Therizinosaurs had, until 1999, been found only in China and were thought to be large, turkey like dinosaurs with feathers and sickle type claws. Yup, with feathers

The kick off for the 2011 Summer Glen Canyon Lecture Series features one of my favorite topics – Dinosaurs. This lecture will focus on the Therizinosaur found in the Lake Powell area and currently on display at the Carl Hayden Visitor Center at Glen Canyon Dam.

Lecture Information

Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Carl Hayden Visitor Center @ Glen Canyon Dam
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
Hwy 89, Page, Arizona
7:00 pm MST – Doors open at 6:30

Background Paleontology of Glen Canyon

This is a background post I wrote Lake Powell Paleontology – Dinosaurs, Plesiosaurs, and much more in Glen Canyon and The Grand Staircase Monument – Part 1

The above post is a good introduction to the summer of 2000 in the Lake Powell area when we not only dug the plesiosaurs my son found, but a Therizinosaur was found in the same area.

Therizinosaur

Therizinosaurs had, until 1999, been found mainly in China and were thought to be large, turkey like dinosaurs with feathers and sickle type claws. Yup, with feathers! Not only that, but this critter was found in the Tropic Shale, basically a layer which was the bottom of the Western Interior Seaway during the time of the dinosaurs. This land dinosaur was found about sixty miles out to sea. How did it get there? How did it end up so intact? These are questions that Dr. Gillette will address on Wednesday night.

Dr. David Gillette is the Curator of Paleontology in the Department of Geology at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Arizona

Please come out to celebrate one of the great paleontological finds of our area. On a personal note, I was fortunate enough to help on this dig due to the fact my son, David, had found several plesiosaurs in this same area. In a coming post I’ll post photos from this dig site in 2000.

The exhibit, Therizinosaur: Mystery of the Sickle-Claw Dinosaur, was first created and exhibited at the Museum of Northern Arizona in 2007. The exhibit will be on display at the Carl Hayden Visitor Center at Glen Canyon Dam through March 2012. The exhibit and grand opening event are sponsored by the National Park Service at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, the Upper Colorado Region of the Bureau of Reclamation at Glen Canyon Dam, Navajo Generating Station, City of Page, Arizona, Page Steel, Colorado River Discovery, Overland Canyon Tours, and Antelope Point Marina

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