Gallery: Digging for Dino Eggs With Famed Paleontologist Jack Horner
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West of the small town of Choteau, Montana, near the Rocky Mountain Front, is a very special site known for its dinosaurs called the Beatrice Taylor Dinosaur Research Station, owned by the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. Over the past 30 years this research area has produced the first dinosaur egg clutches known from the Western Hemisphere, the first dinosaur embryos found in the world, the first dinosaur nests containing babies and showing for the first time that dinosaurs cared for their young, evidence of the largest group of dinosaur skeletons on earth (evidence of more than 15,000 skeletons), nesting grounds for the duck-billed dinosaur Maiasaura and the little meat-eating dinosaur Troodon, and remains of one of the largest flying reptiles. The popular name for this research area is "Egg Mountain," and the camp site is called Camp Makela after the late Bob Makela, who worked with Jack Horner in this area for many years. Each summer students and staff from the Museum of the Rockies and Montana State University come to the research station to excavate eggs and skeletons and to learn about dinosaur growth, behavior, evolution and ecology. The area is one of the most productive dinosaur sites on earth. John "Jack" R. Horner is the Curator of Paleontology, Museum of the Rockies and Regents Professor, Montana State University. Dr. Horner discovered the first dinosaur eggs in the Western Hemisphere, first evidence of parental care among dinosaurs, and the first dinosaur embryos. He served as the technical advisor for all of the Jurassic Park films, and was partial inspiration for one of the lead characters, Dr. Alan Grant. For more information, see [Museum Of The Rockies.](http://www.museumoftherockies.org/Home/EXPLORE/Dinosaurs/PeopleinPaleo/JackHorner/tabid/389/Default.aspx.) Camp Makela at the Beatrice Taylor Dinosaur Research Field Station (Museum of the Rockies), West of Choteau, Montana *Photo: Z*
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Jack Horner preparing to launch a model rocket at Camp Makela *Photo: Z*
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Successful rocket launch at Camp Makela *Photo: Z*
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Metal marker stake identifying the Brandvold hadrosaur site discovered in 1980. The Brandvold site is one of 7 sites where an enormous herd of the duck-billed dinosaur Maiasaura was catastrophically killed in a volcanic eruption. *Photo: Z*
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Heading out to the "Brandvold" Maiassaura bonebed Site *Photo: Z*
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Searching for isolated bone fragments near the "Nose Cone" Maiasaura bonebed site *Photo: Z*
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Jack Horner explaining how the field crew searches for clutches of dinosaur eggs. *Photo: Z*
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Searching for dinosaur fossils overlooking the badlands of the Beatrice Taylor Dinosaur Research Field Station. *Photo: Z*
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Broken up bits of bone (whitish pieces) signifying a spot where a skeleton might be weathering out of the rock. Further excavation would reveal if a skeleton exists in the rock. *Photo: Z*
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Excavation site of a clutch of 15 Maiasaura eggs, now on display at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. *Photo: Z*
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Jack Horner looking out at his office (the Beatrice Taylor Dinosaur Research Field Station), wondering where he should go look next. The Rocky Mountains are off in the distance. *Photo: Z*
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