Revisiting Aquilops and Pentaceratops at the Sam Noble Museum

One reason I was so happy to be invited to the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History to talk about horned dinosaurs is because the museum has two of the coolest ones on display: Aquilops, the smallest and earliest ceratopsian in North America, and Pentaceratops, one of the largest and latest. Naturally I had to check in on my baby, and its rather more imposing relative.

Here’s the Aquilops exhibit without any big hairy mammal heads mucking up the view.

The skull of Aquilops in three versions: the actual holotype fossil down below, a reconstruction of the distorted skull with the missing bits sculpted in by preparator and reptile-reconstructor extraordinaire Kyle Davies (see more of his work here), and a reconstruction of the skull as it might have looked before it went through the ravages of taphonomy.

And the holotype skull, OMNH 34557, by itself. If you’re wondering why I’m making with so many photos, it’s because my last attempt, 10 years ago, was not without criticism. I was still just rolling with an iPhone this time, but iPhones are a lot better these days, and I’m a less wretched photographer.

And just to the left of the Aquilops cabinet is the monster Pentaceratops with its 10.5-foot-long skull (3.2 meters).

The Pentaceratops is one of my favorite things in any museum. As a grad student back in the late 90s, I gave a lot of behind-the-scenes tours of the new museum as it was going up, and the Pentaceratops was a hit from the start. I actually preferred the view from the animal’s left side, now blocked by the wall behind it — the wide spread of the front and back legs made for a much more dynamic appearance. I should ask around and see if anyone has any photos of the skeleton from that side.

There was a plan kicking around back then to completely wall in the Pentaceratops except for a front viewing window, the idea being that it was the jewel of the collection and would be presented as if in a giant jewelry display case. That plan got nixed — correctly — because it would have precluded this head-on view, which lets you imagine your last moments before 7 tons of angry ceratopsian turns you into a Jackson Pollock painting. My only (and minor) unhappiness about this view is that darned spotlight to the left of the frill, which glares in photos.

You can scoot a smidge to the right and use the frill itself to block that light, but now you’re not quite looking at the animal head-on. Still, a heck of a nice view of a truly awesome critter. You can’t go wrong either way.

Unlike their cousins across the way in the “Bizarre Headgear” exhibit, who will only be on display until August 23, Aquilops and Pentaceratops are permanent fixtures at the museum. Check ’em out if you get the chance.

ALSO, since you had the impeccable good taste to click on a post about Aquilops:

The Aquilops merch train keeps rolling along, and coming down the pike is this life-size Dolores from Jurassic World Rebirth. I’ve seen fanboys online crying that the first life-size critter in the Hammond Collection line wasn’t a Compy or a baby Velociraptor. Ha ha, Aquilops FTW, theropods get back in line. Anyway, theoretically this thing will drop sometime this summer or fall. Chances are real good that its appearance on store shelves will not go unremarked here.

doi:10.59350/chm0r-h2x07