From the Montreal Gazette: Dinosaur exhibit Halloween treat for the kids
ONTREAL - It’s Halloween weekend and the children are clamouring for treats. Time to distract them from candy gobbling.
A roar from the Apatosaurus standing guard at the entrance to the Montreal Science Centre might do the trick.
The ginormous herbivore whose name means “deceptive lizard” is from the Late Jurassic period 150 million years ago and is one of 14, real-size animatronic dinosaurs inhabiting the Dinosaurs Unearthed exhibit, at the science centre until March, 2012.
How do they all fit?
“When we think dinosaur, we think huge, but most dinosaurs were small,” Michel Groulx said. Groulx is the head of research and content at the Montreal Science Centre and was impressed with the quality of the exhibit when he visited it in Texas two years ago. The well travelled exhibit was produced in Vancouver.
The biggest discoveries in the field of dinosaur research have taken place in China over the last two decades and these recent discoveries play a major role in the exhibit. Digs have established the fact that some dinosaurs were covered with down feathers when born – including the ferocious velociraptor made famous in the Jurassic Park movies – and that birds are the direct descendants of these dinosaurs.
“The wishbone you find in the turkey carcass has also been found in dinosaur skeletons, Groulx said. “Even the adolescent T. Rex was covered with down.”
Everything included in the exhibition is based on scientific fact except for the colours used. That’s guesswork.
Dinosaurs lived between 225 and 65 million years ago. The common theory among scientists is that an enormous meteor hit earth and changed the environment so much, the dinosaurs could not adapt.
A handy plasticized exhibit guide about the size of a placemat is available at the entrance to the exhibit. There are questions for the children to answer and clues to search for. It must be returned at the end of the tour.
The dinosaurs in the exhibit are motion activated, with a one-minute lag between activations. They roar and move body parts. This could be frightening for some children.
There are fossils to see and some interactive elements to try, but the main focus is on the animated creatures, which cannot be touched.
You see giant Allosaurus, which predates the T. Rex and was just as ferocious, and you see the large, down-covered Gigantoraptor, the largest dinosaur without teeth. He looks like a gargantuan chicken and didn’t last long in the dino scheme of things.
“Scientists’ perceptions of dinosaurs have changed over the last 30 years,” Groulx said. “We used to think they were cold-blooded and stupid. We now know they were warm-blooded and quite social, with maternal instincts.”
While you are in the building, there is a new IMAX 3D movie to check out, just steps away from the dinosaur exhibit. It’s called Tornado Alley 3D.
Questions anyone?
Dinosaurs Unearthed is at the Montreal Science Centre, bottom of St. Laurent Blvd. off de la Commune St., until March 11. For IMAX and exhibit ticket details, 514-496-4724 or www.montrealsciencecentre.com.
Halloween is also up and running at the Botanical Garden, Insectarium and Biodôme. The Little Monsters Courtyard adjacent to the gardens (an outside activity) offers games and challenges for little ones. Host Esmeralda the friendly witch and her sidekick Abracadabra the cat are back as is the playful decorated-pumpkin exhibit in the main exhibition hall.
Learn about jumping spiders at the Insectarium and check out the insects dressed for the Halloween occasion.
And carved pumpkins have been transformed into feeders for the golden lion tamarin monkey at the Biodôme.
For details, www.montrealspaceforlife.ca.
Friday is International Animation Day, and the NFB-organized, Canada-wide event Get Animated! is up and running. The NFB CinéRobothèque, 1564 St. Denis St., offers a free, family oriented animation workshop with Co Hoedeman, Saturday at 10 a.m. (no reservations, first come, first served) and free screenings of some of the latest family-friendly animated short films, Saturday and Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
For more information, 514-496-6887 or www.nfb.ca/cinerobotheque.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/travel/Dinosaur+exhibit+Halloween+treat+kids/5617409/story.html#ixzz1c5rxM2sS
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