Steggie Returns Home with New Look
On Friday, April 1, the Museum’s iconic Stegosaurus sculpture—affectionately known to visitors and staff as “Steggie”—was temporarily transferred off-site for refurbishment and to receive a new color scheme more in line with current paleontology research on how dinosaurs were likely to look.
Most groups of dinosaurs had large spikes, plates, frills, domes and crests probably used for communication. The plates and spikes of Stegosaurus were covered in keratin, the same protein covering modern bird beaks, claws and feathers. Because we now know that birds are modern dinosaurs that survived mass extinction 65 million years ago, dinosaurs like Stegosaurus may have evolved to employ similar strategies that we see in birds. Birds are highly visual and social animals, using bright colors and ornamental features to communicate with each other. Therefore, a new, brighter and more colorful Steggie reflects a modern understanding of dinosaur evolutionary relationships and paleobiology: dinosaurs were visual and colorful social animals like their living descendants.
To bring Steggie’s new look to life, the Museum’s vertebrate paleontologists collaborated with the exhibits team to come up with a color palette that would reflect how
Stegosaurus might have looked based on these new hypotheses. The exhibits team then orchestrated a removal and transportation plan in conjunction with Wood-Lee International Art Handlers. A boom truck hoisted the massive sculpture onto a flatbed truck. Steggie was then delivered to Creative Mold and Machine in Newbury to receive minor repairs and the new paint job.
Steggie returned to the Museum Friday, April 22 and can once again be visited by visitors of all ages in his familiar spot overlooking Wade Oval. Share past and present memories with Steggie using
#SteggieSelfie!
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