Museum buys model of head of T. rex cousin

A new resident is joining the paleontological exhibit at Havre’s county museum, with this new addition a ferocious meat-eater.

H. Earl Clack Museum manager Jim Spangelo told the board of the museum during its meeting Monday that, any time after Monday, they can pick up the model of the head of an albertosaurus from the Fort Peck Paleontological Inc. Dinosaur Field Station. The Havre museum purchased the model in an online auction for $551.

The Clack Museum funding foundation is providing the money for the purchase.

Spangelo said the head, mounted as if it is coming through the wall where it is displayed, is not a Tyrannosaurus rex as first thought, but actually a cousin of that giant, famous meat-eater.

He said Dave Trexler, paleontologist at the Montana Dinosaur Trails member Two Medicine Dinosaur Center in Bynum, will write up a description of the albertosaurus for the museum to use in creating a display.

Spangelo added that albertosaur fossils have been found in this region, and the Clack Museum has some fossils of that dinosaur in its display.

It will fit in well with the museum’s existing exhibits, Spangelo said.

The purchase opportunity came through the ending of the Fort Peck nonprofit after a vicious lawsuit alleging it violated copyright and ownership by making unauthorized castings of T. rex fossils.

South Dakota-based Black Hills Institute of Geological Research asked for $7.4 million in damages for what it alleged were unauthorized castings of the fossils of T. rexes Stan and Sue, which it said the Fort Peck nonprofit used to fill out incomplete portions of its model of Peck’s Rex, displayed at the field station.

The two parties settled out of court, but the action led to the disbanding of Fort Peck Paleontological Inc. and its assets were sold to members of the Dinosaur Trail in an online auction.

Spangelo told the board members he would find out more information about the size and weight of the model, and they could then finalize plans on how to transport the albertosaurus head to Havre.

The dinosaur, slightly smaller than its more famous cousin, lived in western North America about 70 million years ago. It generally grew to about 30 feet in length and scientists estimate it weighed from about 1 ½ to 2 tons.

It was named for the Canadian province of Alberta, where it first was discovered and where a majority of its fossilized remains were found.