I was happy to see some new paleontology videos appearing on YouTube by Emily Graslie where she visits The Montana Dinosaur Trail. Emily made a name for herself as Chicago's Field Museum's Chief Curiosity Correspondent making videos under the The Brain Scoop name. She followed up with the excellent video series in 2019 called the Prehistoric Road Trip and shown on PBS stations.

The first video takes us to Ekalaka, Montana. A place where the Carter County Museum is located. It was founded in 1936 and was first county museum in the state. It houses fossils found by ranchers and farmers in the area. They have a mounted Edmontosaurus (Lambe, 1917) dinosaur.

Her second video takes us to Makoshika State Park at Glendive, Montana. It is home to at least 10 different dinosaur species found in the Hell Creek Formation of the late Cretaceous Period. Some dinosaur fossils found there are of Edmontosaurus (Lambe, 1917), Ankylosauria (Osborn, 1923), Tyrannosaurus rex (Osborn, 1905), and Triceratops (Marsh, 1889). One geological feature that can be seen in the landscape is the KPG boundary. They have a nice collection of aquatic fossils (turtles, gar scales, crocodile pieces, clams, Mosasaur, Elasmosaur). Another highlight is an exhibit of the 1990s excavation of one of the best preserved Thescelosaurus (Gilmore, 1913) fossils found.

She ends the video at Fort Peck Dam where you can find a restaurant that serves cheesy fried pickles.

For the third video, it highlights the Frontier Gateway Museum (201 State Street, Glendive, Montana). They have a mounted Struthiomimus (Osborn, 1917) dinosaur named Margie. Also Hadrosaurus (Leidy, 1858) fossils are on display. After leaving this museum she visits the Phillips County Museum at Malta, Montana. This museum houses a Brachylophosaurus (Sternberg, 1953) fossil named Elvis. They have a display of Montana agates.

I remember visiting the state as a child with my family and my uncle's family. My aunt was buying moss agate jewelry and I still have a few polished pieces from that trip. The museum also has a meteorite display in which Emile comments "I wonder if the dinosaurs feel a little weird about the meteorites being so close." :)  Another unique display is that of different types of barbed wire from the late 1800s.

Her last video is of a visit to the Great Plain Dinosaur Museum in Malta, Montana. The museum has ammonite fossils from the Western Interior Seaway (77 million years ago) that covered part of modern day Montana. Also found out the museum is display case showing shark teeth fossil from around the United States and fish fossils from the Green River Formation of Wyoming.

I am always looking for natural history museums to visit and now have some new locations to add to my list of places to visit. Please check out this informative videos about paleontology sites to visit in Montana.