Wyoming Dinosaur Center
The museum joins mounted dinosaurs with an active fossil-preparation lab and nearby dig sites, making excavation, documentation, preparation, and reconstruction visible as one scientific process.
Artwork inspired by Hans Kleiber
The Wyoming Dinosaur Center connects a traditional skeleton hall to the work that produces it: Nearby Morrison Formation quarries, an active preparation laboratory, and exhibits that distinguish original fossil material from casts and reconstructions. Its most important specimen is easy to overlook—“Lori,” the only known Hesperornithoides, is a small turkey-sized theropod displayed in the same museum as the enormous Supersaurus “Jimbo.”.
The Thermopolis Archaeopteryx adds a second exceptional comparison, preserving details that help visitors think about the dinosaur–bird transition rather than simply admiring scale. Seasonal Dino De-Tours and longer field programs take visitors to active sites, but they are separately priced, weather-dependent experiences; the museum alone still rewards careful attention to the preparation lab and specimen labels.
- Strength
- Working preparation laboratory
- Fieldwork
- Seasonal dig programs
- Allow
- 2–3 hours without a dig
Quick guide
- Original fossils
- Distinguish original fossils from casts.
- Watch
- Study preparation through the laboratory windows.
Read the collection at Wyoming Dinosaur Center
- Opening question
- Begin with find the Thermopolis Archaeopteryx and “Lori” before the largest mounted skeletons draw your attention away.
- Original fossils
- Set beside it study the preparation lab for the sequence from matrix removal and stabilization to research and display.
- Evidence to test
- Compare original bones, casts, and reconstructed elements; labels should tell you what is physically present.
- Conditions check
- Reserve Dino De-Tours or field programs separately; general admission does not include them for Wyoming Dinosaur Center September 16–May 15.
Good to know
Dino De-Tours are separate, first-come, and weather-dependent. The operator says seven daily tours but lists only 9, 10:30, noon, 1:30, and 3—confirm before traveling. The quarry requires six steps each way and is not wheelchair accessible.
Notice these
- Working preparation laboratory
- Seasonal dig programs
- Study preparation through the laboratory windows.