I was visiting the University of Oklahoma a few days ago and as I wrapped up a solid day of physics discussions, my host offered to show me the university’s Sam Noble Museum of Natural History. I readily agreed and we arrived just 45 minutes before the museum closed. There’s normally a $5 admission fee but the cashiers were already counting up the day’s receipts and just waved us in. There’s plenty to see in the Sam Noble Museum, from dioramas of the Cretaceous seas that once covered Oklahoma to the remains of camels that lived there millions of years later. As we made an abbreviated tour back in time, I had two things in the back of my mind: How will I pick out something especially striking from all of the really fine exhibits here; and I really need to get a decent lightweight digital camera. I took a lot of crappy pictures with my iPhone, but at least I did come upon something really unique: The World’s Largest Land Animal Skull.
It belongs to Pentaceratops, a ceratopsian dinosaur 74 million years old. The animal’s frill towers 3.2 meters (10.5 feet) above its chin. On display below it is a certificate from Guinness World Records proclaiming it to be the single largest dinosaur skull ever found. The skull goes along with one of the most complete skeletons of Pentaceratops found to date.
There were many species of Ceratopsian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous Period. The best known is Triceratops, with its distinctive three horns and bony frill around the skull. The number of horns and the shape of the frill varied among the Ceratopsians and there has been a good deal of speculation about their purpose. In the more dramatic artist’s conceptions, they are a means of defense against giant predators like Tyrannosaurus rex. More recently, some paleontologists have come to think that they might have been primarily used as a sexual attractor or as a means of dominance within a herd. I find this last idea easy to believe; even now it’s intimidating to stand in front of this creature. He would have been impressive indeed in life. Animals today are often impressed by size and there’s no reason to think the dinosaurs were any different. I suspect that even a Tyrannosaur might have thought twice about attacking something as big the Pentaceratops appeared to be.
There appears to be an interesting side story to go with the skull. A placard indicates that it was hidden away in the museum's collections, unexamined for fifty years before somebody opened it up and realized what a unique and important specimen it was. It would be interesting to know more about that, but it that's all the placard says and it isn't mentioned on the museum's web site. I've heard similar tales at other museums. They're chronically short of money and manpower so it's not unheard-of for a remarkable fossil to languish for half a century. Of course, from the dinosaur's point of view, that's nothing.
There was plenty more to see, but the museum closed at 5:00 so I had to cut the visit short. I’ll try to get back there sometime and if you happen to be in Norman, Oklahoma, the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History is well worth a visit.