WHAT: RMGA Membership Meeting -- Morrison Natural History Museum
WHEN: March 11, 2019, 6:30pm – Networking, 7:00pm – Short Business Meeting, 7:15pm – Morrison Natural History Museum
WHERE: The Morrison Natural History Museum, 501 Colorado Highway 8, Morrison, CO 80465
PROGRAM: Doug Hartshorn, Museum Coordinator, will present the program. The Museum offers a glimpse of the first important dinosaur discoveries in Colorado including fossils from the first Stegosaurus and Apatosaurus ever discovered. Doug will take us behind the scenes, into the lab and do some fossil preparation.
RMGA Membership Meeting Review
Morrison Natural History Museum
Membership Program March 11, 2019
The membership meeting was held at the Morrison Natural History Museum. President Sherry Moon conducted a short business meeting. Sherry displayed the actual proclamation for the International Tour Guides Day on February 21, 2019. This was really a “big deal”. Colorado Legislature member Barbara McLaughlin from Durango and Visit Denver’s Kathy Ritter helped prepare the proclamation and Governor Jared Polis signed it. This day was a one-time thing – if RMGA wants to have it proclaimed again in future years (on the same date), we must go through the entire process again. Tom Jensen congratulated Sherry Moon and Mike Pearl for their efforts in getting this date set aside by proclamation.
A new member was introduced: Roxana Safipour, a PhD from Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Rox is a geologist who provides geology tours and guided hikes “Trail Gems”. She is also a volunteer at the Morrison Natural History Museum.
The Wednesday, Mar 13th FAM tour of City Park, Zoo and Museum of Natural History was postponed until April 3, 2019, due to the incoming blizzard. Everyone who has already registered is still registered. The edited paperwork for additional attendees will be on the website tomorrow.
FAM on April 30th – Tuesday will be to the Keenesburg Wild Animal Sanctuary. Cost is $10/person. The director at the sanctuary will lead our group. It’s located off I-76 east of Denver.
April’s membership meeting will be at CCSC at the 801 Chop House, refreshments and parking will be comp’d by CCSC and the 801 Chop House.
Sherry Moon offered a book on Chaco Canyon for a door prize, won by Carol Carder.
Program Chair, Dawn Nelsen, then introduced Doug Hartshorn, Museum Coordinator of the Morrison Natural History Museum.
Doug told us that the Museum is an interpretative center – most things can be touched. He told us that every visitor gets a guided tour.
Some of the prehistoric animals and birds found near here include:
1874 – T Rex – found near where Coors brewery now stands
It took 50 years to figure out what a T Rex was
1878 – Stegosaurus
1878 – Brontosaurus
1878 – Apatosaurus – first one ever discovered
1880 – Triceratops
1995 – A Stegosaurus was discovered near Canon City and a 3-D printed copy of that dinosaur is in the Canon City Museum
150,000,000 years ago this land was flat, hot, dry – a vast flood plain with little rivers
80,000,000 years ago, the land sank and it became beachfront property – the closest land was Utah or Iowa
80,000,000 years ago, there were lots of marine reptiles here, lots of lizards
Lizards were 40’ long and had 3 eyes.
Dinosaurs don’t live in the sea.
70,000,000 years ago the Rocky Mountains started to rise
The base of the Rocky Mountains is more than 300,000,000 years old
The Rocky Mountains are very gradually receding and ultimately will slide to the Mississippi River
This was still coastal area, still swampy
Triceratops and T Rex had big flat feet
Jurassic sediment here
Triangle of faults
The Jurassic period, 80,000,000 to 100,000,000 years ago is where you find dinosaurs.
The Crustaceous period was only 70,000,000 years ago.
Dinosaurs were warm blooded, most had feathers, they walked over their hips (upright)
Birds have a one-way respiratory system, we have a two-way respiratory system.
We exhale 50% of our O², birds exhale 0% of their O²
Birds have no diaphragm, air goes over their lungs.
In 1878, Professor Lakes, a geologist and Episcopal priest quarried here and discovered many, many fragments of dinosaur bones. He quarried in Colorado for two years and also in Wyoming for two years. There was much competition for the dinosaur remains. Many of the bones were sent to Yale University, where many of them still reside in their boxes in the basement.
The quarries were forgotten until the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) started building roads and they uncovered more remnants. Nobody cared about the bones from 1930s-1980s. In 1989 Dinosaur Ridge was discovered.
Doug told us that it is rare to find a dinosaur skull – predators ate the brain. The skull itself has bones that are quite thin and fragile - think of a long neck holding up a lightweight head. There are only a few T Rex skulls in the whole world (5-75). From first dinosaur to last, they lived over 150,000,000 years. There are dinosaurs more than 220,000,000 years old still around. There are more dinosaurs alive today than 100,000,000 years ago – chickens, frogs are examples.
There are different kinds of dinosaurs in other parts of the world. Dinosaurs on other continents evolved in different ways. There are no T Rex dinosaurs in Europe, for example. Canada to New Mexico is the Dinosaur Highway, which is about 1,000 miles wide. The reasons for the extinction of dinosaurs may have been because they were big and heavy, they died from disease, plant life changed, or volcanic eruptions. Plant life may have all been burned after an asteroid hit the earth.
As a comparison, man has been around for just 200,000 years.
The museum building was constructed in the 1940s made of hand hewn blocks – and has a huge fireplace. It was moved to the present location with great care. Each exhibit is set up to tell a story. Tours last 45-60 minutes and are done in groups of 8-10 people. This is a tracking and research museum.
The museum has a small staff, and about 20 volunteers. High school students interested in dinosaurs often give the tours. It’s open from 10-4 every day, last group must leave by 5 pm. The trail is ADA approved – look at rocks and fossils. The museum needs lead time of at least one week for larger groups so that guides can be provided. Adults cost $10/person, children from age 3-11 are $8/person.
Contact information:
Morrison Natural History Museum
501 Colorado Highway 8
Morrison, CO 80465
Doug Harsthorn, Museum Coordinator
303.697.1873
Written by Nancy Brueggeman
Morrison Natural History Museum