Want to see one of the greatest collection of theropods ever assembled? Head to Japan!

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@geol.umd.edu>]

Greetings,

I am just back from Japan and the opening of a truly world-class dinosaur 
exhibition. Namely, Dino Expo 2005: The Evolution of
Dinosaurs from Their Origins to Birds. A joint project of the National Science 
Museum (Tokyo) and Asahi Shinbun, with contributions
from a half-dozen or so institutions from around the world, Dino Expo 2005 is 
in Tokyo until July, when it moves to Nagoya as part
of a larger Expo.

Among the real specimens on display are:
Holotypes of:
Rugops primus (just maxilla)
Dilong paradoxus (and referred bits)
Harpymimus okladnikovi
Incisivosaurus gautheri
Pedopenna daohugouensis
Mei long
Sinornithoides youngi
Microraptor gui
Jeholornis prima
Sapeornis chaoyangensis
Protopteryx fengningensis
Longipteryx chaoyangensis
Yanornis martini (and referred specimen)

Undescribed referred specimens of Sinovenator changii, Sinosauropteryx prima, 
Tarbosaurus bataar, Ingenia yanshini, Mononykus
olecranus.

The "pterosaur-in-the-egg" specimen.

"Scotty" the T. rex, and restored skull.

The T. rex coprolite.

First ever displayed mounts of (composite) Majungatholus and Masiakasaurus.

Casts of Eoraptor, Herrerasaurus, Rugops, Baryonyx, Allosaurus, Tyrannosaurus 
(including "Sue"), Alxasaurus, Archaeopteryx,
Rahonavis.

Some modern birds, including some of Darwin's pigeons.

Various bits and pieces from Japanese theropods.

In attendance for the opening ceremony, the round table 
discussion/presentations, and a public lecture were (in no particular order)
Paul Sereno, Luis Chiappe, Rinchen Barsbold, Xu Xing, Dale Russell, Peter 
Dodson, Peter Makovicky, Susan Hendrickson, Anthony
Bryant, David Krause, Mark Norell, Scott Sampson, myself, Kirk Johnson, and 
numerous Japanese paleontologists and graduate students.
(And apologies to anyone I left off: it was a big list...).

Here's Asahi Shinbun's page (in Japanese):
http://www.asahi.com/dino2005/index.html

Here's the National Science Museum's page (in Japanese):
http://www.kahaku.go.jp/dinosaur2005/index.html
and a more limited English site:
http://www.kahaku.go.jp/english/dinosaur2005/index.html

Enjoy,

                Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                Vertebrate Paleontologist
Department of Geology           Director, Earth, Life & Time Program
University of Maryland          College Park Scholars
        Mailing Address:
                Building 237, Room 1117
                College Park, MD  20742

http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~jmerck/eltsite
Phone:  301-405-4084    Email:  tholtz@geol.umd.edu
Fax (Geol):  301-314-9661       Fax (CPS-ELT): 301-405-0796