Bone adventure: how a ROM paleontologist rediscovered a rare dinosaur at the museum.

ROM paleontologist David Evans has found the ultimate skeleton in the closet. When he arrived to head up the ROM's dinosaur research program in July, one of his first tasks was to find a giant sauropod--the same long-necked kind of dinosaur that Fred drove at the quarry on the Flintstones. What no one expected was that Evans would find a skeleton of Barosaurus, one of the rarest North American sauropods, right here at the ROM.

The Museum already had three icons slated for the new gallery: T. rex, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus. A sauropod was the most obvious thing that was missing. Before long, the young paleontologist was able to source a good specimen in Wyoming. But on the plane on the way to see it, an article by famed sauropod expert Jack McIntosh caught his eye. It listed all known barosaur specimens--and one was listed as being at the ROM!

Evans knew there were sauropod bones at the Museum, but he thought, like everyone else at the ROM, that they were a hodgepodge from different specimens of Diplodocus. The Barosaurus wasn't listed in the ROM's records, but fellow ROM paleontologist Kevin Seymour found a 1968 letter from McIntosh identifying the dinosaur as Barosaurus. In the letter, the specimen was listed in black and white: Field Number 155 from Dinosaur National Monument in Utah.

There are only some half dozen Barosaurus specimens in the world, and when Evans started pulling various bones from drawers and shelves, it turned out that the ROM's is the second-most complete.

The dinosaur, which would have weighed 15 tonnes (14.7 tons) when it was alive, was acquired in 1962 by ROM paleontologist Gord Edmond, who had probably hoped to display it in the 1970s galleries. Among its many bones are 4 neck bones, each more than a metre (3G feet) long. When the dinosaur is mounted, it is expected to stretch 24 to 27 metres (80 to 90 feet) in length. Now, when the Temerty Dinosaur Galleries open, ROM visitors will see the largest mounted dinosaur in Canada and the only free-mounted mostly real barosaur skeleton in the world.

Dinosaurs Come Alive on Interactive Video

Four interactive video screens in the new galleries will provide information about the life and times of the dinosaurs on display, including hadrosaurs and the science behind the changing posture of the Corythosaurus, herding behaviour in the horned dinosaur Centrosaurus, the ROM's newly acquired Eurhinosaurus, and Canada's most recently discovered dinosaurs.

Calling all Dinosaur Hunters!

The ever popular Saturday Morning Club offers exciting program options for the budding paleontologist. In Dinosaur Dictionary children ages 6 to 7 will sharpen their expertise on the mighty monsters of the Mesozoic as they craft a flying pterosaur and dig for hadrosaur bones. In Bare Bones children ages 8 to 10 will gain hands-on experience studying real fossils and experiment with casting techniques.

Sessions begin January 19, 2008. To learn more about these and other kids programs, visit www.rom.on.ca and go to Programs/ROMKids. Saturday Morning Club is generously supported by the Philip and Berthe Morton Foundation.