The University Record, December 4, 2000

Touchable dino skin at Exhibit Museum

Under the direction of exhibit preparators Dan Erickson and John Klausmeyer, LS&A senior Mike Cherney is shown here putting the finishing touches on a cast of the head of the dinosaur Allosaurus fragilis. The touchable reconstruction, featured in the Exhibit Museum of Natural History’s exhibit hall, was a highlight of Saturday’s Dinosaur Discovery Day.

The reconstruction has replicated skin on one side and the skull with some of the underlying soft tissue on the other side. Both the reconstruction and a skull on a 28-foot-long skeleton mounted in the exhibit hall are copies of an original fossil that was found in Utah. When alive 150 million years ago, the predator Allosaurus had a powerful bite, deadly claws and a strong, agile body. Photo by Marcia L. Ledford, U-M Photo Services

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