THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 10, 1995 TAG: 9506090050
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
LIFE ENDED bloodily for the teenage dinosaur. Impaled on the razor-sharp teeth of the fierce Utahraptor, the plant-eating sauropod's head and neck were ripped from its torso - either by Utahraptor's foot-long, switchblade-like claws on each foot or by the 10-inch versions on each hand .
Long before Tyrannosaurus rex rumbled onto the prehistoric stage, Utahraptor was king of the food chain.
``This animal had very serious weapons built in,'' said Utahraptor discoverer Jim Kirkland, a staff paleontologist with Dinamation International Corp. in Irvine, Calif. ``This thing was nasty.''
Beginning today at the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News, the lives and, sometimes, deaths of 23 dinosaurs will be highlighted by computer-controlled models made of steel, aluminum and foam rubber. Like their ancient counterparts, these ersatz dinosaurs will move and roar outside, in a 3-acre tract normally grazed by the museum's herd of resident deer.
Museum officials say the traveling exhibit, designed and built by Dinamation, is the closest that humans will get to the Age of Dinosaurs without hopping in a time machine.
``We want to let people in on all this new dinosaur science,'' said Pete Money, Virginia Living Museum's director of education and the exhibit coordinator. ``This isn't just `Jurassic Park.' Dinosaurs are not just a collection of bones. They were living animals.''
Over the past two decades, dinosaur science has been reinvigorated through a series of startling finds that have researchers rethinking assumptions about the biggest land animals that ever lived. Discoveries have spanned the globe, from the plains of Montana to the deserts of Mongolia.
Vast herds of the beasts, for instance, apparently traveled great distances. Most were doting parents. And many were built for speed, far more nimble than the tail-dragging, reconstructed skeletons traditionally displayed in museums would suggest.
For 140 million years, dinosaurs roamed every continent, even the coldest; fossils have been found in Antarctica and near the North Pole.
``(Dinosaurs) were not cold-blooded reptiles, lumbering around swamps dragging their tails,'' said paleontologist Kirkland. ``They were dynamic and agile creatures. They had complicated social behaviors. They migrated. And they raised their young in herds.''
According to the latest genetic evidence, dinosaur-hunting humans need look no further than tree or perch. Birds are dinosaurs' closest living descendants.
According to some scientists, who advance a special branch of evolutionary theory known as cladistics, birds are not just related to dinosaurs but rather - in effect, because of their physical structure - birds are dinosaurs.
Earlier this week, Living Museum staffers were hurrying to make their dinosaur display as realistic as possible for the crowds expected this weekend. Fake ferns and plastic palms were added to give a Mesozoic Era feel. Here and there, styrofoam bones were placed to stimulate skeletal remains. There were hatchlings as well, baby dinosaurs just beginning to poke horned heads through the egg casings protecting them.
It's all part of the stage setting, said the museum's Money, to attract and retain visitors' interest.
``People learn best when they're having a good time,'' he said. ``When people have fun, they're open and receptive. Hopefully, they'll be able to learn this stuff that's turned dinosaur science upside down.''
The causes for dinosaur extinction are still debated, but many believe the creatures died 65 million years ago after an asteroid collided with the Earth. The impact would have caused planet-wide fires and thrown up a thick shield of soot and dust that would have dramatically lowered temperatures, killing plants and vegetation.
Those animals that would not have died outright would have perished as food supplies dwindled.
Had not the dinosaurs died, mammals might not have evolved beyond the level of common pest.
``If it weren't for that asteroid, we could be dinosaurs,'' said Dinamation's Kirkland. ``We would be talking today about those little mammals that keep getting into our food stores.''
In conjunction with the outdoor dinosaur exhibit, the Living Museum's planetarium will premiere a movie on the possible causes of the mass dinosaur die-off. ``The Great Dinosaur Caper: A Mesozoic Murder Mystery'' will begin June 17. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff
Pete Money is director of education and exhibit coordinator for the
Virginia Living Museum.
EXHIBIT FACTS
Dinosaurs Outdoors will open to the public today through Labor
Day, Monday, Sept. 4. Both the Virginia Living Museum and the
dinosaur exhibit will be open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through
Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.
Dinosaurs Outdoors admission is $5 for adults and $3.75 for
children 3 to 12. Museum members and children younger than 3 are
admitted free. Combination admission for museum and dinosaur
exhibits is $8 for adults and $6.50 for children 3 to 12. Tickets
to the planetarium show are an additional $1 for adults and 50 cents
for children.
Directions: From Norfolk, take Interstate 64 west. Exit at Route
17 South (J. Clyde Morris Boulevard) and follow museum signs.
Museum is on the left, at 524 J. Clyde Morris Boulevard, just past
the intersection of Route 17 and Jefferson Avenue.
For more information: Call 595-1900.
by CNB