Museums: Hessiches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt

This museum in Darmstadt, Germany, varies in its collections. We were only interested in their Palaeontological collection, although we did have a look at the zoological displays also. So, lets take a look at some photographs from the museum. Again, not much to say, but plenty to look at.

This is what greets you when you enter the geology and palaeontology gallery, an American Mastodon. 

Side view of the American Mastodon skeleton.

Part of the palaeontological collection also includes fossils from the Pleistocene of the area. This is the giant Irish Elk, Megaloceros.

This is the skull of the primitive proboscidean, Deinotherium. This elephant ancestor is easily identified by the short tusks that protrude from the lower jaw.

The complete skeleton of the early horse from the Messel Grube pit, Propalaeotherium. There is an example of this horse that is pregnant. The pale slab that the fossil is displayed on is the resin used in the transfer method mentioned in my Messel Grube post.

This is just one of many examples of the fossil fish that have been found in the Messel pit. My class was very fortunate to discover two of these gar pikes.

One of the rarer bird fossils found at Messel. This is an Eocene Ibis.

The more common bird is Messelornis.

Messel was also home to a diverse population of crocodiles, varying in size and orientations. This particular specimen was preserved in three dimensions, coming to rest on the bottom of the lake on its side.

This is the exceptionally well preserved skull of a larger genus of crocodile from the Messel pit.

The diverse reptile fauna also included snakes of various sizes. This was one of the largest on display.

Palaeoart: Super Croc Ambush Part 2

Further to what I said in the previous post about crocodiles generally being subdued by the dinosaurs. In North America at the end of the Cretaceous period we find another leviathan; Deinosuchus. Here it is depicted, again by the incredibly talented Raul Martin, launching what can only be described as a surprise attack on an unsuspecting Albertosaurus. This shows once again that perhaps dinosaurs were destined for their downfall before Mother Nature took control of their fate. Was evolution kicking other groups of animals into overdrive in order to combat the dinosaurs' reign.

Let me know what you think in the comments section below, it would be interesting to see what you think.