How to QUICKLY tell if a fossil display is REAL or REPLICA #fossil #science #paleontology

[houstonmuseum]

Send this to "that one in-law" we all have...you know the one...😅

[Sunaki]

I genuinly thought all of them where resin copys, because it seemned unreasonable risky to show them so openly.

[The_Jovian]

I love museums that have the replicas bones in a different colour to make the distinction easier. The Royal Tyrell has an exhibit where the missing parts are replaced with artistic wrought iron and it's gorgeous

[BarbieDreamDungeon]

Gonna be looking super closely at all the fossils next time I visit a museum, sounds like a fun game to count the real ones

[Lando]

I'm an old fossil, but not jewelry mounted yet.

[Hi_Im_Akward]

Im actually a bit amazed that real fossils are displayed, especially openly. It seems like a massive risk. I saw a replica of a mummy once, and honestly if i wasn't told i wouldn't have known. It satisfied my curiosity of what it looked like without risking the mummy. But hey, if the fossils are safe and stable, that is extremely cool.

[ralfsstuff]

And people will say "Dinosaurs are fake" because they learn of replicas being a thing.
As if both couldn't exist at the same time.

[suchnothing]

At the Royal Ontario Museum, the information signs at each fossil mount show you a diagram of which parts are real and which are replicas. I really like that approach because I think it gives a better appreciation that most fossils don't pop out of the ground as a full animal, and that paleontologists are often working with fragments of an animal.

[naamahdarling]

While seeing real fossils is exciting, pause also when you see one that is a cast, especially to complete a large skeleton like this. The artistry and knowledge that goes into creating these things is worth appreciating all on its own. Each one is made painstakingly, bone by bone, and every bit of it is done by hand. The support structures for each one have to be custom designed to fit in the space, and in places where the arrangement is dynamic and lifelike, there is significant artistry that goes into that as well. So even if a fossil isn't "real", it still represents a lot of beautiful artistic work, and reflects a deep love of the subject.

Also take a minute to appreciate any art that may be on the walls to provide a setting, and any terrain that has been added to flesh out a scene.

All of these factors come together to make a visit to any good museum an experience both in science and in art!

[oddishsmile]

The skeletons at the La Brea tar pits are real! I like the skull wall. It gives a sense of population scale you don't usually get from museums.

[donniemontoya]

Something I didn't think much about until I talked to a museum curator.
Dinosaur fossils are HEAVY! Really, they are just rocks. Fossil replicas are safer to preserve, but also they are just easier to display cause they're not giant chunks of rock suspended in the air.

[houstonmuseum]

For a little more insight, we have 3 Tyrannosaurus Rexes on display (and a Gorgosaurus).

Stan - Replica
Bucky - Replica
Wyrex - REAL, including some skin!

So, if you see Wyrex "the bobtail T. Rex" elsewhere, THAT would be a replica of OUR T. Rex.

[grandadmiralthrawn]

I had a part-time volunteer job at a museum once cleaning the rock and gypsum off of an alamosaurus vertebra. I could instantly recognize it when I went by the museum as a guest a few years later and saw the bones on display because I had taken a dremel to it for hours at a time, lol

[gregwalker]

Seeing Stan in a museum is wild! He was discovered in Alabama by one of my professors, and casts of his head are shown all the time in classes. I heard about him going to Abu Dabi, I really do hope he continues to be enjoyed by millions!

[pageachatter]

Makes sense. You wouldn't want to run a metal rod through an actual fossil, or you'd run the risk of destroying it.

[alexreid]

A lot of the museums I’ve been to also say on the sign somewhere (sometimes smaller than the main text) whether they’re a replica or how complete the fossil is (as a percentage). Some older discoveries, like 100+ years ago, are sometimes also mounted with rods going through them because preservation techniques used to be… lackluster, to say the least

[Supwe]

What I love about replicas is that they are cheap and accesible. My small town never had dinosaur fossils or anything like that neither the money to buy them, but we have a small museum full of replicas which I loved as a kid. They're still replicas of real ones and inspire a child's imagination like the real ones.

[naamahdarling]

I also highly recommend talking to docents if they are available! All of the museum docents I have ever met at any museum have been incredibly knowledgeable about the specific fossils and which parts of them are real. They are such wonderful and enthusiastic people and everyone should feel comfortable hanging around and chatting for a bit. It's what they're there for!

If you can find an older docent, they tend to be absolutely incredible.

[DuelistRL]

I'm just here looking for the comments of people who don't think Dinosaurs were real.

[rosegoldhiips]

I'm so relieved the private buyer that bought Stan is putting it in a museum. I thought that fossil was gonna be lost in a private collection forever but Stan will continue to educate people around the world 🥰