Durham brontosaurus

Overview
The Durham brontosaurus is a life-sized papier-mach&eacute;, concrete, and wire-mesh sculpture created by Dick Wescott for the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science (then known as the "Children's Museum") in Durham, NC in the late 1960s.

The brontosaurus is located just off what is now Rock Quarry Park on the Ellerbee Creek Trail, behind a damaged chain-link fence (as of 2010, some restoration has been done and the fence may have been repaired or removed).

The sculpture, now somewhat outdated scientifically (need details on this!), has been repeatedly vandalized but remained largely intact until sometime during the night of 2009-05-31 (or early the next morning), when vandals cut off the head. The head was recovered and police identified the vandals; it is not clear at this time what the Museum plans to do.

News

 * 2009-06-01 Durham's Museum of Life and Science dinosaur decapitated
 * 2009-06-06 Vandals decapitate dinosaur at Durham's Museum of Life and Science, head is recovered (Pam Spaulding)
 * 2009-06-10
 * Neighbors to meet over museum vandalism (Jim Wise)
 * Elder Wescott served as museum's mover and shaker (Jim Wise): article about Dick Wescott, the Prehistory Trail, and related topics
 * 2009-06-12 Spoil the dino, spare the rod

Photos

 * A walk through the old dinosaur trail, Rock Quarry Park
 * flickr: Durham Dinosaur Sightings

Discussion

 * 2007-02-12 Endangered Durham has some discussion about the dinosaur trail in the comments to an unrelated entry (about the Herald-Sun building downtown)