Museum’s Triceratops “Bob” portrayed in movie

Valley City (CSi) The movie, “Night at the Museum,” features a 65 million year old Triceratops.

Wes Anderson says the real 65 million year old fossil, “Bob” remains on display at the Barnes County Historical Society’s Museum, in Valley City.

Anderson invites movie-goers to see the film and then come “meet Bob,” in person at the museum.

It’s open with free admission Mon-Sat 10-4PM and other times by arrangement. Group tours are welcome!

For more information, contact Wes Anderson, 701-845-0966

Anderson explains more about Bob the Triceratops:

“This specimen was excavated in 2003 on the Craig and Bobbi Egeland Elk Ranch in Bowman County, North Dakota by Alan Komrosky and Hell Creek Relics.

Bob is from the Cretaceous Period in the Hell Creek formation dated to sixty-five million years old. Bob’s skull measures seven feet, two inches from the back of the frill to the tip of the rostrum. It is by far the largest skull we have ever seen.

We believe this would be the largest triceratops skeleton out there at twenty-six feet. We have twenty-one out of twenty-four of the largest bones of its body so by bone mass we are well over ninety percent complete.

Because it is typical to be missing some of the smaller bones the bone count is still extraordinary at seventy percent. His left femur is four inches longer than the right which is unusual and gives him some definite character.

The name ‘Triceratops’ comes from the Greek language, with ‘tri’ meaning three and ‘keratops’ meaning horned face.

Triceratops lived in the late Cretaceous Period (around 65 million years ago).

The Triceratops is one of the most easily recognizable dinosaurs due to its large body, unique frill and three horns.

It needed its three horns to try and protect itself from the Tyrannosaurus Rex which lived during the same time period.

It is believed that fully grown Triceratops were about 26ft long, 10ft high and weighed anywhere from 6 to 12 tons.

The skull of a Triceratops alone could grow over 7ft in length.

The Triceratops was a plant eating (herbivore) dinosaur.”