So here is one of the absolute classics of palaeontological mounts – the Tyrannosaurus specimen known as ‘Black Beauty’. Actually from a scientific perspective I don’t really like these panel mounts, they tend to cover up too much of the actual details of the bones, but to be fair, from the point of view of a visitor and the display aesthetics, they can be spectacular and this one certainly is.
Obviously a fair bit of this is not original and is reconstructed material or casts (I didn’t look close enough to check which) and most notably while there is a good skull it’s not stuck way up there. That’s obviously a good thing from a safety perspective, a fall would utterly destroy it, but what is odd is that while the skull is on display, it’s not next to the mount. Instead, it’s currently in the next gallery in the series and sits alone in a rather fetching ‘picture frame’ case with some of the museum’s other prized specimens.
Naturally those producing displays need to be mindful of a great many things and it’s understandable (if frustrating) that researchers are not closer to the top of that list. However, given the amount of Tyrannosaurus material available at the Tyrrell and just how good this looks, I have to admit, I’m pretty much giving this one a pass.
Dave Hone's Archosaur Musings 
Just so you know, RTMP 82.6.1 has a fairly complete cranium, partial lower jaws (both dentaries, a splenial, an angular), some cervicals and dorsals (and their ribs), humerus, both sets and femora and tibiae and some distal hindlimb elements.
Thanks for that Tom, I really should have taken a closer look but never did.
Very pretty!
In addition to making research harder (like you mentioned), the issue I’ve encountered with slab mounts like this is that too many visitors assume they are looking at fossils exactly as they were found, never removed from the surrounding matrix. A bit misleading, really.
Not come across that before, but I can easily see how people would think that. Good point!
Black Beauty’s skull used to be in a plexiglass cube beside the mounted skeleton in the Lords of the Land… However they switched it for the duo reason of aesthetics (the stupid darkly lit art gallery route, which I hate as you can’t see anything in there any more) and also safety.
That skull is one of the famous radioactive Dinosaurs. In the back wall of that picture frame there are special vents that circulate the air to prevent the build-up of radioactivity. When they busted open the old pseudo sealed cube they had to do so with some degree of hazmat suits (while the museum was closed).due to the accumulated radiation.
She’s hot, just not a whole lot 😉
She’s hot and still dangerous for sure! 🙂
As an interested onlooker I’ve learned two things from this. I certainly thought these slab mounted displays were ‘as found’. Now I wonder why they are presented this way as so much information is lost. The second surprise was radioactive fossils. What causes this?
David, not sure what is meant by “Naturally those producing displays need to be mindful of a great many things and it’s understandable (if frustrating) that researchers are not closer to the top of that list.” The Black Beauty skull actually shares a room with two other spectacular specimens and there is a side door to the display room to access all three mounts so researchers can in fact get at the for research. Each specimen is on wheels so it can be swung out for measurements, photography, etc. Each of these three specimens previously was in its own case and hard to access for research. Our former head carpenter suggested a common room with a side door. This light bulb moment resulted in the case existing today.
Hi Darren,
that statement refers to the mount overall (and indeed this style overall) rather than just the head. I know the skull is accessible, but not everything else is (or at least appeared to be). A couple of these styles of mounts at the IVPP literally bury parts of the skeleton (the whole right side of Sinraptor’s skull for example) which is rather irritating to say the least.
OK understood. Then yes the postcranial skeleton to the “Black beauty” skeleton is not easily accessible for researchers as you suggest. It is an older mount (early 1990’s) and maybe they were more worried getting it display quality for the Ex Terra show
rather than research-accessible.