Skip to content

The Great Plains Dinosaur Museum (GPDM) is located in the rich land mass of Northern Montana where some the world’s most preeminent dinosaur fossils have been discovered.  A site and member of the Montana Dinosaur Trail, GPDM maintains permanent exhibits of dinosaurs and other prehistoric fossils to advance the visitors experience, allowing them to appreciate, enjoy and fully understand the rich prehistory  of this region.  The Museum also provides the rare opportunity for both youth and adults to explore, dig and excavate fossils with their staff and paleontologist partners in scheduled educational and dig programs.

The Great Plains Dinosaur Museum (GPDM) is governed and operated by volunteer board members of the Judith River Foundation, Inc.   The Foundation is an IRS exempt 510c3 non-profit corporation established in 2002.  The GPDM is not a municipal entity, is not affiliated with any higher education institutions, receives no general tax support, and is entirely self-funded through membership fees, admissions, dig and tour revenue and fundraising.

GPDM is guided by a mission to curate and prepare paleontological resources for use in educational programs, scientific research and interpretive displays in support of the advancement of knowledge and the benefit of all people.

405 North 1st St East | Malta, Montana (406) 654-5300 [email protected]

Bigger on the inside

I was worried when we pulled up and I saw the size of the building; in my experience, dinosaurs take up a lot of room. What this place lacks in massive, awe inspiring replicas suspended in action poses under vaulted ceilings it makes up for in real content and unique (as in, truly one-in-the-world kind of special) fossil displays. The fact is, their main attractions are so well preserved and complete they don’t need to be posed on metal rods…Seeing as Malta is dinosaur central for well preserved finds I have no doubt this place will expand and improve the exhibit information displays in the future.”

-TripAdvisor

Great destination

“The experience at this museum was amazing. The staff are passionate and very interested in sharing their knowledge. The array of fossils and information about them is fabulous, you really will be surprised when you visit. Great for adults and kids…We loved it so much, we ended up getting a membership!”

-TripAdvisor

Great for all ages!

“This is not your usual small-town museum. It is a working research facility with very good displays suitable for everyone from scholars to kids.”

-TripAdvisor

Excellent children’s dino dig

“We came to Montana for the experience of fossil hunting and discovered that the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum has a dig program designed for children (one of the only ones we could find). In my daughter’s words “it was one of my most favorite things I have ever done. I liked looking for and cleaning the fossils. I liked the digging at the dig site, that was awesome..it was one of my most favorite things in the whole world.”

-TripAdvisor

Great way to see what was in Montana 150 million years ago!

-TripAdvisor

Wonderful display of real bones

“This museum has a great selection of locally found dinosaur bones. This is a very good small town museum.”

-TripAdvisor

Back To Top