Tylosaurus
The T-Rex of the Cretaceous Sea
Visitors to the Hastings Museum of Natural and Cultural History will experience the prehistoric world as soon as they step foot into the museum – but they will not have a typical view from dry land.
“During the age of the dinosaurs 82 million years ago, Nebraska was covered with a great inland sea,” said Becky Matticks, director of the museum. “So instead of featuring land-based dinosaurs, Hastings Museum has installed a new exhibit that includes as a focal point a life-size sculpture of the most feared creature in all of the sea – the Tylosaurus, the T. rex of the sea.”
This fascinating permanent exhibit that shows what life was like in Nebraska at the time of the dinosaurs. It is the first exhibit of its kind in the central United States and is the culmination of the latest project funded by the Hastings Museum Foundation’s capital campaign.
The exhibit fills the upper portion of the large lightwell in the center of the museum, focusing on the third floor – but it will easily be visible from below. To recreate a portion of the great inland sea, specially-designed ceiling and wall panels surround the Tylosaurus, with unique lights creating an underwater glow. Educational panels about the time period and the creature surround the exhibit.
“Gary Staab has created something special with this 30-foot-long Tylosaurus,” Matticks said. “It only makes sense to surround the creature in this environment, providing a visually interesting and exciting place to learn about what was swimming through Nebraska some 82 million years ago.”
The sculpture is a full-scale model of what a Tylosaurus may have looked like in real life, drawn from Staab’s extensive knowledge of paleontology and his consultations with working scientists. For this installation, Staab created a Tylosaurus proriger twisting and turning as if preparing to attack its prey.
About Gary Staab
Staab, raised in Grand Island, Nebraska and graduated from Hastings College with a degree in art and museum studies in 1989, is a world-renowned and award-winning paleo-artist. While he was a student at Hastings College, Staab interned at the Hastings Museum helping design and build exhibits and has “had a soft spot for the museum” ever since. In September 2009, Staab installed a Pteranodon longicps – a flying reptile believed to have lived 82 million to 87 million years ago – at the new Morrison-Reeves Science Center at Hastings College. Staab currently has his own studio in Kearney, Missouri. More information on Staab can be found at http://www.staabstudios.com.
The Name the Tylosaurus and Color the Tylosaurus Contests are now closed. Click on the links to see the winners!
| See pictures of the installation process. Click on the images below. |
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Location: Upper Level
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