Stars Museum

[stargatedalek]

So those who know me already know that I'm rather lazy and tend to give up on projects quickly a slightly odd person. I've been meaning to get around to properly cataloging my collection(s) for a long time, and to finally force myself to do this I'm making an RP professionally written story, because I'm really desperate for dumb boredom killing ideas to keep my focus on something.

Don't expect amazing photos, I'll do the best I can with this old camera and some poster board but really I can't get great photos (especially of small items).

Info on makers is given in square brackets [].




The smaller tools of the trade: a 31cm (only 30 cm's are marked) ruler, pair of basic tweezers for manipulating small animals for best view, a metal hook (with blunted edges) to manipulate dangerous or difficult animals, and a small perch to help the animals feel more relaxed for their pictures. And the larger tools include: wooden training poles, clear moving crates [Playmobil], and a full size perch [Playmobil].



My beautiful assistants include Tsukihi Araragi (阿良々木 月火, Araragi Tsukihi) [Figma, Good Smile Company], and Soren our resident Gouldian Finch (Erythrura gouldiae) [Incredible Creatures, Safari Ltd.]. Tsukihi is here to help lift things and make our stuff look good. And Soren is our "greeter", he is the only Gouldian Finch in our gallery and came to us via donation during the course of an estate sale.



Majority of the collections are live galleries, but lets start with what people expect from a museum: skeletons! well really just skulls for now. All of these are replica fossils, majority of the modern skulls come from zoos or even from our own galleries when an animal passes.

First the fossil replicas. All of these are mass produced replicas for teaching aids, our live galleries take funding priority.

Apatosaurus louisae ("deceptive reptile") [Silver Dolphin Books] skull and partial neck replica.



Stegosaurus armatus ("roof lizard" or "covered lizard") [Silver Dolphin Books] skull and partial neck replica.



Smilodon fatalis [Scholastic Corporation] Skull replica.



Tyrannosaurus rex ("tyrant lizard") [Silver Dolphin Books] skull and partial neck replica.



Tyrannosaurus rex ("tyrant lizard") [Scholastic Corporation] skull replica.



Velociraptor osmolskae ("swift seizer") [Silver Dolphin Books] skull and partial neck replica



And now for (mostly) the real deal, its time for the modern animal skulls.

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) [Scholastic Corporation, custom painted-yes the damage was intentional] skull. This one comes from a donation, the animal passed away at a rescue center.



Wild boar (Sus scrofa) [Scholastic Corporation] skull. Another donation, this time from a private citizen cleaning out their own collections or perhaps a trophy room.



Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) [Scholastic Corporation] skull. This is one of ours, this huge dragon came to us already elderly and lived for a few years before passing naturally.



Black Piranha AKA Redeye Piranha (Serrasalmus rhombeus) [Scholastic Corporation] skull replica. This is the only one in this series that is a replica, highly enlarged to show details.



Long-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus capensis) [Scholastic Corporation] skull. This one was purchased from an aquarium after an animals passing of natural causes.



White shark (Carcharodon carcharias) [AAA] jaws. These were graciously donated to us by a fishermen who claims to have pried them from the still living jaws of a Megalodon. Given that he didn't want to touch them much less keep them, we go with the assumption he found them washed up.



Next time: Soren becomes a history buff and we bring out the full body skeletons.

[Jetoar]

Really funny  . I like the presentere  .

[stargatedalek]

Thanks Jetoar.

Most of these reconstructions are generalized and/or heavily dated, but skeletals are hardly something I purposefully collect so I give them a bit of leniency. I hope you will do the same with my humour.



Archaeopteryx siemensii and Protoceratops andrewsi [Unknown] full body wall mounts.



Brachiosaurus altithorax [Unknown] skeletal mount.



Stegosaurus ungulatus [Unknown] skeletal mount.



Parasaurolophus walkeri [Unknown] hatchling skeletal mount.



Ornithocephalus antiquus [Unknown] skeletal mount.



Unidentified bone [Imaginext].



Tsukihi please try and keep it together, I know its just a pile of extra bones. [Silver Dolphin Books]



Ultimasaurus attemptadus [Silver Dolphin Books], this one comes from our animals in media section.



Next time Testudines fast rise to stardom and- WOULD SOMEBODY PLEASE HOLD THE BIRD!

[Jetoar]

Stegosaurus  and Brachiosaurus skeleton are beautiful .

[postsaurischian]

    I like the way the different bones are presented - by a cute manga girl with a fried egg in her hair .

[brontodocus]

Sorry for being so late... Awesome photo thread, and those Scholastic Corporation skulls are completely new to me!

[stargatedalek]

Our breeding pair of Chinese Big Headed Turtles (Platysternon megacephalum) [AAA {repainted}] have finally become parents, here is one of the adults and the only remaining juvenile (the others have left for larger facilities).






A recent arrival, a breeding pair of endangered Cagle's Map turtles (Graptemys caglei) [Unknown Brand].



