Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology

The Royal Tyrrell Museum is a big building.

It is in a place called Alberta. The museum is in a park. It has many old bones. There are more than 160,000 fossils there. Most of these bones came from Alberta. The museum shows about 800 fossils to people.

You can see a very well-kept dinosaur there. It is a great place to learn about the past.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum is a special place for fossils.

It is in Drumheller, Alberta, in Canada. The museum is located in Midland Provincial Park.

It was named for Joseph Burr Tyrrell. He was a geologist who found a dinosaur fossil long ago.

The museum has a huge collection. It has over 160,000 fossils. This is the largest fossil collection in Canada. It even holds five Guinness World Records.

One record is for a very well-kept Borealopelta fossil.

Visitors can see about 800 fossils on display. Some are in the Dinosaur Hall. You can see skeletons of a Triceratops and a Tyrannosaurus there.

Some fossils are used for research. Scientists study them to learn about history. You can even watch experts work in the preparation lab.

They carefully get the fossils ready for people to see. The museum also has a garden. It has plants that look like the ones from the Cretaceous era.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology is a famous place for studying ancient life.

It sits in Midland Provincial Park near Drumheller, Alberta, in Canada. This museum is more than just a place to look at bones. It is also a research facility where experts study the history of the Earth.

The museum holds the largest collection of fossils in all of Canada. It even holds five Guinness World Records for its unique finds. One record is for a very well-preserved Borealopelta fossil.

Many different things happen to keep the museum running. Scientists use the fossils for a research program to document geological history. Some fossils are kept in a preparation lab where technicians get them ready for people to see.

Visitors can walk through thirteen different exhibits to see these treasures. Some exhibits are organized by geologic eras, like the Cenozoic Gallery. Others are organized by location, such as the Burgess Shale exhibit. The museum even has a Cretaceous Garden. This garden uses living plants that are relatives of the greenery from that era.

Building this museum took a lot of planning and work. In 1981, the provincial government announced plans to build it. The museum's first director was a man named David Baird. He helped lead the development and chose a special name. He named it after Joseph Burr Tyrrell, a geologist from the Geological Survey of Canada.

Tyrrell found the first reported dinosaur fossil in the Red Deer River valley in 1884. The museum officially opened to the public on September 25, 1985.

The museum has grown quite a bit over the years. It was renamed the Royal Tyrrell Museum in June 1990. This happened after Queen Elizabeth II gave it the title "royal."

The building was expanded twice in the 21st century. The first expansion was the ATCO Tyrrell Learning Centre, which finished in 2003. The second expansion was a learning lounge that opened in 2019. This new part cost about C$9.3 million to build. The provincial government gave C$5.7 million, and the federal government gave C$3.5 million.

You can find many amazing things inside the museum walls. The Dinosaur Hall has over thirty mounted skeletons.

You can see a Triceratops and a Tyrannosaurus there. One specimen is named Black Beauty, and it is very complete. The museum also has a special exhibit for marine reptiles. It features a Shonisaurus, which is the largest marine reptile in the world.

The new learning lounge lets you see how dinosaurs moved and ate. It even has a bronze statue of an Albertosaurus for you to see.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology is a world-class research facility and museum.

It is located in Midland Provincial Park near Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. The museum serves two main purposes. It functions as a place for public exhibits and as a professional research center. Its research mandate is to document and analyze the geological and palaeontological history of the Earth.

Because it holds such a vast and unique collection, it is a vital site for scientific study.

The museum operates through a complex system of collection and research. It manages a massive personal collection of over 160,000 cataloged fossils. Among these are more than 350 holotypes, which are the single physical specimens used to formally describe a species. The museum uses these fossils for two distinct paths. First, many specimens are used in the museum's research program to understand ancient life. Second, approximately 800 fossils are selected for display in public exhibits. Only about 0.5 percent of the total collection is on display at any given time. This ensures that the majority of the fossils remain available for scientific investigation.

Visitors can explore several different types of exhibits. Some galleries are organized by geologic eras, such as the Cenozoic Gallery or the Palaeozoic Era. Other exhibits focus on specific locations or fossil deposits, like the Burgess Shale exhibit. There are also specialized halls, such as the Dinosaur Hall, which houses over thirty mounted skeletons. This includes a Tyrannosaurus known as Black Beauty, which is the fourteenth-most complete specimen of its kind in the world.

For those interested in the science itself, the Preparation Lab allows visitors to watch technicians work. These specialists prepare fossils for either research or public display.

The history of the museum began with government planning in the late 1970s. In 1981, the Alberta provincial government announced plans to build a palaeontology museum. This was part of a larger initiative by Premier Peter Lougheed to create a network of museums in rural Alberta. The development was led by the first director, David Baird. He chose to name the institution after Joseph Burr Tyrrell.

Tyrrell was a geologist for the Geological Survey of Canada. In 1884, he accidentally discovered the first reported dinosaur fossil in the Red Deer River valley while searching for coal. The museum officially opened to the public on September 25, 1985.

The museum has undergone significant changes and expansions since its founding. In June 1990, Queen Elizabeth II bestowed the title "royal" upon the institution. This changed the name to the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. The building has also grown physically through two major 21st-century expansions. The first was the ATCO Tyrrell Learning Centre, completed in 2003. This addition included classrooms and a laboratory to support students from elementary to post-secondary levels. The second expansion was a learning lounge completed in 2019. This project cost approximately C$9.3 million. The provincial government provided C$5.7 million, while the federal government provided C$3.5 million. This was the first time the museum received cultural infrastructure funding from the federal government.

The museum's collection is scientifically significant on a global scale. It holds five Guinness World Records due to its unique specimens. For example, it houses the world's most well-preserved thyreophora, a fossil named Borealopelta.

It also contains an Albertonectes fossil with the longest neck ever recorded. The collection includes fossils from various periods, such as the Cretaceous, Palaeocene, and Palaeozoic. While many fossils come from fieldwork in Alberta, the museum also acquires specimens through donations, purchases, and industrial salvage operations. This diverse sourcing helps build a complete picture of Earth's history.

The museum's location and design are closely tied to its scientific mission. It sits within the fossil-bearing strata of the Late Cretaceous Horseshoe Canyon Formation. The building was designed by BCW Architects to harmonize with the surrounding badlands. The lead architect, Doug Craig, followed 27 specific requirements from the director. These included making the entrance easy to find and providing spaces where visitors' eyes could adjust to the light. The grounds include the Badlands Interpretive Trail, which is used for both public hiking and school programs. This connection between the building, the local geology, and the research makes the museum a complete center for palaeontology.