Science

150 Million Years After Death, A Brontosaurus To Get Posture Fixed At Peabody Museum

Connecticut Public Radio | By Carmen Baskauf

Published March 13, 2020 at 8:18 AM EDT

1 of 6

Fossil conservator Amber Favreau works on disassembling the museum’s Brontosaurus skeleton.";

Ryan Caron King / Connecticut Public

2 of 6

Fossil conservator Amber Favreau works to take apart the Peabody Museum’s brontosaurus skeleton as part of the museum’s multi-million dollar renovation. ";s:

Ryan Caron King / Connecticut Public Radio

3 of 6

Vanessa Rhue, Collection Manager of the Vertebrate Paleontology Division, stands between compactors containing sauropod materials in the basement of the Peabody Museum.

Ryan Caron King / Connecticut Public

4 of 6

Patrick Fair, who works for Research Casting International, packs Brontosaurus bones into a crate to be shipped up to Canada.

Ryan Caron King / Connecticut Public

5 of 6

Peter May chisels through plaster to expose the joints of the Brontosaurus at the Peabody Museum. May’s company works on dozens of skeletons a year. “They don’t get much bigger than this,” he said.";s:3:"u

Ryan Caron King / Connecticut Public

6 of 6

A worker secures part of the Peabody’s Brontosaurus skeleton before it is lowered to the floor with a pulley. The skeleton was originally mounted in 1931. ";

Ryan Caron King / Connecticut Public

This hour, we take a trip to the Yale Peabody Museum, where a renovation is giving the museum a chance to update its famous dinosaur skeletons to reflect 21st century scientific knowledge.

The museum has disassembled all of its large fossil skeletons, which have been shipped to a facility in Canada to be remounted. When they return to the Peabody in 2023, dinosaurs like the museum's Brontosaurus will be standing in jauntier--and more scientifically accurate--poses.

Later, we talk with a science writer about the events that lead to the mass extinction of almost all dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

GUESTS:

Vanessa Rhue - Collections manager for Vertebrate Paleontology at the Yale Peabody Museum
Peter May – Founder and president of Research Casting International, the company the Yale Peabody Museum is contracting with to re-mount their large fossil skeletons
Chris Norris - Director of Public Programs at the Yale Peabody Museum
Riley Black - Science writer and author of My Beloved Brontosaurus (@Laelaps)

Catie Talarski contributed to this show.

150 Million Years After Death, A Brontosaurus To Get Posture Fixed At Peabody Museum

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.