Indiana Dinosaur Museum | Tourist Attraction in South Bend, IN
www.indianadinosaurmuseum.org
Embark on a prehistoric journey at the Indiana Dinosaur Museum, where time-traveling becomes a reality. Located in South Bend, IN.

I went to a small ‘dinosaur museum’ last summer in South Bend Indiana. I wasn’t expecting much, but found myself disappointed that all the large displays (except one) were ‘replicas’. I’m not sure why I felt this way, since all fossils are ‘copies’. But ‘replica’ makes it seem fake.

edit: I think this is being misinterpreted. In my mind, all fossils are ‘copies’ of the original. The bone is gone, replaced by stone. But for some reason, calling something a replica doesn’t carry the same…majesty as the original copy. Maybe it’s just the thought that it could have been tampered with when making it out of plastic or fiberglass.

  • Cooper8@feddit.onlineEnglish
    3·
    9 days ago

    If you want to see a lot of real fossils directly, no replicas, go to Dinosaur National Monument and check out the Quarry Exhibit Hall. A huge wall of fossils still in their stone matrix.

    Quarry Wall

  • Manjushri@piefed.socialEnglish
    2·
    9 days ago

    Most displays are likely to be replicas, I think. Few people would be interested in seeing a T. Rex hip bone in one display, half a triceratops horn in another, etc. Complete skeletons are a bit of a rarity so it would be tough to find all the parts of some species for all the different museums out there. Also, in order to build a complete display of a T. Rex or triceratops, you would likely use all replica parts because you would need to damage the fossils in order to connect them all together.

    Finally, most of the actual fossils are valuable to researchers and putting them on display in museums would make them less available for study.

  • A_norny_mousse@feddit.org
    0·
    9 days ago

    FWIW, I recently watched a debunk of a creationist video and they complained about the same thing, while showing footage of one of the few real skeletons 🤦

    Dinosaurs were real. We find their bones all the time. You can imagine that they’re not in pristine condition, considering their age. We classify them and mull over them together. We build reconstructions. Some contain mainly real bones. Others don’t. They are still of educational value.