The scientifically accurate Deinosuchus skeleton – credit, Tellus Science Museum
A museum in Georgia is now home to the world’s first complete and scientifically accurate mounted skeleton of Deinosuchus schwimmeri, one of the largest and most dangerous reptiles to ever live.
Deinosuchus schwimmeri, which walked the eastern United States 83 million to 76 million years ago, was a dinosaur-eating, school-bus-sized relative of modern alligators.
Measuring up to 31 feet (9.45 meters) long, the new Deinosuchus schwimmeri prototype was commissioned by the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville, Georgia.
Made of casts from fossilized remains, it’s a special experience for Georgia children who visit the museum to understand how their state has changed over the millennia.
“Tellus is currently the only museum to have a cast of Deinosuchus schwimmeri, so this is an experience our visitors can’t get anywhere else,” Rebecca Melsheimer, the museum’s curatorial coordinator, told Columbus (Georgia) State University press.
“The scale of the dinosaurs and other creatures that lived during [the Late Cretaceous epoch] is hard to capture in words or pictures. We can tell you that Deinosuchus is 30 feet long, but seeing it is far more impactful.”
Deinosuchus schwimmeri was named after a scientist from CSU who has spent 40 years studying the genus and who worked for another 2 to ensure this new cast at the Tellus Museum is just what the animal would have looked like; as close to it as is possible achieve with just bones.
That scientist, David Schwimmer, saw his first Deinosuchus fossil in 1979, and it led to a career in Paleontology that saw him make major discoveries and publish seminal works on this apex alligator.
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With several Deinosuchus sites within 40 miles of Columbus, the area has been a rich bed of discovery for Schwimmer and the student researchers who have tagged along on his expeditions. Schwimmer said that proximity is also what makes the Tellus Science Museum a natural place for the first Deinosuchus fossil replicas.
“Bones and fossils tell us only part of the story,” Schwimmer said. “Fully assembled, life-size replicas become a blueprint for better understanding the dynamic animals that creatures like Deinosuchus really were.”
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