Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs

One of two halls in the David H. Koch Dinosaur Wing, the Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs displays fossils from one of the two major groups of dinosaurs. Saurischians are characterized by grasping hands, in which the thumb is offset from the other fingers. This hall features the imposing mounts of Tyrannosaurus rex and Apatosaurus.

Branching off the main line are alcoves containing smaller groups of dinosaurs within the saurischian family: theropods, marked by a three-toed foot; tetanurans, which have a three-fingered hand; and finally, coelurosaurs, a group of saurischian dinosaurs with relatively long arms. This group includes maniraptors, whose evolutionary branch extends to birds—the only group of dinosaurs alive today.

In a corridor leading to this hall, video footage and archival photographs explore the history of paleontology at the Museum from the first fossil expedition in 1891 to the present day. On display are a Diplodocus pelvis found in 1897, the first fossil dinosaur specimen collected by Museum researchers; mock-ups of a preparation lab and a fossil site in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert; and a cast of the fossilized remains of a nesting oviraptorid female, found in Mongolia in 1994, which confirmed that some dinosaurs incubated their eggs like modern birds.

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The Allosaurus and Barosaurus dinosaur mounts in a dramatic staged face-off in the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda. In a dramatic representation of an imagined prehistoric encounter between predator and prey, a Barosaurus rears up to protect its young from an attacking Allosaurus. The enormous Barosaurus is the world’s tallest freestanding dinosaur mount, and composed of casts of real bone, since fossils are too heavy to support in this way.

In This Hall

Exhibit Tyrannosaurus rex What’s the story behind the Museum’s T. rex fossil? Exhibit Allosaurus Allosaurus is shown feeding on a carcass with bones marked by grooves. Exhibit Apatosaurus The Museum's Apatosaurus, collected in the late 1890s, was the first sauropod dinosaur ever mounted. Exhibit Coelophysis Museum explorers uncovered Coelophysis specimens in a "death assemblage"– where a group of the same animal is preserved. Exhibit Deinonychus At 7 feet long, Deinonychus belonged to a group of dinosaurs called maniraptors, or "hand-robbers." Exhibit The Glen Rose Trackway See a 107-million-year-old series of fossilized dinosaur footprints, excavated from a riverbed in Texas. Exhibit Velociraptor Velociraptor was a fierce predator, as evidenced by the sharp teeth of this specimen.