DINOSAUR HUNT

MUSEUM HOUSES MONTANA IMPRESSIVE SPECIMENS

Whoa, these dinosaurs look like they could just eat you up.

They would have, too, if you’d been running around 65 million years ago in Montana.

With one of the largest collections of dinosaur bones in the United States, the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman is a feast of excitement for dino fans — especially for those who adore the frilled triceratops, the fierce T. rex and the poignant, birdlike spectacle of dinosaur eggs in nests.

The Museum of the Rockies, next to the Montana State University football stadium, has other exhibits. But its claim to fame is the Siebel Dinosaur Complex.

Elevated to popularity by Jack Horner, the charismatic curator who also was a consultant on the “Jurassic Park” movies, the dinosaur collection is introduced rather slowly, with a quiet section for families and a window where you can watch paleontologists work on specimens.

The second room is a moody and slightly dark exploration of dinosaur evolution, punctuated by a model of a sly raptor, deinonychus antirrhopus, in full feathered, garish glory as it attacks a tenontosaurus.

Then, pow. Turn a couple of corners and you walk into a giant room full of gorgeously astounding dinosaur skeletons, the famous ones, the sexy ones.

There is a whole row of Triceratops, from small juveniles to heavy adults. Some of the frills — hair, feathers or bony projections around the neck of the animals — are as big as the hood of a car. Walk past a bunch of terrifying T. rex heads, with teeth as long and sharp as ginsu knives. The centerpiece T. rex on display here is “Montana Rex.” It was installed in 2015.

I loved the exhibits about dinosaurs’ ties to presentday birds. Horner was one of the first paleontologists to discover nests of dinosaur eggs and speculate that dinosaurs were social animals and definitely an avian ancestor.

In front of the museum is an allosaurus (replica) skeleton named Big Mike. He is happy to be in your selfies.

If you are in Bozeman, this museum is a roaring good time.

ELLEN CREAGER/DETROIT FREE PRESS T. rex at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana.