March 4, 2004 | Read Time: 2 minutes
When the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis starting planning its Dinosphere exhibit, set to
open in June, officials decided that nothing but the real thing would do when it came to dinosaur skeletons. In contrast to the practice at many museums of using reproductions of dinosaur bones, the Indianapolis museum wanted to display genuine fossils.
“One of the first questions kids have is, ‘Is it real?’” says Jeffrey H. Patchen, the museum’s president. “We believe kids must see the real thing.”
To get the best and most complete skeletons for display, the museum has purchased pieces from private collectors. But that decision has triggered criticism from some paleontologists, who worry that scientific research is being compromised for entertainment’s sake.
“Commercial collectors are good at getting things out of the ground and restoring them, but a lot of information important to scientists is lost when that happens,” says Kevin Padian, a professor of integrative biology at the Berkeley Museum of Paleontology, in Berkeley, Calif. “Much of the biomolecular work done on fossils requires very careful analysis at the time they’re found.”
Mr. Patchen says the museum shares concerns about ensuring the research value of fossils.
He says the museum formed an international advisory group composed mainly of academic paleontologists to oversee the research and preparation plans for each fossil.
He disagrees, however, with the view that some skeletons should be off-limits to museums.
“The opportunity to display extraordinary fossils, regardless of whether they are excavated by a university or a private nonprofit, provides the opportunity for the public to share in the find,” he says.
The museum also plans to display pieces of fossilized bone for visitors to touch. Says Mr. Patchen: “A piece of cast resin feels much different than a 65-million-year-old fossil.”
