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The Dinosaur Times 
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December 2016
Issue 74
 
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Kick off your week-end of family holiday activities in Woodland Park by having “Breakfast with Santa” sponsored by the Kiwanis at the UPCC on December 3rd from 8:00am-11:00am. Attend the Tweed’s Sounds of Christmas Holiday Home Tour (details below) and end the day with the parade. The Woodland Park Lighter Side of Christmas Parade starts at 6pm in downtown WP and this year’s parade includes a Crazy Hat Contest. Wear your wildest hat and be there for the judging at the Ute Pass Cultural Center after the tree lighting ceremony. Santa and Mrs. Claus will be at the UPCC after the parade. Refreshments will be served and everyone is welcome.
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This December 3rd and 4th is the annual Tweed’s Sounds of the Christmas Holiday Home Tour. The RMDRC is helping to sponsor the event which features 6 beautifully decorated homes in Woodland Park on this year’s tour. This tour will really get you in the holiday spirit and is a great opportunity to get some Christmas decorating ideas for your own home from professional designers. Enjoy live music in every home provided by Woodland Winds, Madrigal Singers, Mountain Brass and many more talented musicians. Fill your stockings by shopping the online marketplace at www.wphht.org. A hospitality house at 107 Sundial Drive will be available for tickets, light refreshments and restroom facilities. The non-profit organizations which will benefit from the proceeds of the 2015 event are Ute Pass Historical Society, The Clothes Closet Ministry and Friends of the Rampart Library District. Tickets for the home tour are $15.00 or 2 for $25.00 in advance. At the door the day of the event, tickets are $17.00, students K-12 tickets are $5.00.
FROM THE EDUCATION DESK
It is December and the end of 2016 is coming up! It went so fast for me and all of a sudden here comes 2017. It has been a wonderful year for our museum and so much of it is due to all of you who visit us during the year and come to our special events. We are grateful for our members, old and new, and thank you all for spreading the word about our world class museum tucked in the mountains of beautiful Woodland Park.
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Come see what this Daspletosaurus looks like all put together.
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"Ava"
Christmas break for a lot of you goes on until Jan. 9th, so try and stop by the museum and see what is new before heading back to school. One new and important exhibit is the Daspletosaurus, a 35 foot specimen along with a New Centrosaurine Ceratopsian nicknamed “AVA”, which is a new genus of dinosaur, just as you enter the main hall of the museum. Very impressive!
FYI:
If it is what it seems...
The skull of a 140 million year old dinosaur believed to be Apatosaurus louisae was found at the Mygatt-Moore Quarry by 8 year old Lachlan Barrett of Florida while on a dig vacation with his grandmother. It is only one of four such skulls that have been discovered according to Julia McHugh, curator of paleontology for the Museum of Western Colorado in Fruita, Co. If it proves to be what the scientists think it is, it would become just the fourth known such specimen and the only one with vertebrae still attached.
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Julia McHugh, curator of paleontology for the Museum of Western Colorado
It is going to be a long time between the discovery of this skull and the displaying of the skull. Dr. McHugh is confident it will reveal the brain case and eye orbits when the preparation is finished. For now, the top of the head remains encased in rock and only the palate and some teeth roots are visible.

“When I was digging I found this thing with white rings around it. I pulled it out and put it aside”, said Lachlan. “A paleontologist came to my house and told me I had found the jaw of an apatosaurus”. Those “white rings” were teeth that were embedded in the skull when the dinosaur died in a bog that contained the remains of many other dinosaurs.

The skull was found some 4 feet below the surface. Allosaur wrist bones were also found when they took away some of the overlaying rock. These are rare finds in themselves. The vertebrae found makes this skull unique among the four known or suspected apatosaur skulls.

Sauropod skulls are rare because they were very light and tended to fall apart into dozens of pieces when they died, said Brooks Britt, from Brigham Young University. They are called the headless wonders because the skulls are so difficult to find. If you find an articulated skull, that is fantastic!

“I really love dinosaurs, and I might ask my grandma if I can do it again” Lachlan said.


