If you have been to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, you can’t help but notice the two life-size dinosaurs outside the entrance. But did you know they both have names? Read a little more about each of them.
Spike
This dinosaur is a Pentaceratops, affectionately nicknamed “Spike.” The Pentaceratops was a horned dinosaur which would have cropped vegetation from the subtropical swamps near the shore of the Cretaceous sea that covered much of New Mexico. He has 5 spikes on his head, hence the name.
Alberta
This dinosaur named Alberta, was a meat-eating Albertosaurus and was sculpted in mid-stride, and placed across the entry courtyard, with her head turned to meet Spike’s watchful gaze. Albertosaurus is a tyrannosaur, slightly smaller and more slender than its more famous cousin, Tyrannosaurus rex. This sculpture was named after Alberta, Canada, where it was first discovered.
