— Peter Larson will be speaking at the Burpee Museum of Natural History during September...

— BHI recently co-hosted "100 Years of Tyrannosaurus rex" A Symposium. Visit Black Hills Museum of Natrual History's site for more information.

— A new offering from BHI! We worked with new dinosaur sculptor, Michael Berglund of Minnefex, Inc. to create a bust of Big Al 2, an Allosaurus skeleton owned by our friends at the Saurier Museum in Switzerland. We gave Michael a cast replica of Big Al 2's skull to work with. Michael researched Allosaurus science and theory extensively and then worked with Peter Larson to actually create a kind of forensic reconstruction of the muscles and skin of Allosaur. The result is probably the best, most scientifically accurate bust of Allosaurus available. The skull and bust would make outstanding side by side exhibits. For more information about Michael's work on Big Al 2, and information about how to order one, you can download a 1.3 MB pdf brochure.

We've given Michael two more skulls to work on. Any guesses what's coming out of his studio next?

— We recently completed work on phase one of a significant project for the Children's Museum of Indianapolis' new Dinosphere. The Children's Musuem is now in the process of assembling the exhibits around the specimens, in preparation for the grand opening of the new exhibit. We're currently catching up on other orders and pulling some exciting material off the shelves and getting it prepared. More to follow on that!

— We assembled a large contingent of dinosaur and other fossil skeletons and skulls for lease to a group organizing the Dinosaur World Tour. First stop was in Denver, Colorado in October. The show was held at the Pepsi Center, October 17 - November 16. Our material on exhibit included:

— A joint announcement by Black Hills Institute and The Children's Museum of Indianapolis made international headlines. While preparing the skull of a Gorgosaurus skeleton, BHI preparators noted an abnormality in the brain case. Suspecting the possibility of a brain tumor, Peter Larson informed The Children's Museum, who brought in veterinary pathologists from Eli Lilly. The Lilly experts examined the brain case abnormality and other pathologies and offered their opinion. Their best guess for the brain case abnormality? "A soft-tissue lesion or brain tumor of some type." According to Peter Larson, this represents the first evidence found, of brain tumors in dinosaurs.

— We designed a series of touch exhibits for Dream Studio, a Tokyo based company sponsoring a dinosaur exhibit at Yokohama, Japan March 15 - May 5. We intend to add a similar touch exhibit lineup to our lease program, and can also develop others for sale to schools, museums, and other venues. To view a brief slide show with snapshots of a few of the touch exhibits, visit Touch Exhibits.

— In keeping with our tradition of producing the highest quality paleontological material available anywhere, BHI has added a new product line of scale model dinosaur skeletons, skulls, and "fleshed-on" life reconstructions called Favorite Collection Dinosaurs. Produced with the supervision of paleontologists, these are simply the best quality, most scientifically accurate and up-to-date models we've seen anywhere! The new series also includes a selection of pewters, paleo keychains, dino skull magnets, and rather creatively designed ball point dino pens! Browse the collection on our sales and service section now, at Favorite Collection Dinosaurs.

— Neal is coauthor of a paper in the publication, "Cephalopods - Present and Past", recently printed in the Journal, "Gabhanlungen Der Geologischen Bundesanstalt". The paper is entitled, "Jaws and Radulae in Rhaeboceras, a Late Cretaceous Ammonite", by William J. Kennedy, Neil H. Landman, W.A. Cobban and Neal L. Larson.

— Neal has completed a paper called "The Late Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) Cephalopod fauna of the Coon Creek Tongue of the Ripley Formation at its type locality". The paper will be published as a part of the Coon Creek Monograph. The Coon Creek Monograph will be a bulletin published by Tenessee Division of Geology in 2003.

— Go to the Rex Appeal website to learn more about the book by Peter Larson and Kristin Donnan.

— Neal attended the Geological Society of America (GSA) conference in Denver, Colorado, October 27-30. While there, he attended a Friends of Cephalopods Symposium and was appointed secretary. He will be one of the organizers for the 6th International Cephalopod conference in Fayetteville, Arkansas, November 1-4, 2004.

— Paul Beaver of Amazonia Expeditions has found a unique use for our fossil replicas. In this photo, Paul has set a STAN 1/2 skull replica into artifical rock, poolside at his Tampa, Florida home.

— Peter Larson's book Rex Appeal, co-authored by Kristin Donnan, is now available from our website. Published by Invisible Cities Press, Montpelier, Vermont, the 404 page book includes 8 pages of color plates and numerous black and white photos and illustrations.

When Peter Larson and his team at the Black Hills Insitute discovered the world's largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton beneath a South Dakota butte in 1990, Larson knew it was the find of a lifetime. He had no way of foreseeing that Sue, as they called the fossil, was about to plunge him down a rabbit hole into a topsy-turvy world of FBI agents, goverment prosecutors, powerful museums, Native American tribes, and competing paleontologists. As Larson began the biggest battle of his life - to hold on to Sue and to keep himself out of prison - an amazing thing happened. He and his Black Hills team began finding more and more T. rex. Reinventing the science of paleontology and hitting paydirt again and again, Larson became a lightning rod for the controversies rocking paleontology and the envy of fellow bonehunters everywhere.

— Larry exhibited at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions annual meeting and trade show in Orlando, Florida November 19 - 22, 2003. This year BHI leased 400 square feet of exhibit space and featured the full skeleton of STAN T. rex, and the complete Favorite Collection dinosaur model series we distribute. The show was well attended and STAN was a big hit!

— We attended the Tucson, Gem, Mineral and Fossil show in Tucson Arizona January 31- February 9, 2004, and then set up for the Main Show for the following weekend. Our selling space was limited, but we brought the Acrocanthosaurus atokensis skeleton in celebration of our 30th Anniversary, the Main Show's 50th anniversary, and the 40th anniversary of our friends and associates from the Saurier Museum - Switzerland, who brought their Diplodocus skeleton cast for exhibit.