Honestly, the Virginia Museum of Natural history didn’t look like much from the outside, but we were pleasantly surprised at how much it had to offer. The dinosaur displays were beautiful, including this Stegosaurus, which has the rare quality of having all of its ossicles intact. (These are the bony “pebbles” that make up the dinosaur’s neck protection.) The display also features a lot of emphasis on the back plates and the latest theories on what they were used for. When cut open, these plates reveal a “honeycomb” of blood vessels running through them, rather than just being solid bone. The current belief is that a stegosaurus could turn these plates toward (or away from) the sun to regulate its body temperature. These blood vessels could also be flushed to change the plate’s colors, which could serve the purposes of either attracting a mate, or appearing larger and more threatening to potential predators.
Martinsville, VA – Virginia Museum of Natural History
