The mosasaur display in the Earth Sciences Gallery is based on over 60 mosasaurs, or parts thereof, collected in Saskatchewan. The fossil mosasaur on display, a Mosasaurus conodon, was collected on the south shore of Lake Diefenbaker in 1962 by Museum staff. This specimen would have been eight to ten metres long although mosasaurs living in the inland sea in the area that is now Saskatchewan attained lengths of up to ten metres.

To give our visitors an idea of what this extinct reptile was like, the curator and gallery designer decided to create an exhibit that would show the mosasaur and its world as they looked during the Cretaceous Period when Saskatchewan was covered by an inland sea.

After taking careful measurements from the fossil, an artist sculpted the head and body out of foam. The finished head sculpture is standing up in the background. He created the missing parts - from the eyes to the muscles and skin - based on what scientists have found or deduced from their research.

The finished sculpture was installed and painted in the display. Was the mosasaur really green and white? No one knows for sure, but the colours and patterns used were based on what animals living in similar environments look like today.

To suggest the warm waters of a tropical sea, many plants were suspended from the ceiling. They appear to float near the surface of the water and even hook around the mosasaur's paddles as it dives.

By matching the painting in the background to the foreground material, the artist blends these elements together, making the scene appear to extend off into the distance. Other animals living in this environment such as this long-necked plesiosaur (you can see a section of its neck) were included in the painting.