Not to brag, but my course is mostly being taught in London's Natural History Museum. In between induction things this week, I've been taking a quick look around the galleries, partly to try and learn my way around but mostly because museums are fantastic and the NHM has a stellar reputation.
Most things were great, I'd like to make that clear. But the dinosaur gallery, the most anticipated part for me, was a bit disappointing. On the whole it seemed very well designed, and there were some fabulous mounts and no glaring errors in the text. There were lots of touchables and the school party in with me was having a great time. Unfortunately, every few minutes I'd notice something out of date, and with the exception of a note about feathered dromaeosaurs I didn't see any corrections.
The theropods were most obvious: there were several pronated hands*, though not universally, and many an upright body in the images. I quite enjoy retro palaeoart (I'm pretty sure a print of this was in there, carrying on the timeless trope of Deinonychus vs. Tenontosaurus: http://www.johnsibbick.com/library/display.asp?page=15&product=D15), but not when it's presented alongside up-to-date information with no caveat. There was also a case of nice shoebox-sized dinosaur sculptures, but again, most were totally vintage. There was even a humpy Stegosaurus that could have passed for a 1975 Invicta**.
In a shot at redemption that somewhat missed the mark, there were two animatronic Deinonychus near the end, with the note about feathers, that were indeed feathered. Unfortunately, I don't think they looked great. Most of the body had a short, shaggy coat that looked more like fur, with a token row of vaned feathers along each forearm and bare hands. I'm not basing this on primary sources, but I was under the impression that feathers in dromaeosaurs likely covered the hands to form a pretty clear wing, even if they didn't grow from the fingers. And, sadly, the hands were pronated.
Unfortunately, as I've grown more knowledgeable about dinosaurs I've just gotten more thorough in nit-picking. It was a fun exhibition with some solid science and great displays, just lacking in corrective signage. Hopefully it will get an update eventually, and the museum can help catch the public up with scientists.
I'd like to note that (at least on a quick view) I have nothing bad to say about the other galleries, and palaeontology is a particularly fast-changing thing. I have yet to see a dinosaur exhibition I can't pick faults with. Guess I'd better make one one day!
*The eminently readable Dave Hone explains the pronation problem: https://archosaurmusings.wordpress.com/2009/05/27/theropods-are-clappers-not-slappers/
**My summer guilty-pleasure reading: http://dinotoyblog.com/2010/07/22/stegosaurus-invicta/
Another footnote: I have the inevitable start-of-term cold today so might have been feeling less charitable than usual.
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