Yes, yes, you are absolutely right. So what you have here are two lower jaws of a dug-outdinosaur.
Oh, brilliant, so these come together in the midline or somehow.
Yes, but they actually come together right here.
The other way, right, brilliant.
I know how difficult it can be to piece together an ancient skeleton from fragments, but I’ve only ever worked with one species, humans. So I’m really impressed by paleontologists who have to understand the anatomy of hundreds of different dinosaur species.
Identifying a dinosaur is just the starting point for unlocking its secrets and getting it ready for display. It will be years before this dinosaur is ready for the public. Instead, the centerpiece of Luis’s exhibition will be three T. Rex skeletons that have already been excavated and are now ready to be mounted.
They are being put together in a workshop in New Jersey. Resurrecting these all-inspiring creatures will require mounting the bones in a way that reflects the latest scientific understanding about posture, movement and behaviour. But the fossil remains of each of these animals are desperately incomplete. Paul Zawisha is in charge of turning the partial distorted skeletons into the most up-to-date reflection of scientific knowledge.
Hello, kiddo. Uh, we have another several weeks, and I’m just trying to figure out where we are on site. Tommy?
Right now, we are about 50-60% finished. Everything is articulated. We have to get the new bases built.
Did you get those hands straightened out?
Yeah, I think we finally figured it out.
Ok, that’s good.
2 days later.
Working closely with Luis, Paul and his team will turn a miniature model of the three T. Rexes into a finished exhibit. The science will come alive through a combination of art and engineering.
Luis came out here several months ago. He pretty much shifted things around to the scenario that’s going on here. But again we have a little liberty, because we want to make these things come to life. Otherwise, they just don’t move, they don’t look real.