his presentation on June 7th.
Tracie Bennitt
Sales
and Marketing
Triebold Paleontology, Inc.
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From the
Lab
If you love turtles, the lab is
the place for you this month. We have completed our temporary
installation of
Protostega gigas
in the marine hall, and the first 3D reconstruction of
Prionochelys
is finished. We're working on another marine turtle,
Bothremys
barberi. This odd "side necked" turtle
had a solid, disc-shaped shell nearly 3 feet in
diameter. Restoration and molding should begin shortly.
We also began preparation of a
large river turtle that our crew discovered this past summer in
the Judith River Formation of Montana. Soft-shelled turtle
remains in the Judith River and Hell Creek formations are fairly
common, but are rarely more than isolated scraps. Any time we
find much of the animal (so far including elements of the
carapace, plastron, and limbs) we get pretty excited. The site
was discovered at the end of the season, so unfortunately it was
only partly excavated. We will be returning this summer to
complete the dig.
Photo caption: Side view of the
"saw-turtle"
Prionochelys
Anthony Maltese
Curator, Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center
719.686.1820 x106
anthony@rmdrc.com
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Prehistoric Paradise Store - NEW Arrivals
Visit the web site to send great gifts to all your family and friends.
Click here to start your shopping experience!
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Paleo News from Feb 08:
Megavoltage CT Imaging Unlocks Fossil Mysteries
An Epoch in the making
Scientists, Journalists Push for Science-based Election Debate
Fossil Crocodile From Brazil May Be "Missing Link"
Discovery Channel to feature Jack Horner on Feb. 17
Photo in the News: "Fossil Galaxy" Spotted by Hubble
Sedgwick Zoo Hatches 2nd Komodo Dragon
Bonn Scientists Simulate Dinosaur Digestion in the Lab
Cool Educational Web Sites For Kids
Saving Endangered Sea Turtles
Tiny pterosaur fossil found
Petrified Animals Died Quickly
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