The Hall of Dinosaurs

The Hall of Dinosaurs is host to a collection of meat eating and plant eating dinosaur skeletons and exhibits. Some favorites are the Utahraptor, featured as the villain in Jurassic Park and the GASTONIA burgei, an armored dinosaur named after, Don Burge, the museum’s founding director. Looking from the upper floor of the Hall of Dinosaurs to the “dinosaur pit” below, you will view a spectacular sight with two of the dinosaurs placed in the dramatic "death pose." Newly added items include casts from a super nodosaur, when compared to the bones of the Gastonia, show that it ranks with some of the largest ones in existence. View exhibits that explain everything from dinosaur tracks to eating habits and tooth reproduction. In the lower level of the Hall of Dinosaurs you can view the largest collection of stegosaur tracks that exist. The CEU Prehistoric Museum contains the bulk of Stegosaur tracks ever found. Researchers from foreign countries travel to study our finds, but your junior paleontologist will be equally pleased.

Carnivores (meat eaters)

Allosaurus
'Al' is the museum mascot and the State Vertebrate Fossil of Utah. Allosaurus is not a smaller version of Tyrannosaurus Rex. Allosaurus was most like a great-grandfather to the Tyrannosaurus Rex. 'Al' lived 140 million years ago during the Jurassic Period. Tyrannosaurus Rex lived only 75 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. The differences can be seen in their hands. Allosaurus has three fingers and Tyrannosaurus Rex only has two fingers. The Allosaurus was a carnivore or a flesh-eating dinosaur. He had very sharp serrated teeth that look similar to the cutting edge of a knife. As the Allosaurus lost his teeth, he grew new ones. Our Allosaurus is approximately 70% real bone and 30% reproduction.

Utah Raptor
What do you get when you combine a blockbuster science fiction movie and the scientific proof to back it up? You find out that reality is more shocking than fiction. That is just what happened when CEU Museum crews began work in a remote quarry near Moab, Utah. The film Jurassic Park was just beginning production when members of the museum uncovered a new Cretaceous dinosaur. After working at the quarry for several days, museum employee Carl Limone unearthed the find of the century - the bony core of a Cretaceous killing machine that would rival the fictitious giant Velociraptor in Jurassic Park for size. Dubbed the Utahraptor or "Utah's Predator", this killer gained worldwide attention.

It is thought that with the super-slashing claw on each hind foot, the Utahraptor could deliver a death sentence to a dinosaur with one kick. Based on its size, by rotating its limbs and extending its claw, it could make a cut 5 to 6 feet long with one slice. It is thought that Utahraptors moved in packs, where they were able to choose dinosaurs much larger than themselves as prey.

Torvosaur was a large carnivorous dinosaur from the Jurassic Period. It is 3 times larger than any other Torvosaur discovered. It is 40 feet long and comparable to T-Rex. The Torvosaur was discovered in the San Rafael area. The Torvosaur is now on display in the Museum.

Herbivores (plant eaters)

Our museum is host to a variety of dinosaurs including the herbivores, commonly known as "the plant-eaters". A brief description of each dinosaur is mentioned below.

Gastonia burgei
This is an original museum discovery. It was named for the director of this museum, Don Burge. Built low to the ground and heavily armored with large plates and spikes, this dinosaur resembled a combination of an ankylosaurs and a nodosaur. Unlike its killer quarry mate, the Utahraptor, the Gastonia burgei was a plant-eater.

Camarasaurus
Camarasaurus is a Sauropod or long-necked dinosaur. His rounded teeth show that he ate plants. This Camarasaurus specimen has a scapula or shoulder blade that is 3 1/2 feet long. It could have weighed over 20 tons. It is approximately 50% real bone. The Camarasaurus also came from the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. He lived during the Jurassic period of time.

Camptosaurus
Camptosaurus was a plant eater with a very small head and small flat teeth. He had no claws, but his long powerful legs made him a good runner. This specimen is a cast of real bone. It was discovered at the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. It came from the Jurassic Age locality.

Chasmosaurus
Chasmosaurus was a dinosaur of the Cretaceous period. A large bone at the base of its neck, called a frill, protected its neck from attacks. Chasmosaurus is believed to have roamed this area. Four and five toed tracks have been found in local coalmines. This specimen is a cast.

Prosaurolophus
Prosaurolophus was a duckbilled dinosaur able to swim but also walk on land. It is believed that this dinosaur was active in eastern Utah during the Cretaceous period even though no complete skeletons have ever been found here. A cast was found in Canada.

Stegosaurus
The Stegosaurus is one of the best known dinosaurs but it is comparatively rare. Few stegosaurus have been recovered so there is an argument over the arrangement of the plates on its back. The Stegosaurus was a plant eater or a herbivore. They had very small flat teeth. The Stegosaurus had such a small head that his brain was only the size of a walnut. To compensate for his small brain he had a second brain positioned behind the large bone above his back leg. This wasn't really a brain but a large mass of nerves that enabled him to control his tail. The Stegosaurus specimen is approximately 15% real bone.

Until the early 1980s, little was known about early Cretaceous dinosaurs and the Cedar Mountain formation was thought not to contain significant fossils. After the Long Walk Quarry discovery (late 1980s) in one of Emery County's Cedar Mountain Formation locations, interest in the Lower Cretaceous dinosaur fauna fairly exploded. In the last few years, many new sites have been located in the Cedar Mountain Formation of Eastern Utah and more than ten new dinosaur species have been discovered, including the Utahraptor and the Gastonia. This provides a vital understanding of the dinosaur world between two well known and well-studied periods of time: the Upper Jurassic and the Upper Cretaceous.

Displayed with the Utahraptor and the Gastonia, are life-size cardboard skeletal drawings of some new dinosaur species. These drawings are also helpful tools in studying the specimen while its bones are undergoing their long preparation process.