Dinosaurs on display at Burpee (IL) aren’t the ones you’ve seen before

Rcckford Register Star: Dinosaurs on display at
Burpee aren’t the ones you’ve seen before
Five things you should know about the traveling “Giants: African Dinosaurs” exhibit that opens Saturday and runs through May 15 at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford.

1. The dinosaurs are unmatched. You can’t see these dinosaurs at any other museum. At least while they’re on display here. “These are not your grandfather’s dinosaurs,” said Scott Williams, Burpee’s director of exhibits and science. “These are different dinosaurs ... with different names, from a different continent, not like what you see at The Field Museum (in Chicago) or even here. They’ve adapted to different ecosystems.”

By the way, 2,051 dinosaur bone replicas are being displayed in skeletons and a skull in the “Giants” exhibit.

2. Some dinos are really old and ate other dinos. The 70-foot-long, plant-eating Jobaria — the skeleton of which is on display at CherryVale Mall because it was too big to house at Burpee — would have been dinner for the 27-foot-long Afrovenator. Afrovenator is one of six dinosaur skeletons at Burpee as part of the traveling show.

Both Jobaria and Afrovenator are about 135 million years old. By comparison, Jane is about 66 million years old. Jane is the nearly complete juvenile T. rex on permanent display at Burpee.

3. The show is in a new space. This is the second traveling exhibit housed in a new hall that joins Burpee and the Discovery Center Museum. The hall is part of a $10.5 million expansion for both museums. The first traveling exhibit was “Grossology,” which ended in early January. That display of icky body functions was more in tune with Discovery Center-type activities than the natural historical activities that Burpee showcases.

4. Organizers expect to more than recoup costs. The cost to rent the “Giants” traveling exhibit: $100,000. Alan Brown, Burpee’s executive director, has said he expects PaleoFest visitors will be among those who help the museum more than break even for the exhibit.

5. The exhibit should be a big draw for PaleoFest. PaleoFest is March 5 and 6 at Burpee, and several workshops and other activities highlight the “Giants” exhibit.

Family workshops examine the teeth and claws of the giant African dinosaurs and study microfossils for evidence of the creatures’ habitats. Plus, Paul Sereno, founder and president of Project Exploration, which owns the “Giants” exhibit, will be the keynote speaker at a dinner March 6.

Last year, 1,300 tickets were sold for PaleoFest activities. Williams, Burpee’s exhibits director, said he expects a bigger crowd this year because of the African dinosaurs exhibit. As anecdotal evidence of interest, Williams said: “There was this little boy, who when we mounted Jobaria at the mall, he was there from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.” when the last of its 300 bones was put in place.