I went to a small ‘dinosaur museum’ last summer in South Bend Indiana. I wasn’t expecting much, but found myself disappointed that all the large displays (except one) were ‘replicas’. I’m not sure why I felt this way, since all fossils are ‘copies’. But ‘replica’ makes it seem fake.
edit: I think this is being misinterpreted. In my mind, all fossils are ‘copies’ of the original. The bone is gone, replaced by stone. But for some reason, calling something a replica doesn’t carry the same…majesty as the original copy. Maybe it’s just the thought that it could have been tampered with when making it out of plastic or fiberglass.
Not sure if there are tar pits with dinosaur bones but there are bones (not petrified bones) of post-dinosaur megafauna like sabertooths in the La Break tar pit in Los Angeles. There probably exists a real dinosaur bone somewhere on the planet.
Sure but i dont know of any that have been found. So none of the ones in museums would be “real” bones in the way most people would think. I know its sort of pedantic here but fossils are rocks not bones