Cincinnati Museum Unveils Unique Dinosaur Fossil Found Nowhere Else In The World

Sunday, September 2, 2018

★KUMIKO★ / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/CROPPED AND RESIZED (CC BY-SA 2.0)

This fall, the Cincinnati Museum Center is the place to be for dinosaur enthusiasts.

After a 2.5-year-long renovation of the historic Union Terminal, the entire Cincinnati Museum Center in Ohio reopens this November with a mighty roar.

The museum is cooking up something special for dinosaur enthusiasts and plans to wow visitors with an amazing dino exhibit featuring a one-of-a-kind specimen “you can’t see anywhere else in the world.”

‘Dinosaur Hall’

Dubbed “Dinosaur Hall,” the new exhibit opens its gates the Museum of Natural History & Science on November 17, as part of the first phase of a series of permanent exhibits, the Cincinnati Museum Center announced on Twitter.

This permanent gallery draws together “incredible, awe-inspiring specimens you won’t find anywhere else,” bringing you face to face with the giants of the Late Jurassic.

“Six prehistoric beasts, many at the center of ongoing scientific research, will tower overhead and state-of-the-art interactive elements will help you experience the Late Jurassic like never before,” touts the museum’s website, and for good reason.

According to the Cincinnati Business Courier, three mysterious dino fossils will be making their first-ever public appearance at “Dinosaur Hall.”

Joining them is the rare Galeamopus skeleton that the museum unveiled in May — a 50-foot-long sauropod fossil which made its glorious debut during the “Jurassic Geist” event hosted at the Rhinegeist Brewery, the Inquisitr reported at the time.

The stellar troupe of the “Dinosaur Hall” also includes a 25-foot Allosaurus specimen — a familiar sight for the museum’s visitors, since this particular dinosaur has already been on display.

As the Inquisitr previously reported, the Allosaurus was a large carnivorous dinosaur that roamed the planet some 150 million years ago and belonged to the theropod group — a dinosaur family that also includes the Tyrannosaurus.

Meet The Torvosaurus

But the pièce de résistance adorning the “Dinosaur Hall” this November is a unique Torvosaurus fossil found only in Cincinnati, notes WVXU.

A Torvosaurus skeletal cast put on display at the BYU Museum of Paleontology in Utah. Etemenanki3 / Wikimedia Commons/Resized (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Discovered in 2013 by fossil hunter and native Cincinnatian Jason Cooper, this “is the only associated skeleton of its kind in the world,” says Glenn Storrs, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the museum.

Until now, this particular theropod dinosaur — which lived around 150 million years ago in what is now Colorado and Portugal — was only known through isolated bones found at separate dig sites, explains Storrs.

Unearthed in Colorado, the Torvosaurus in Cincinnati is the first largely intact skeleton ever uncovered and is more than 55 percent complete, showcasing Torvosaurus bones that have never been discovered before.

“It’s the only original Torvosaurus skeleton exhibited anywhere, and if people want to see Torvosaurus they’ll have to come to Cincinnati,” said Storrs, referring not only to dinosaur buffs, but also to paleontologists around the world.

This extremely rare specimen was identified as Torvosaurus tanneri, a bipedal dinosaur related to the Megalosaurus family and the apex predator of the Late Jurassic.

Similar to the Tyrannosaurus rex, the Torvosaurus was a massive theropod dinosaur, although slightly smaller and much older — T. rex lived during the Cretaceous Period, well after the Jurassic was over.

This fierce beast had bigger arms than the T. rex and large, three-fingered hands adorned with massive claws. The skull of the Torvosaurus had a long, narrow snout, with giant teeth measuring up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) in length.

Source: www.inquisitr.com