Dinosaur Country

I arrived in Montana a day early before my Wolf Expedition started in earnest. I took advantage of the extra time by visiting the small but excellent Museum of the Rockies.  I was glad to see the dinosaur exhibit is still curated by Jack Horner, the first paleontologist I met and probably the most famous paleontologist in the world (Sam Neill's character in Jurassic Park was based on Jack). I first met him at UC Berkeley for a dedication ceremony for the new T. rex specimen display on campus that Jack had discovered. I did some work helping one of Jack's graduate students to excavate Maiasaur nesting sites in Northern Montana, and had met several others of Jack's students, who have gone on to become reknowned paleontologists in their own right.

Museum of the Rockies

Jack was the first to prove that dinosaurs built nests (like birds) and cared for their young (like mammals), feeding and protecting them for years after birth, and did not abandon them like many lizards and snakes do today. I feel honored and fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet Jack and chat with him several times.  On exhibit were some beautiful sculptures by Matt Hall:

Deinonychus in attack mode. 

This reconstruction is based on the latest research showing it had feathers like birds, not scales like a lizard or snake