Meet Horridus, a creature 67 million years in the making. With a massive frill and three horns, this triceratops has taken over two levels of Melbourne Museum. Horridus is the world’s most complete and most finely preserved specimen. It’s exceptional quality also makes it one of the most important fossils in the history of palaeontology. See it with your own eyes at Melbourne Museum, in the highly anticipated exhibition, Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs. This exhibition will open at Melbourne Museum on Saturday March 12. Tickets are on sale now.
Meet Horridus the Triceratops at Melbourne Museum
Horridus was originally found on private property in Montana, USA in 2014. Then, it spent time in Canada, where experts painstakingly prepared it for transportation to Melbourne. It arrived here in Melbourne in July last year, under the safe hands of Museums Victoria, home to the leading museum-based palaeontology research program in Australasia.
It was named after its species, Triceratops horridus, and will be the most complete dinosaur skeleton in any Australian museum.
See Horridus up close in a chamber that dramatically lights up the skeleton’s 266 bones. Horridus is 85 per cent complete, and around 2 metres tall. The skull alone is 99 per cent complete, and weighs 261 kg. The full skeleton weighs over 1000kg, and will be a formidable sight to behold. As the organs and soft tissues have decomposed, the sex of Horridus is unknown.
“Until you’ve seen Melbourne Museum’s Triceratops, you haven’t seen Triceratops at all,” said Dr Erich Fitzgerald, Senior Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology at Museums Victoria.
Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs
This is fascinating specimen will be on display in the exhibit, Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs. On top of the incredible skeleton, it filled with interactive displays, digital projections, animations and soundscapes. Meet the creatures that lived alongside Horridus, and explore the lineage of dinosaurs, all the way down to their bird descendants.
“We are thrilled to introduce Horridus to the world, and to have this internationally significant Triceratops on permanent display at Melbourne Museum, this will be a major attraction for visitors to our city and state,” said Lynley Crosswell, CEO and Director of Museums Victoria. “To stand before something so unlikely as to be almost impossible, is truly awe-inspiring. Not only will Horridus provide an unmatched and unforgettable experience for our visitors but Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs tells an important, timely and inspiring story about the fragility of nature, and our relationship to the changing environment.”
Horridus will be on permanent display at the museum, and will amaze and inspire dinosaur fans for generations to come.