4D - FALL ARTS FESTIVAL, Jackson Hole News&Guide, Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Dead bones tell tales
By Nature Gallery 65 E. Broadway 307-200-6060 ByNatureGallery.com ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
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By Jennifer Dorsey
ad he lived to be an adult, he would have grown to more than 20 feet long, nourished on the plants that grew 115 million or so years ago in what’s now the Bighorn Basin. But this dinosaur, a species called Tenontosaurus tilleti, was still a juvenile and only about 4 feet long when he died. His skeleton, found beneath his mother’s in Montana in the Cloverly Formation and now for sale at By Nature Gallery in Jackson, offers evidence that life wasn’t easy for herbivores back then. “We thought a piece of his foot was missing,” By Nature director Doug Bradstreet said, pointing to a small gap in bone structure, “but it was bitten off. You can see where the bone was starting to heal.” “Wow” is a word Bradstreet is accustomed to hearing from people who walk through his doors, and the Tenontosaurus isn’t the only reason. By Nature Gallery offers what is arguably the most unusual shopping experience in Jackson Hole. Some of its wares, like the fossils, are Mother Nature’s creations. Others are the work of jewelers, craftsmen and artists inspired by the natural world. Look one way and you’ll see real butterflies encased in plastic; look another and you’ll find brass-and-aragonite earrings crafted in butterfly shapes. A new sequoia table, 65 inches in diameter, is all natural. Jewelry boxes load-
A woolly rhinocerous skull and horns give an idea of how large the creature was.
This Tenontosaurus tilleti is one of the amazing sights at By Naure Gallery.
ed with small drawers, some hidden, are man-made, each fashioned from a single piece of aspen. These have been a big hit with customers, Bradstreet said, as have boxes, animal fetishes and vases made by North Carolina artist Larry Favorite from ironwood, turquoise and silver. Glittering minerals, including amethyst, quartz and citrine, are on display around the store. By Nature has doubled its selection of high-end minerals and also has expanded its selection of geodes — natural surprise packages that look like humdrum rocks on the outside but, when split, reveal treasure troves of sparkling crystals. At the gallery’s geode-splitting station, customers can buy one and break it open to find what’s inside. As many as 50 people a day take advantage of the opportunity. Other items in the gallery include
Tony Newlin photographs of animals that modern-day outdoor adventurers can see in the wild if they travel to the right places. The images hang not far from boxes displaying critters that folks would hate to find in their sleeping bags. A tarantula is one, a camel spider another. Though dead they look just like they would if alive. “It has four fangs,” Bradstreet said of the camel spider. “It just clamps on.” Kids tend to like the bugs, Bradstreet said. He teaches a program at Etna Elementary that culminates with the students coming to the gallery. Seeing insects, minerals and fossils offers a natural history lesson that’s better than textbooks, he said. It’s one thing to read about the extinct woolly rhinoceros, which weighed 6,000 to 7,000 pounds, but when students see a
massive skull-and-horn fossil found in Russia, Bradstreet said, they can say, “Yes, they were real. Yes, they were really big,” Trilobites, which flourished in great variety until being wiped out 250 million years ago, were the first animals with sophisticated visual systems. Bradstreet can make that point by showing students a fossilized asaphus trilobite with intact eye stalks. By Nature has been remodeled for a more open, airy feel. The kids space has been enlarged, and a new flatscreen TV on the wall plays movies like “Ice Age” and “Jurassic Park” on occasions when lots of youngsters are in the gallery. Other times the screen shows pictures of items for sale in the Jackson gallery and its counterpart in Beaver Creek, Colo. But the real things are better than any pictures. “Most museums don’t have specimens this good,” Bradstreet said.
JACKSON HOLE
Come pick up your flies for your late summer fishing! stock up on flies, leaders, rods, and reels for all your late summer fly-fishing trips. visit our full-service fly shop that features fly-fishing gear, apparel, and more.
The Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with The Liquor Store, has made available a commemorative bottling of quality red and white wine to celebrate this special event. Proceeds from the sale of these wines support the annual Fall Arts Festival.
485 W. BroadWay | Jackson, Wy 83001 307 733 5407 | orvis.com/Jacksonhole 258966
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