Royal Tyrrell Museum Palaeo Arts Contest

PALAEO ARTS CONTEST

Palaeontologists use fossils to understand ancient animals and environments. Palaeoartists then help scientists to bring their research to life. Here’s your chance to be a palaeoartist!

The Royal Terryll Museum's annual Palaeo Arts Contest is open to all grade levels, has prizes for every winner, and offers the chance to have your winning artwork displayed at the Museum. This year, their scientists have selected a Lambeosaurus skull to discover and interpret through art!

Students should do research about their topic, then let their imagination go wild by turning what they have learned into an original work of art.

All contest entries must be postmarked, or delivered to the Museum, no later than December 31, 2014.

Lambeosaurus is a type of hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaur).
These plant-eating dinosaurs lived in herds and sported interesting crests on their skulls.

For more information on the contest and how to apply, please click here or visit www.tyrrellmuseum.com

POSTER CATEGORIES

KINDERGARTEN    Hadrosaur Family 
Palaeontologists think that the head crests of hadrosaurs (duck-billed dinosaurs) got bigger and developed as the dinosaurs grew up. What do you think? Did baby hadrosaurs have crests? Were the crest of males and females different? Draw a Lambeosaurus family showing what features made them the same, and what made them different.

GRADES 1 – 2         Lambeosaurus Locomotion By looking at their fossil leg bones and footprint tracks, palaeontologists believe that hadrosaurs could walk on four legs (quadrupedal), or sometimes run on two legs (bipedal). What do you think? Show how Lambeosaurus got around.

GRADES 3 – 4         Dinosaur Defense
How might Lambeosaurus have protected themselves from predators? By herding? Running away? Calling for help? ShowLambeosaurus defending itself from predators.

GRADES 5 – 6         Head Gear Most hadrosaur species looked pretty similar, but the crests on their skulls were very different. Show how hadrosaurs used their crests. Was it for species recognition? To get a date? Team sports? Playing in a musical band? Perhaps a wacky fashion show? Be creative!

SECONDARY SCHOOL OPEN CATEGORIES

JUNIOR HIGH (GRADES 7–9)
SENIOR HIGH (GRADES 10 – 12)Use whatever artistic medium you like to create a masterpiece inspired by the Lambeosaurus skull. You can paint, draw, sculpt, build, or carve to create your own unique, wall-mounted artwork. Make sure it can be shipped to the Museum for judging. If you win, we’ll put your work on display in the Palaeo Arts Contest gallery for the world to see!

FOLLOW THE RULES! 

1. Poster categories (Kindergarten to Grade 6)

Media: 
• You can use any 2D medium you wish! (pencil crayons, paint, chalk, collage, etc.)

Format:• All poster category entries must be sent flat—not rolled or folded.
• They must be on 28cm x 43cm (11” x 17”) ledger size paper.
• The drawing must be oriented horizontally (landscape). 
• The label with your name and address must be attached to the back of the paper.
 See label information on page 5 for complete details.
NOTE: Entries that are rolled, folded, have the wrong orientation, have incorrectly positioned labels, or are submitted on the wrong paper size will be DISQUALIFIED.

2. Open categories (Grades 7 to 12)

Media:  • You can use any 2D or 3D medium you like! (paint, pencil, digital art, sculpture, etc.).

NOTE: Digitally produced entries must be converted to an Acrobat PDF format. Convert the image to CMYK, colours. When saving or exporting to PDF, choose the “optimized for print” setting. Do not choose the screen option.

Format: • The maximum dimensions for the open category are 90cm x 90cm (36” x 36”) 
• Any 3D elements must NOT protrude more than 15cm (6”). 
• Your art must be wall-mountable (No free standing entries, please). 

• Entries MUST be sent to the Museum for judging. You may send your work by mail, or deliver it in person during the Museum’s regular hours of operation. All entries are sent at the artists’ own risk and expense.
 • You must attach the label with your name and address to your entry, but it does not need to be on the front of your artwork. Please, feel free to tell us more about the techniques and materials you used to create your art.

NOTE: Keep in mind; your artwork MUST be delivered to the Museum for judging. So, design and package it accordingly, so it does not arrive damaged

Judging Criteria:
Artwork is judged on:

1) Composition 2) Imagination 3) Artistic skill 4) Ability to follow directions

NOTE: If you want to tell us what inspired you, or more about how you created your artwork, you may attach extra information to the back of your entry for the judges to read!

IMPORTANT DETAILS:
• All contest entries must be postmarked or delivered to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, on or before, December 31, 2014. The contest is open to students in all countries.
• Students may only enter one piece of art and can only win one prize.
• Only original artwork is eligible. Use references to learn more about your topic, but don’t copy from existing artwork.
• Judging takes place in January 2015 and winners will be contacted on, or before, January 31, 2015.
• “Best Overall” and “Best in Grade” winners will have their entry displayed at the Museum in spring 2015.

