#rbins

[personalmephistopheles]

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (July 2023) [15/15]

Recent Life Part 3 - Herps I know, I KNOW, but I only have one amphibian photo so I needed to put them somewhere...

Featured Specimens (in order):

Reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus) skull

Common toad (Bufo bufo) and spotted paddle-tail newt (Pachytriton brevipes) skeletons

European eyed lizard (Timon lepidus) skeleton

Golden tegu (Tupinambis teguixin) skeleton

Scheltopusik (Pseudopus apodus) skeleton (very cool to compare to the Burmese skeleton below)

Burmese python (Python bivittatus) and European eyed lizard (T. lepidus) skeletons

Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) skeleton

Saltwater crocodile skull (Crocodylus porosus)

[personalmephistopheles]

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (July 2023) [14/15]

Recent Life Part 2 - (Modern) Birds Says what it is on the tin, really...

Featured Specimens (in order):

[vine voice] Look at all those chickens! (Gallus domesticus)

Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus)

An emu (Dromaius sp.), Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus), and long-eared owl (Asio otus)

A close-up of the Magellanic penguin (S. magellanicus) and long-eared owl (A. otus) skeletons

Southern brown kiwi (Apteryx australis)

[personalmephistopheles]

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (July 2023) [13/15]

Recent Life Part 1 - Mammals Says what it is on the tin, really...

Featured Specimens (in order):

African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana)

Giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) (back) and African leopard (Panthera pardus) (front)

Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) (back) and wild pig (Sus scrofa) (front)

Common bottlenose dolphin (Torsiops truncatus)

Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae)

Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)

[personalmephistopheles]

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (July 2023) [12/15]

Palaeontology Part 12 - Miscellaneous Prehistory So these guys ALSO didn't fit neatly into one of the other posts so...they got their own.

Featured Specimens (in order):

Wooly Mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) - this guy was a 30-35 year old male

Pachyrhachis problematicus, a snake ancestor who had tiny legs of his own (look at the upper right portion of the slab for legs!)

Nice shiny ammonite (Placenticeras meeki)

Allopleuron hoffmanni, an extinct sea turtle

A plate of sandstone with prehistoric art on it

[personalmephistopheles]

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (July 2023) [11/15]

Palaeontology Part 11 - Miscellaneous Dinosaurs So these guys didn't fit neatly into one of the other posts so...they got their own.

Featured Specimens (in order):

Triceratops horridus (again with the lighting)

Allosaurus fragilis skull

A geological sample demonstrating the K-Pg boundary

Stegosaurus stenops

A Diplodocus sp. of some kind - not 100% on which species in particular.

[personalmephistopheles]

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (July 2023) [10/15]

Palaeontology Part 10 - Mosasaur Madness It's lizard time! Since there are a number of native mosasaurs to central Europe, there was a pretty fantastic mosasaur display.

Featured Specimens (in order):

Prognathodon solvayi skull, one of the smaller Prognathodon species

Two Mosasaurus lemonnieri skulls (in varying degrees of completeness)

An unarticulated Mosasaurus hoffmanni skull

A pair of flippers/paddles belonging to M. lemonnieri

Another unarticulated M. hoffmanni skull

And finally, the big boy himself, Hainosaurus bernardi

[personalmephistopheles]

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (July 2023) [9/15]

Palaeontology Part 9 - Excavation Camp Display Some photos from the prerequisite excavation camp display...

Featured Specimens (in order):

Skulls of V. mongoliensis and Protoceratops hellenikorhinus

An Oviraptor philoceratops skeleton (free my man! he did nothing wrong!)

And in the running for best name: Pinacosaurus mephistocephalus

[personalmephistopheles]

Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (July 2023) [8/15]

Palaeontology Part 8 - Obligatory Nesting Diorama Listen there's always one of these, but this one is pretty cute. I wish I could have had better photos but oh well.

Featured Specimens (in order):

Maiasaura peeblesorum, with hatchlings