We toured the Mesalands Dinosaur Museum during our recent stay in Tucumcari. Here is a photo from the Tucumcari webpage that shows the entrance better than our photo did.
It is part of Mesalands Community College and has a great collection. It was interesting that on our journey to Peculiar we took a pit stop at the New Mexico Welcome Center just east of Arizona and there was a skull there from this museum.
The Exhibit Hall houses a host of replicated and original fossils from tiny footprint casts to the 40′ long skeleton of a Torvosaurus, a rare carnivore relative of Tyrannosaurus Rex which hails from the Jurassic period.
The Museum’s focus is on the Mesozoic period, which is also known as ‘The Age of Dinosaurs.’ The Mesozoic is comprised of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Some of the displays were found in the area near Tucumcari which was neat. We toured the 10,000 square feet of exhibitions and found some neat stuff. Here is a bone from a Camarasaurus with the teeth marks likely from an above shown Torvosaurus.
Here is a Acrocanthorsaurus which roamed near Tucumcari.
As usual we learned a few things, first dealt with the size of the Velociraptor. The Velociraptor as shown in various "Jurassic Park" movies is larger than the actual size. Here is a skeleton showing the true size.
We also never knew that there were lions in addition to the saber toothed tiger in the Ice Age, both of which were in the area. Here is a skull of the Ice Age Lion which the largest predator on the North American continent, about the size of a modern day grizzly bear.
This would be a good museum in any location, what makes this one memorable is that it is in a town of 5000 in the outreaches of New Mexico, truly the middle of nowhere.
Till next time,
Bob and Jo
I can't even image these animals roaming the earth. Just seeing their skeletons scares me.
ReplyDeleteGreat road trip. better than flying to some place for a week vacation in one place. We did Route 66 a couple times a few years back. Loved it so much we didnt mind taking it again 3 months later, making the best of a bad situation that second trip, but of all the places we passed through, I'd have to say that New Mexico was the State we loved best. Tucumcari was one of our stops both times. Something about that little town is just enticing. Dinosaur museums were not what I expected to see along The Mother Road but its the unexpected things along the way that make you wanna stop and explorer. I see you guys covered some miles as well in your road trip. Awesome. :)
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