Southeast Asian Narrow-headed Softshell Turtle's (Chitra chitra) [Unknown Brand].



Matamata (Chelus fimbriata) [Unknown Brand].



Juvenile Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) [Unknown Brand].



And our other juvenile [Safari ltd. Incredible Creatures].




Spiny Softshell Turtle (Apalone spinifera) [Safari ltd Incredible Creatures].



Next time, we finish Chelonians with tortoises and a few extra special guests.

[stargatedalek]

Sorry for the delay, I keep forgetting to update this.

A local rescue had an open house, and they gladly agreed to the extra photography during some of their checkups.

Kemp's ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) [Play Visions].


A pair of juvenile green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) [Safari ltd. Incredible Creatures], one is a year old the other a few months.







There was also an adult Green Sea Turtle [Schleich].




Two juvenile loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) [unknown brand].





There was also a sub-adult [Safari ltd Galapagos Toob].



Back again with the resident animals.

Growth progression of a six month old Galapagos tortoise (Chelonoidis nigra) [all by Safari ltd Incredible Creatures].










And its sibling [Safari ltd Galapagos Toob].



This is from a previous year, it has since been sold to another facility [Schleich].


And one of the adults [Schleich], don't try this at home, they hate it.



Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus)  [Schleich].


Last is the Leopard tortoise (Stigmochelys pardalis) [Safari ltd]




Next time I'll update new additions to previous categories, then I'm going to get ambitious and move on to birds.

[stemturtle]

I enjoyed the visit to the local turtle rescue, stargatedalek. Allow me to comment on two of the IDs.

The girl is sitting upon a desert tortoise by Safari Ltd., Gopherus agassizii, not a Galapagos tortoise.

Schleich identified the tortoise 14404 as Testudo graeca, a spur-thighed or Greek tortoise , rather than a gopher tortoise.

You have a nice collection.

[stargatedalek]

Thanks for the ID's!

Strange, that definitely looks like the same desert tortoise figure but mine doesn't have a Safari stamp, it's labelled Schleich.

[stemturtle]

If the tortoise carrying the girl on its back is marked Schleich, then there must be two very similar figures.
The desert tortoise is marked Safari. Sorry for my mistake.

[stargatedalek]

It is definitely the same mold, and it doesn't have an animal name on it, just copyright information of Schleich. My ID was going from memory of what they were marketed as in stores. It's labeled '08, do you have a date on the Safari? I'm getting a feeling this could be a distribution thing, or perhaps even a KO.

[stemturtle]

It is definitely the same mold, and it doesn't have an animal name on it, just copyright information of Schleich. My ID was going from memory of what they were marketed as in stores. It's labeled '08, do you have a date on the Safari? I'm getting a feeling this could be a distribution thing, or perhaps even a KO.

The Safari desert tortoise is from 2010. The Schleich is the Aldabra giant tortoise, Aldabrachelys (Geochlone) gigantea. This was a learning experience.

[berestie]

 

[stargatedalek]

I'm so bad at keeping this updated. I think for now I might just start posting things in lots by brand to get them done with, then go more depth into some favorites.


Kota & Pals was a line of animatronic dinosaurs produced by Hasbro. Most of them reuse(d) the mechanical workings from the Fur Real Friends line and are frankly rather strange. Some of them are ugly-cute and others are just ugly. I also have a giant Tyrannosaurus, with two toes(...), but it's packed away so that will have to wait for another time. None of these are accurate at all, but the Pteranodon is easily the least offending (it's half decent as a stand-in generic early-bird actually!).


These were made by Hasbro a few years back, most of them aren't bad actually. The birds in particular are genuinely well done (and of course the birds are what I really care about anyway!). I used to have more than this but between yard sales and little cousins only these favourites remain.

That cat looks so out of place

[AnimalToyForum]

Archaeopteryx siemensii and Protoceratops andrewsi [Unknown] full body wall mounts.

Hey @stargatedalek this reply is way way late, but I have this pair as well. Mine are marked 'SilverCorn', do yours have any markings on the back? I'm trying to rack my brains to remember how I got hold of them, but my memory is terrible! I don't remember buying them so I suspect they were given away with something else I bought. Cereal, maybe?

[stargatedalek]

Archaeopteryx siemensii and Protoceratops andrewsi [Unknown] full body wall mounts.

Hey @stargatedalek this reply is way way late, but I have this pair as well. Mine are marked 'SilverCorn', do yours have any markings on the back? I'm trying to rack my brains to remember how I got hold of them, but my memory is terrible! I don't remember buying them so I suspect they were given away with something else I bought. Cereal, maybe?

I am fairly certain I purchased them at a dollar store, and they came with a cheap plastic dinosaur skeleton to assemble (long since lost) that was made of thin cut-out plastic, but otherwise similar to the nicer wooden ones that are so common.

[AnimalToyForum]

Thanks, I've asked about these at the DTF. Curious.