Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
JUDITH RIVER DINOSAUR INSTITUTE
unlock the prehistoric past
MALTA, MONTANA
Fossil hunting is by far the most fascinating of all sports.
—George Gaylord Simpson, paleontologist at New York's American Mu-
seum of Natural History
70 |
There are no school uniforms and no tests, and you'll use your muscles as much as your
brain, but if you want to add to your body of knowledge, there's no school as rich as the Judith
River Dinosaur Institute in Malta, Montana. Your teachers will be Leonardo, Roberta, Giffen,
Ralph, Elvis, and a few other 77- to 150-million-year-old creatures that have a lot to teach not
only you but all of mankind.
Nate Murphy, the khaki-clad paleontologist and curator who serves as the dinosaurs'
agent and mouthpiece, organizes five-day field research trips three to four times each year.
Sponsored by the Phillips County Museum and the Judith River Dinosaur Institute, which
sprang up after the inventory of dinosaurs grew way beyond the walls of the county museum,
these trips are hot, rugged dinosaur excavations. Basically, you'll be lifting stones, chipping at
rock, and piecing together mysteries from millions of years ago. You'll learn all the stuff you
could probably find in an encyclopedia, all the facts and data that paleontologists know so far,
but the most exciting part about these dinosaur digs is that you'll also likely learn things that
nobody else knows yet.
