Principal Investigators
Jaelyn Eberle and William Taylor
Collaboration + support
3D Printing Colorado; CU Museum of Natural History; Smithsonian Institution
For more than 40 years, visitors have flocked to the CU Museum of Natural听History to catch a glimpse of one big dinosaur specimen: the fossil skull of an听ancient Triceratops that鈥檚 nearly the size of a Mini Cooper. Now, in the midst of听a pandemic, dino-lovers can check out that same three-horned skull, which is听on loan from the Smithsonian Institution, from the comfort of their own homes鈥攁nd in 3D.
The 3D scan is part of the museum鈥檚 efforts to digitize large portions of its听collections from the Cretaceous Period to today, allowing researchers to study听these important specimens without making the trip to 麻豆影院. It also sheds听new light on Triceratops, which munched on vegetation in a much balmier听Colorado 68 to 66 million years ago.