Lost at times in the hubbub and publicity over the aged brontosaurus that stands tall as the remnants of the Museum of Life and Science's original 1960s-vintage dinosaur trail has been the Museum's long-awaited construction project -- the completion of the brand-new, and scientifically up-to-date, new trail being built adjacent to the bear, wolf and lemur exhibits at the Murray Ave. center.
The old trail had a roughly thirty-year run, closing after Hurricane Fran toppled the titans in 1996, by which time the carefully crafted work of Richard Wescott had fallen a bit behind modern paleontological science.
Saturday marked the first chance to preview the exhibit, which opens to the general public on July 25; Museum members got an invitation-only sneak peek, as did members of the local blogger and Twitter communities who'd mentioned the Museum in their writing in the past year. Both groups were well-represented at the exhibits first sneak-peek.
Whether that was visitors' first look animals like the albertosaurus above, or their chance to see us tasty humans and start figurin' out their meal schedule, we're not sure yet.
Then again, creatures like the albertosaurus woudn't have been all that used to seeing folks like us around these parts -- even if, of course, dinosaurs and humans coexisted temporally, something that only happens in creationists' fantasies and Michael Crichton books.
No, the albertosaurus has been primarily found in Canada to date (many in Alberta -- get it?), though the fossil remains of others have been found up and down the west coast of the U.S.
The trail provides fertile opportunities for little and big kids' imagination alike. Take the across-the-trail pairing of our friend the albertosaurus with an edmontonia, positioned as if it is watching its trailmate carefully, waiting to see if the carnivore is planning to strike.
Further on in the exhibit, two stygimolochs are locked in what appears from the scratches to be a battle, while the slower-moving alamosaurus seems to be looking for its next leafy meal. (Imagine what a target this dino's exposed neck would prove to tomorrow's high school pranksters -- though of course, this version of the trail is much further "inland" at the museum than the greenway-facing bronto had been.)
The general size, form, skin texture and postures of the dinosaurs is believed accurate and, according to the folks at the Museum, is based on current scientific research. Though of course, some things are more guesses than others -- skin color and behavior mostly, it seems.
Younger dino-hunters will have the opportunity to be part of a "fossil dig site" as well. It's a dino-boneless site, but the soils (which come from a phosphate mine in North Carolina, and which would have comprised the ocean floor 200 million years back) do contain a number of sea-life relics, from shark teeth to corals to fish vertebrae.
Not all the construction work is done yet, of course. One of my favorites on the trail: the work-in-progress figures of the dinosaurs. Future exhibits to be added? Or just fun for the preview? We'll know in a couple of weeks.
The $1.5 million new trail was funded with $675,000 from Durham County through a bond issue program, coupled with another $800,000 in donations from private sources. The sale of commemorative bricks on a portion of the trail ($300-500 per) will help to fund ongoing maintenance of the exhibit.
A team led by a Philadelphia "paleoartist" made illustrations and small three-dimensional models of the dinosaurs; after review by a team of scientists to make sure that the models reflected the latest-and-greatest in accepted research, a studio in Canada digitized the small models with a 3D scanner and then created life-sized Styrofoam models of the creatures, to which in turn a steel skeleton was added before shopping each statue in pieces to Durham.
The members-only preview of the trail continues through July 19; the grand opening of the exhibit to the public is slated for July 25. Find out more at the Museum's web site.
Yeah, but their scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should!
(actually, it's really cool)
Posted by: Ian Malcolm | July 13, 2009 at 02:03 PM
We went and visited on Saturday and really enjoyed what we saw. My 5 year old can't wait for the fossil dig site to be filled. He's been sifting through the take away bag for member families for 3 days now.
Posted by: krellpw | July 14, 2009 at 09:55 PM
Ian was right-life found a way.
Posted by: Dr. Alan Grant | July 21, 2009 at 08:07 AM