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Up close and prehistoric
(by Julia Werner - October 27, 2009)
The St. Louis Science Center has recently welcomed a new exhibit that gives visitors a chance to get up close and prehistoric with residents of the real-life Jurassic Park.
Dinosaurs Unearthed, the largest dinosaur exhibition ever to hit St. Louis, features five life-size skeletons, 39 fossils and 24 handcrafted animatronic models, several of which are operated by visitors with the push of a button. The exhibition is completed with a story format supported by information panels, audio and different environmental backdrops.
With the help of many industry professionals, including paleontologists, mechanical engineers and graphic designers, Dinosaurs Unearthed offers an interactive, larger-than-life dinosaur experience.
“Of course you can never go back to exactly what happened before,” said Daoping Bao, president and CEO of Dinosaurs Unearthed. “But we’re trying to use today’s technology, the lighting, the sounds, the setting to give you as much information as possible.”
Bao launched Dinosaurs Unearthed in 2006 after an exhibit he was working on in Vancouver, British Columbia, was closed due to financial issues. He was convinced, however, that there was still a market for dinosaurs.
“I was watching the news and the kids were saying, ‘We miss the T-rex!’” Bao said. “They love to see the life-size dinosaurs. I thought, ‘Let’s study more, develop it more,’ and that’s how it started.”
Bao expanded this idea into a traveling dinosaur exhibit geared toward children and without the dry displays and technical language he observed at other exhibits.
“The museum needs more than just traditional bones,” he said. “We had the skill to develop this into education and entertainment.”
Though the exhibition has been touring for more than three years, the visit to St. Louis will premiere some of the first feathered fossils ever seen in North America. Visually enhancing these fossils are life-size models of dinosaurs, many of which are not covered with the usual scaled reptilian skin, but with different types of feathers. These displays represent the paleontological theory of a dinosaur-to-bird transition.
“It’s an interesting evolutionary process,” said Stephanie Kuster, paleobiologist and adviser to the Science Center. “We have what’s called missing links. You have birds, you have dinosaurs and then you have the thing in between and it shows characteristics of both. And so you’re getting that really cool snapshot in time of the evolutionary process and how it works.”
Though feathered dinosaurs may seem like a radical concept, Kuster said the idea has been around for over a century. She attributed the public’s growing knowledge of such theories to more accessible media outlets such as the internet.
“If you want to look up stuff on dinosaurs…anybody anywhere in the world can get the latest research from China, Germany, America, South America,” Kuster said. “Before [the internet], you had to rely on what they put on the news.”
In addition to feathered fossils, visitors can look forward to seeing and learning about a variety of less recognizable dinosaurs.
“Everything here has been published scientifically, but a lot of it will be new to the general public,” Kuster said. “We’re used to the Tyrannosaurus rex, the Apatosaurus and all those, but there are some things that haven’t quite made it into popular children’s books. I think people will have some nice surprises when they come here.”
The massive exhibit was allotted a 20-day installation period, requiring a substantial portion of the Science Center’s production staff, several Dinosaurs Unearthed staff as well as a few additional contractors. Many of the dinosaurs arrived in pieces and were reassembled and given detailed paint and feather touch-ups.
“Every single dinosaur here is built by hand,” Bao said. “They’re all unique, there’s no molding involved.”
• Dinosaurs Unearthed runs through March 28, 2010. Tickets are $12.50 for adults and $10.50 for children. For information call 289-4400 or visit www.slsc.org.
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