Museum of Osteology

The Museum of Osteology, located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., is a private museum devoted to the study of bones and skeletons (osteology). This museum displays over 350 skeletons of animal species from all over the world.[1] With another 7000 specimens as part of the collection, but not on display, this is the largest privately held collection of osteological specimens in the world.[2][3][4]

Museum of Osteology
Location in Oklahoma
Location in United States
Established2010
LocationOklahoma City, United States
Coordinates35.365371°N 97.442601°W / 35.365371; -97.442601
TypeNatural history museum
Collection size5,000+ skeletal specimens
DirectorJay Villemarette
Websitewww.museumofosteology.org

Scope

The museum focuses on the form and function of the skeletal system with numerous educational and taxonomic displays featuring all five vertebrate classes.[4]

The collections housed by the Museum of Osteology are the result of over 40 years of collecting by Jay Villemarette.[5]

Currently, the collections consist of approximately 7,000 specimens representing over 2,500 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish.[6]

History

The museum was established by Jay Villemarette, founder of the company Skulls Unlimited International, Inc., which is located next to the museum.[2] Construction of the museum began in 2004 and it opened to the public on October 1, 2010.[2][3][7][8]

In 2015, the Museum of Osteology opened a second location, Skeletons: Museum of Osteology, at the I-Drive 360 entertainment complex in Orlando, Florida. This location is cited as the largest skeleton museum in America with over 500 skeletons on display.

On June 28th, 2022, The Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma currently features one fully articulated adult Hippopotamus containing a total of 219 bones. Mary Holman, Education Coordinator at the Museum of Osteology [9] and Ashley MB Meerschaert, M.S, Director of the Museum of Osteology,[10] counted the number of bones in a Hippopotamus skeleton. Recently, it was unknown to the public just how many bones a Hippopotamus had, and this encouraged the education team to find out what the average number of bones a Hippopotamus had since no scholarly article or quick Google search had the answer.

  • Exhibits including a humpback whale
  • Oklahoma wildlife
  • Primate skeletons on display
  • Skeleton of a Kinkajou
  • Skeletons on display
  • Elephant skeleton on display
  • Pygmy sperm whale skeleton on display
  • African lion attacking a common eland antelope skeleton
  • School bus tour group
  • The museum in the final stages of development, March 2010.
  • Ungulate skeletons on display
  • Various animal skeletons
  • Big cat exhibit at the Museum of Osteology, including tiger, jaguar and African lion
  • Fossil hominid and human evolution exhibit on display

References
  1. "Skeletons: Animals Unveiled! I-Drive 360". www.blooloop.com. Retrieved 2016-08-04.
  2. Urstadt, Brian (July 2006). "I'm Going to Rib-cage World". Outside Magazine. Archived from the original on 25 September 2010. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
  3. Raymond, Jeff (March 26, 2007). "Skeleton Crew". The Oklahoman. Archived from the original on August 23, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
  4. Wheelbarger, Brent (Oct 1, 2008). "The Bone Collectors; The Biggest Skeletal Collection in the World Right Here in Moore Oklahoma" (PDF). Moore Monthly.
  5. Horton, Greg (October 25, 2006). "Bone Collector". Oklahoma Gazette. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
  6. Brus, Brian (May 27, 2009). "Skull Junkie Finds Solid Future in Skeleton Frontier". The Journal Record. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
  7. Dinger, Matt (2010-11-15). "Museum Opens in Southeast Oklahoma City". The Daily Oklahoman.
  8. Gray, Aaron Wright (2010-10-30), "Villemarette Gets His Skeletons Out of the Closet", Norman Transcript, archived from the original on 2013-01-30, retrieved 2010-11-15
  9. Museum of Osteology
  10. Museum of Osteology
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