Dinosaurs fascinated me as a kid. Of course, the discovery of fossils had just happened and the thrill was still new.
What kids today lack in the excitement of discovery they can make up for in more realistic and lifelike exhibits of the giant reptiles — they are still considered reptiles, right? — because science has advanced beyond the few bone fragments propped up with ice cream sticks and covered with papier-mâché that we had to look at.
The Dallas Museum of Nature & Science today opened a new exhibit called Dinosaurs Unearthed that features “life-size, animatronic [beasties] … with skin, movements, sounds, and features in keeping with the very latest paleontological discoveries,” according to a missive from the museum.
They call it the “closest man can currently come to actually walking among the dinosaurs” without going to a concert on the next Rolling Stones tour. OK, I added that last part.
Ooo, as an added bonus, visitors can control some of the models, which could be a lot of fun if used for the forces of good.
One thing that’s always bugged me, though, about depictions of dinosaurs. How do scientists know they roared?
Bruce Felps owns and operates East Dallas Times, an online community news outlet serving the White Rock Lake area. As a child he had a thing for dinosaurs and monkeys. He still digs monkeys. Ain’t that right, JoJo?