ALL ENTRIES BECOME PROPERTY OF THE ROYAL TYRRELL MUSEUM.(So, take a photo of your work to remember it before it is sent to us!)

Current Opportunities at the Royal Tyrrell Museum

The Royal Tyrrell Museum has tons of employment opportunities, especially for summer students! Check out http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/about/current_positions.htm for more information.

Dinosaurs in Alberta's History

When people talk about history, they tend to discuss past events, particularly in  human affairs.  One amazing aspect of Alberta's history, however, is not of human origins, but that of the mighty Dinosaur!  Its hard to believe that these large reptile creatures that are seen in countless movies roamed the vast valleys and hills of Alberta.  Yes, indeed they did.  This is an article from the National Post online newspaper dated November 28, 2013.  Enjoy!

Alberta researchers unearth rare complete baby dinosaur fossil

It’s incredibly rare to find a complete skeleton of a baby dinosaur, but that’s just what a team of researchers at the University of Alberta and The Royal Tyrrell Museum did when they found the juvenile fossil of a Chasmosaurus belli, a dinosaur similar to a Triceratops. The find is the smallest ever for dinosaurs of this type.

The team made the find in Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta.

“The big ones just preserve better: They don’t get eaten, they don’t get destroyed by animals,” Dr. Philip Currie, a paleobiologist at the University of Alberta and research associate at the Tyrrell Museum told Live Science. “You always hope you’re going to find something small and that it will turn out to be a dinosaur.”

The skeleton was so well preserved, it seems, because the animal was sucked into a sink hole and trapped just as it died. The team estimates the dino was about three years old when it perished and about a metre and a half long. Ceratopsids such as the Chasmosaurus and the Triceratops reach full size after about 20 years when just the animal’s skull would have been about two metres long.

The corpse did not have bite marks or other obvious causes for death, so the scientists presume that it died from drowning.

“I think it may have just gotten trapped out of its league in terms of water current,” Currie told LiveScience.

The fossil was found when Currie noticed something sticking out of the side of the hill which turned out to be the frill of the Chasmosaur.

Adult Chasmosaurus finds are relatively common Dinosaur Provincial Park, which is about two and a half hours southeast of Calgary and one of the most active fossil sites in the world. The park, where more than 40 dinosaur species have been found, was named a World Heritage site in 1979. In 1985, the Royal Tyrrell Museum opened near the park, which offered a place to display and study the finds from the area.

Currie — a preeminent palaeontologist and one of the inspirations for Jurassic Park‘s Alan Grant — was one of the people to push for the creation of the Tyrell museum and is supporting the creation of the Philip J. Currie museum in Northern Alberta to serve as a similar resource to the Tyrell in the south.

Earth scraper on Fort McMurray road construction site exposes marine reptile fossil

Information in this post were retrieved from the Alberta Government Information Bulletin on January 8, 2013. For more information, please visit their site by clicking HERE.

Royal Tyrrell Museum staff recently collected the remains of a large marine reptile estimated to be 110 to 114 million years old. The specimen was discovered during a road construction project near Fort McMurray.

When an earth scraper exposed fossil bones, they were examined by an expert from Aeon Paleontological Consulting Ltd., who was on site in accordance with Alberta’s Historical Resources Act. Flatiron Construction, the project contractor for Alberta Transportation, constructed a wooden frame and tarp structure around the fossil so the ground could be thawed for excavation.

Dr. Donald Henderson led a Royal Tyrrell Museum crew to Fort McMurray on December 10 to examine and collect the specimen. It was found to be a nearly complete long-necked plesiosaur. Plesiosaurs lived in the sea that covered most of Alberta during the Cretaceous Period.

While conditions inside the structure were comfortable during the seven-day process, temperatures of -35 C with wind chill made loading the fossil onto a truck a challenge. The fossil was transported to the Royal Tyrrell Museum for preparation and study.

Although the skull and one flipper are missing, the rest of the skeleton is complete, including the tail. The body measures approximately one metre wide with flippers extending about one metre to each side. It is the fourth plesiosaur found in the Fort McMurray area over the last three years.

Owned and operated by Alberta Culture, the Royal Tyrrell Museum is located six kilometres northwest of Drumheller on Highway 838. Open year round. For more information visit www.tyrrellmuseum.com or call 403-823-7707 (dial 310-0000 for toll-free access within Alberta).

Visit www.culture.alberta.ca for more information on all of Alberta’s historic sites and museums.

Editor’s Note: Photos of the find are available at culture.alberta.ca/newsroom. Media inquiries may be directed to:

Leanna Mohan
Marketing Coordinator
Royal Tyrrell Museum
403- 823-7707Leanna.Mohan@gov.ab.ca
To call toll-free within Alberta dial 310-0000.