World record fossil in Norman museum

NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) — Did you know you could see a Guinness World Record in the metro? The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History has a Pentaceratops on display, and it’s the only place in the world where you can see both the skull and the body.

“It’s a little over nine and a half feet. It’s the largest known skull for a land animal,” said Kyle Davies, who’s a fossil preparer at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.

The fossil was first discovered in 1941 by OU paleontologist, Dr. J. Willis Stovallin, in New Mexico.

Although at the time, there was no ideal spot to store the large dinosaur skull. So, the university got creative and used the basement of the Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Over the years, the giant skull was forgotten.

However, in the 1990’s, a new effort brought the lost fossil back into the public eye, and work began to display it.

OMNH Pentaceratiops during exhibit preparation, Courtesy: Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

Davies was on the team tasked with preserving the dinosaur skull for future generations and helped uncover the fossil from its original packaging. Davies said the crate it was stored in still had the shipping label painted on the crate saying Norman, Oklahoma.

Davies and his team then worked to put the fossil on display at the museum.

While the Pentaceratops is always on display at the museum, a new traveling exhibit is bringing new attention to the world’s largest dinosaur skull.

“Bizarre Headgear” will be at the museum until August 23.

“It’s got lots of specimens crowded into it that are displaying how, over time, from even very ancient times before the age of dinosaurs, through the age of dinosaurs, and even into modern mammals, you get animals that develop this bizarre headgear, and they’re often doing it for various reasons,” said Davies.

Pentaceratops on display at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Natural History Museum (KFOR)

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