Geri Lebold
Education Director



 
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Spend some time shopping at Prehistoric Paradise, the largest dinosaur store in the region for hundreds of unique gifts including real fossils, jewelry, games, books, stuffed dinosaurs, t-shirts and much more! A family membership makes a great gift that can be enjoyed for the entire year. If you have someone who’s difficult to buy for, a gift card is the perfect solution. Save yourself time and money by letting our staff gift wrap your purchases free of charge.
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20% OFF gift shop purchase
Limited to one coupon per customer. Cannot be combined with other discounts or coupons.
Expires 12/31/2016
Barcode
20off
Dinosaur Resource Center
 
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Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive December 17th at 12:30 and at 1:00 Mrs. Claus will wrap you up in warm winter fun with her Christmas songs and stories and the best part is everyone gets to make a colorful Christmas elf ornament to take home. Christmas treat bags will be given to all children attending the show, so hop aboard your sleighs and ride on down for a jolly good time. Additionally, Santa will be at the RMDRC December 18th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd from 11am-2pm so bring the kids in to let him know your Christmas wishes.
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The 10th Annual Colorado Kids Free Day will be held at the RMDRC on December 27th. This annual event presents an opportunity to bring the whole family out for a day of education and entertainment from 10:00am-4:00pm. Flash and Thelma Memorial Hedgehog Rescue will be here with their hedgehogs. Learn about these adorable creatures which are the oldest living live bearing mammals. They were here with the dinosaurs and still thriving!
The Space Foundation will be demonstrating “infrared technology”. It is not only one of the newest things happening in science but it is used by animals. Reptiles can “see” in infrared, which allows them to spot prey in the dark or behind foliage. See how it works and get a hands on demonstration illuminating how hot you really are!
Join Professor Steven Veatch in a hands on demonstration and help peel back the layers of time. Work with Ice Age fossils from a Columbian mammoth to tiny Ice Age fossils. Help reconstruct a mammoth with everyday materials to understand how big they were.
The Friends of Dinosaur Ridge will have a booth where you can explore several plaster cast dig boxes as well as decorate a T.rex to take home.
John Patterson will have Dinosaur art lessons and demonstrations.
So come on up and have a fun day at the DRC! Be sure to come with questions and bring your cameras! All educators will be here from 10:00am-4:00pm with hands-on activities.  Two kids under 12 will be admitted FREE with each paid regular adult admission.
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The Dinosaur Resource Center will be closing at 3pm on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. We will reopen December 26th and January 2nd at 9am as usual so bring your friends and family in for a fun day while they are visiting.
 
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Watch our calendar for upcoming events.
www.rmdrc.com
Saturday, January 7, from 11:00am-3:00pm, Steve and Susanne Leininger will have a STEM table with different activities and something for each of you to take home.
Saturday, January 28th, geologist Steven Veatch giving a class on “Basic Paleontology”.
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Check out the Dinosaur Resource Center’s “Dinosaur Nerds,” YouTube channel, led by uber-nerd paleo twerp Jacob Jett.  Watch for a behind-the-scenes look at what’s going on in the museum and our lab, including fossil reconstruction projects and our visitor experience guides’ hidden gems. Check out all the videos online at dinosaurnerds.com; subscribe to the channel to stay on top of what we’re up to.

Check out lab updates on our blog.  Click here!
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Mike and I and the staff of Triebold Paleontology and the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center thank you for your continued support and wish you and yours the very merriest Christmas and holiday season ever. We look forward to seeing you soon at the Dinosaur Resource Center!
JJ Triebold
President
 
Store Hours
Monday - Saturday 9:00am - 6:00pm
Sunday 10:00am - 5:00pm
Closed - Easter, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day & New Year's Day
We have a marvelous world class museum here in Woodland Park. We feature an awe-inspiring display of dinosaurs, prehistoric marine reptiles, pterosaurs and fish of North America’s late Cretaceous period. Our gift store, Prehistoric Paradise is the regions largest dinosaur gift shop and is always free to visit.
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