BYNUM — Millions of years ago, dinosaurs roamed the earth, and many of those prehistoric giants once walked the ground we now call Montana. Today, the Montana Dinosaur Center in Bynum is working to keep that ancient history alive—and share it with visitors from across the region and beyond.
Quentin Shores reports - watch the video here:
Montana’s landscape, shielded by the Rocky Mountains and spared from much of the glacial damage that affected other parts of North America, is a prime location for fossil discoveries.
“The Milwaukee Public Museum, the Field Museum in Chicago, those aren't, you know, local dinosaurs. A lot of it's coming from here,” said Montana Dinosaur Center paleontologist Andy Rich.
The state is known for its rich history of plant-eating dinosaurs, especially large herds of hadrosaurs, or “duckbills,” like the famous Maiasaura.
“There just was a good amount of dinosaurs in this area. Our hadrosaurs, our duckbills, stuff like Maiasaura, moved in massive herds. So, the more of something there is, the more likely you are to find it,” Rich explained.
The Montana Dinosaur Center’s collection continues to grow, thanks in part to numerous fossil donations from local ranchers and community members.
As the collection expands, so do the museum’s offerings: Two new exhibits are currently in the works—a Medusaceratops display and an exhibit on the origin of flight, which will explore how various prehistoric animals took to the skies long before the Wright Brothers.
“Invertebrates have evolved flight three separate times. Pterosaurs, which are cousins of dinosaurs—they are flying reptiles. Birds, which are dinosaurs—their last remaining relatives are chickens and turkeys, and then bats,” said Rich.
The goal behind these new exhibits is to make science more accessible to everyone. Many of the fossils now on display were first found by people who simply stumbled upon them.
“A lot of these fossils were just found by ranchers who didn't even, you know, think they were looking for dinosaur fossils and because they felt comfortable coming to us. They have helped the scientific process,” Rich added.
For more information about the Montana Dinosaur Center, its upcoming exhibits, or how you can visit or support their work, click here to visit the website.
The museum is part of the Montana Dinosaur Trail; click here for details.
