Sifting through the past
Sternberg Museum visitors expect to see dinosaurs.
Now they can find the answer to the age-old question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
The exhibit, focusing on dinosaur eggs and babies, will be there until May 10, said Reese Barrick, director of the museum.
"Dinosaur eggs tell us about dinosaurs."
Research has shown that plant-eating dinosaurs lay round eggs and meat eaters lay oblong eggs. Their shells are different, too, he said.
Finding bits of eggshell is common on most continents, but finding eggs with an embryo inside is rare.
Most have been found in Mongolia where wind-driven sand storms buried the dinosaur nests. Fossil hunters also have found nests with the mother buried with her eggs.
Since bones develop in the later stages of gestation, their presence or absence can be used to age the embryo in the egg.
Because the nesting sites uncovered show the mother on the nest, scientists now know she stayed to hatch her eggs.
The eggs were relatively small, so instead of laying one egg, females laid 30 eggs.
With so many embryos in one nest, the buried baby bones can be like fitting a puzzle together.
"They start small and grow quickly," Barrick said.
A large femur bone from a hadrosaure dinosaur on display also illustrates the growth rate of dinosaurs.
"That tells me something really cool about dinosaurs," Barrick said.
The exhibit includes some authentic eggs and shell pieces as well as some reproductions.
Youngsters can uncover dinosaur eggs in the dig pit or play computer games like dinosaur hangman, dinosaur maze and dinosaur paint shop.
As to that question of the chicken or the egg, the egg came first.
It came from chicken-like dinosaurs, Barrick said.
The museum also has an exhibit of silk moth paintings by Hays resident Dr. John Cody.
More than 100 pieces of his work are on display. This is the largest collection of Cody's artwork in one place at one time, Barrick said.
The pieces are a combination of those recently donated to the Museum by Cody's daughter, Andrea Russell, Portland, Ore., and others loaned just for the exhibit.
Articles such as robes and jackets made from silk also are included in the display.
"Silk moths come in all kinds of colors and are pretty spectacular," Barrick said.
"Because we're a museum of natural history, it fits."
Cody's paintings of the moths and plants are lifelike with colorful backgrounds that complement them. Each painting has depth and provides a different perspective up close and from 15 feet away, he said.
Cody's paintings will be on exhibit at the Museum until April.
Now they can find the answer to the age-old question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
The exhibit, focusing on dinosaur eggs and babies, will be there until May 10, said Reese Barrick, director of the museum.
"Dinosaur eggs tell us about dinosaurs."
Research has shown that plant-eating dinosaurs lay round eggs and meat eaters lay oblong eggs. Their shells are different, too, he said.
Finding bits of eggshell is common on most continents, but finding eggs with an embryo inside is rare.
Most have been found in Mongolia where wind-driven sand storms buried the dinosaur nests. Fossil hunters also have found nests with the mother buried with her eggs.
Since bones develop in the later stages of gestation, their presence or absence can be used to age the embryo in the egg.
Because the nesting sites uncovered show the mother on the nest, scientists now know she stayed to hatch her eggs.
The eggs were relatively small, so instead of laying one egg, females laid 30 eggs.
With so many embryos in one nest, the buried baby bones can be like fitting a puzzle together.
"They start small and grow quickly," Barrick said.
A large femur bone from a hadrosaure dinosaur on display also illustrates the growth rate of dinosaurs.
"That tells me something really cool about dinosaurs," Barrick said.
The exhibit includes some authentic eggs and shell pieces as well as some reproductions.
Youngsters can uncover dinosaur eggs in the dig pit or play computer games like dinosaur hangman, dinosaur maze and dinosaur paint shop.
As to that question of the chicken or the egg, the egg came first.
It came from chicken-like dinosaurs, Barrick said.
The museum also has an exhibit of silk moth paintings by Hays resident Dr. John Cody.
More than 100 pieces of his work are on display. This is the largest collection of Cody's artwork in one place at one time, Barrick said.
The pieces are a combination of those recently donated to the Museum by Cody's daughter, Andrea Russell, Portland, Ore., and others loaned just for the exhibit.
Articles such as robes and jackets made from silk also are included in the display.
"Silk moths come in all kinds of colors and are pretty spectacular," Barrick said.
"Because we're a museum of natural history, it fits."
Cody's paintings of the moths and plants are lifelike with colorful backgrounds that complement them. Each painting has depth and provides a different perspective up close and from 15 feet away, he said.
Cody's paintings will be on exhibit at the Museum until April.
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