Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology

Infobox Museum
name = Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology

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imagesize = 200
caption = Outside the museum
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latitude = 51.479361
longitude = -112.789278
established = September 25, 1985
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location = Highway 838 Midland Provincial Park Drumheller, Alberta T0J 0Y0 Canada
type = Palaeontological
visitors = 375,000 (average yearly)
director = Andrew Neumancite web | url = http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/contact/ | title = Contact Us| accessdate = 2008-07-18 | work = Royal Tyrrell Museum | publisher = Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society | date = ]
curator = Don Brinkman, Ph.D
publictransit =
website = http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology (commonly known as the Royal Tyrrell Museumcite web | url = http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/info/index2.php?strSection=9 | title = Frequently Asked Questions | accessdate = 2008-07-18 | work = Royal Tyrrell Museum | publisher = Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society | date = ] ) is a popular Canadian tourist attraction and a leading center of palaeontological researchcite encyclopedia | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs | title = Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology | last = Naylor | first = Bruce G. | editor = Currie, Philip J.; Padian, Kevin | year = 1997 | publisher = Academic Press | isbn = 0-12-226810-5 | pages = p. 646] noted for its collection of more than 120,000 dinosaur fossils.cite web | url = http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/peek/index2.php?strSection=9 | title = Dinosaur Hall | accessdate = 2008-07-18 | work = Royal Tyrrell Museum | publisher = Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society | date = ]

Located convert|6|km|mi|sigfig=1 from Drumheller, Alberta and convert|135|km|mi from Calgary, [cite web | url = http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/info/index2.php?strSection=4 | title = Getting to the Museum | accessdate = 2008-07-18 | work = Royal Tyrrell Museum | publisher = Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society | date = ] the museum is situated in the middle of the fossil-bearing strata of the Late Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation and also has recovered numerous specimens from Dinosaur Provincial Park and the Devil's Coulee Dinosaur Egg Historic Nest Site.

The museum is Canada's only institution entirely dedicated to palaeontology, and is operated by Alberta's Ministry of Tourism, Parks, and Recreation. The museum's mission is to: "is to collect, conserve, research and interpret palaeontological history with special reference to Alberta’s fossil heritage".

History

The museum is named in honour of Joseph Burr Tyrrell, the geologist who discovered the first dinosaur in the area in 1884. The museum opened September 25, 1985 and was given "royal" status as a significant resource by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990. Bruce Naylor was the Director of the Royal Tyrrell Museum from 1992 until his death in April 2007. Under his direction, an ambitious exhibit renewal program was established — with convert|21000|sqft|m2 of brand new gallery space completed in 2006–2007 alone.

In its first year of operation, the museum attracted almost 600,000 visitors.cite web | url = http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/peek/ | title = Welcome to the Royal Tyrrell Museum | accessdate = 2008-07-18 | work = Royal Tyrrell Museum | publisher = Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society | date = ] The average number of visitors each year is 375,000.

On November 23, 2000, the museum signed a sister museum agreement with the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum in Japan.

Collections and exhibits

More than convert|4400|m2|sqft of the museum's convert|11200|m2|sqft is dedicated to exhibits [cite web | url = http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/info/index2.php?strSection=5| title = Museum Amenities | accessdate = 2008-07-18 | work = Royal Tyrrell Museum | publisher = Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society | date = ] in a series of chronological galleries celebrating the 3.9 billion year history of life on Earth. The most popular is "Dinosaur Hall", with almost 40 mounted dinosaur skeletons, including specimens of "Tyrannosaurus rex" and "Albertosaurus". Other exhibits include "Lords of the Land"; "Burgess Shale", a diorama of dozens of creatures from Yoho National Park in British Columbia; [cite web | url = http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/peek/index2.php?strSection=6 | title = Museum Amenities | accessdate = 2008-07-18 | work = Royal Tyrrell Museum | publisher = Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society | date = ] "Devonian Reef", a life-size model of a 375 million year old reef; [cite web | url = http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/peek/index2.php?strSection=7 | title = Devonian Reef | accessdate = 2008-07-18 | work = Royal Tyrrell Museum | publisher = Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society | date = ] a "Cretaceous Garden", with over 600 living species of plants, [cite web | url = http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/peek/index2.php?strSection=8 | title = Cretaceous Garden | accessdate = 2008-07-18 | work = Royal Tyrrell Museum | publisher = Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society | date = ] and "Age of Mammals" and "Ice Ages" which cover mammalian life in the Cenozoic. The most recent is "Triassic Giant", a convert|1700|sqft|m2 long exhibit of the largest known marine reptile, the convert|21|m|ft long ichthyosaur "Shonisaurus sikanniensis", which was recovered from the shores of the Sikanni Chief River in northeast British Columbia between 1999 and 2001 by a team led by Elizabeth Nicholls, former curator of Marine Reptiles. The temporary exhibit and tribute to Nicholls, who died in 2004, is expected to be replaced by 2010. [cite web | url = http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/events/#triassic | title = Triassic Giant | accessdate = 2008-07-18 | work = Royal Tyrrell Museum | publisher = Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society | date = ]

A window into the "Preparation Lab" allows visitors to watch technicians as they carefully prepare fossils for research and exhibition. [cite web | url = http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/peek/index2.php?strSection=4 | title = Preparation Lab | accessdate = 2008-07-18 | work = Royal Tyrrell Museum | publisher = Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society | date = ] Additional offerings include guided and self-guided tours of the badlands, the hands-on "Nexen Science Hall" with interactive stations that introduce important palaeontological concepts, [cite web | url = http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/peek/index2.php?strSection=2 | title = Nexen Science Hall | accessdate = 2008-07-18 | work = Royal Tyrrell Museum | publisher = Royal Tyrrell Museum Cooperating Society | date = ] simulated fossil digs, fossil casting, school programs, summer camps for both children and families, and many other programs.

References