Brachiosaurus altithorax, mounted inside the Field Museum, redux

I have often lamented that there are so very few photos of the Field Museum’s Brachiosaurus mount from that brief six years — 1993 to 1999 — when it was the centrepiece of the main hall. It seems to have been kicked out just a year or two too early to get captured by numerous digital cameras.

But today a comment by Sameerprehistoricaon that old post put me onto this 2018 Facebook post by the Field Museum’s official account, and that contains this much better high resolution photo:

Stanley Field Hall with Brachiosaurus, today found on the West Terrace. February 1997. ” data-medium-file=”https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/brachiosaurus-mount-inside-fmnh-feburary-1997.jpg?w=300″ data-large-file=”https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/brachiosaurus-mount-inside-fmnh-feburary-1997.jpg?w=480″ class=”size-full wp-image-21158″ src=”https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/brachiosaurus-mount-inside-fmnh-feburary-1997.jpg?w=480&h=376″ alt=”" width=”480″ height=”376″ srcset=”https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/brachiosaurus-mount-inside-fmnh-feburary-1997.jpg?w=480&h=376 480w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/brachiosaurus-mount-inside-fmnh-feburary-1997.jpg?w=960&h=752 960w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/brachiosaurus-mount-inside-fmnh-feburary-1997.jpg?w=150&h=118 150w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/brachiosaurus-mount-inside-fmnh-feburary-1997.jpg?w=300&h=235 300w, https://svpow.files.wordpress.com/2023/09/brachiosaurus-mount-inside-fmnh-feburary-1997.jpg?w=768&h=602 768w” sizes=”(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px” />

Stanley Field Hall with Brachiosaurus. February 1997.

This is a decent sized photo; but, alas, even in this one, that actual Brachiosaurus remains distressingly small. Here’s a zoom:

But that post put me onto the Field Museum’s Facebook feed, where I was able to find their post about the end of the outdoor mount. That contained this image — still small, but a nice new perspective:

And also — finally! — paydirt, with this beautiful and decently high-resolution image:

This is the best photo of the indoor Brachiosaurus mount that I have ever seen. It’s good enough, for example, that you can see the 11th and 12th cervicals are exact duplicates.

(We have good photos of the outdoor picnic-area mount, and of this cast in its new home at O’Hare International Airport, and of the copy at the Museum of Ancient Life in Lehi, Utah — it’s this specific mount in this specific place that’s hard to find photos of.)

But if anyone can find other — and better ones — then please do drop us a comment!