The Texas legislature established Texas Memorial Museum (now the Texas Memorial Museum of Science and History) in 1935. Before then, scientific specimens either languished in storage, or were sent to large museums elsewhere in the United States. Today TMMSH houses 5.7 million artifacts and natural history specimens. Admission to TMMSH is always free, but visitors are encouraged to make a donation of $1 or more per person.
When you enter the Texas Memorial Museum of Science and History, you will see examples of the fossil specimens that await you on the first floor (Paleontology, Geology, and Antique Firearms). The main attraction is the skeleton of Quetzalcoatlus northropi, the large pterosaur that soared over Texas during the late Cretaceous Period (140 to 65 million years ago). The gift shop is on the second floor, and the second floor also houses temporary special exhibits.
When I was a child, the focus point of the main entrance was a specimen of Mosasaurus maximus, known as the Onion Creek Mosasaur, from the late Cretaceous Period. The mounting at that time was very static; fortunately, the mount was re-done during the 1990's to a more dynamic and fluid pose that looked as if the mosasaur was actually swimming. This specimen has unfortunately been moved to the first floor with the other paleontological exhibits, and is crowded in with specimens of the reptile Edaphosaurus boanerges, the 13 foot long fish Xiphactinus audax from about 75 million years ago, the late Cretaceous Period plesiosaur Trinacromerium sp, and the early Permian Period (280 to 230 million years) amphibian Eryops megacephalus.
Also on the first floor, you can touch the femur of a Diplodocus, a sauropod from the late Jurassic Period (195 to 140 million years ago). There is also a fairly extensive collection of extinct elephant fossils, including Stegomastodon mirificus from the late Pliocene Epoch (5 to 1.8 million years ago),Mammuthus jeffersonii and Mammut americanum from the late Pleistocene Epoch (1.8 million to 10,000 years ago), Cuvieronius sp from the mid to late Pleistocene Epoch, and Gomphotherium cimarronis, Gnathobelodon buckneri and Amebelodon fricki, all from the Miocene Epoch (22.5 to 5 million years ago). You will also see the skull of a Tyrannosaurus rex and the skeletons of Glyptotherium floridanum (the Florida glyptodont), Glossotherium harlani (Harlan's ground sloth), and Homotherium serum (a species of sabre-toothed cat) all from the late Pleistocene.
