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| From the outside, the Fernbank Museum appears to be an old
building, rather formal and a little gloomy. TRICKERY! TRICKERY! The inside
is beautiful, and the building extends back a fair way, containing three
floors, and a massive central foyer, which is home to the massive dinosaurs. |
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This is the single largest mounted dinosaur skeleton in
the world. Argentinosaurus is being pursued by a Giganotosaurus,
as two species of pterosaur wheel in flight around them. It is simply awesome
to see. |
| You can get a sense of the scale here by the people in the
foreground. Measuring in at some 127 feet, the skeleton has been curved to
fit it into the building. Again, presentation is simple, but dramatically
effective. From any of the stairs around, you can get an incredible view
of the skeletons, and from quite close range too. |
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Giganotosaurus, contender for the crown of king of
the predators, is another inspiring South American dinosaur. I had no idea
either of these specimens were present here, so to see them before me, mounted
and posed, was incredible. |
| This is a great mount of the Giganotosaurus skeleton,
on par with the mount of Sue at the Field
Museum of Natural History. Note the lighter build to the skull than that
of a tyrannosaurid. |
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Here you can better see the details of the skull. The teeth
themselves are different from a tyrannosaurid - these are bladelike and slender,
while a tyrannosaurid's are more conical overall. |
| Two Anhanguera in flight above the dinosaurs. Again,
a lovely use of space in such a way as to help create a sense of atmosphere
to the diorama, without any sacrifice in the existing building's design. |
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Another clever use of space. So you've got some bare wall
space? Turn it into a launching space for another Anhanguera. The
naturalistic poses of the animals also help give the illusion of reality.
Rather than a stock standard position, give them some sense of character
and motion. |
| A flock of smaller pterosaurs, Pterodaustro, wheel
away from the larger dinosaurs. By placing them near to another stairway,
people can observe the delicate details more easily. |
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Not a terribly good shot of the flock, but from another
angle. |
| From the ground floor, looking up at the flock above. You
can also see how high the roof is, and how easily light can pass in during
the day and save on lighting costs. |
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This is a terrarium inside the "Georgia Adventure" gallery, which displays to children the range of environments that can be found within the state. I noticed small fish, and a salamander in this tank - very evocative of my own efforts at frog-care in my own museum. |
This Cambrian ocean diorama is part of a series of models depicting various stages of life in Earth's history. Although the flash obliterated it, there is a clever use of a tray with water on it above each tank, so as to give the effect of dappled light shining through the water. |
Before a large walkthrough series of landscapes, a display is made of damaged specimens, and why it is asked that the public do not touch. Good advice, and I'd like to look into something similar for my museum. |
A giant ground sloth (I'm not 100% sure if it is Megatherium - memory tells me otherwise. No other comments, other than he's a big fuzzy. |
A mural in the Mesozoic section of the history of Georgia. A nice piece of art - but it is a shame about the rather retro looking models in front of it. The hadrosaur is almost laughable. |
Just another shot of the main foyer's ceiling, to illustrate how easy it is to combine artistic aesthetics with the need for sufficient lighting. |
