The sinister secret of what a coelophysis had for lunch

[OpenMind]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...C-new_30062006

Revealed: the sinister secret of what a coelophysis had for lunch
By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
(Filed: 30/06/2006)
A life-sized dinosaur head lets out a fearsome roar as it swings from side to side, gnashing its razor-sharp teeth.
Perhaps most unsettling of all is the way its blinking, menacing yellow eyes stare at visitors wherever they stand.
The animated, life-sized tyrannosaurus rex head is just one of 10 spectacular robotic models in an exhibition expected to become one of this year's top family attractions.
Opening today at the Natural History Museum, Dino Jaws brings together animatronics, interactive exhibits, fossils and up-to-date science to explore the sometimes gruesome and occasionally disgusting subject of what dinosaurs ate.
Dr Angela Milner, associate keeper of palaeontology and leading dinosaur researcher at the museum in London, said: "Everyone knows that T rex was a meat-eater.
"But can you tell what baryonyx ate, and have you seen the sinister evidence of what coelophysis had for lunch?
"We all have to eat, dinosaurs had to eat, so it is something everyone can understand and relate to.
"Being able to build realistic animated reconstructions is a great way of bringing the subject alive and engaging children.
"We have been able to present a lot of up-to-date science - for example the bite force of T rex has only recently been worked out using sophisticated engineering and biomechanics, as has the fact that velociraptors were covered in feathers and gave rise to birds.
"This gives children an understanding that dinosaurs were living, breathing, moving animals, and is a great way to get them to ask questions and become interested in science."
Visitors enter the £1.2 million exhibition through giant dinosaur jaws to find themselves stepping millions of years back into a world populated by hungry dinosaurs of varying shapes and sizes.
Apart from the impressive T rex head, other exhibits likely to leave an impression include a pack of three feathered velociraptors devouring a triceratops and a coelophysis eating a baby of its own species.
The baryonyx, a native of what is now England, with crocodile-style jaws is attempting to hook an animated lepidotes fish in the style of a grizzly bear.
The slower, more benign-looking herbivores are no less impressive.
There is the giant green head and long neck of a brachiosaurus nibbling a ginko tree, a dopey iguanodon with its characteristic spiked thumbs, a cheeky, armour-plated euoplocephalus preparing to fend off attackers with its impressive club-like tail and a comical big-lipped edmontosaurus head.
Children are encouraged to learn more about dinosaurs through a series of interactive and fun exhibits, such as a 3ft-high model of a pile of euoplocephalus dung which they are encouraged to touch and examine to discover what the giant plant-eater ate.
They can become "dino-detectives" with virtual chisels, hammers and trowels and simulate the 1983 discovery of a giant fish-eating baryonyx in a clay pit near Dorking, Surrey, by the amateur fossil hunter William Walker.
Adrian Doyle, a conservation scientist at the museum, said: "Excavations are not like in Jurassic Park where they just blow away the sand and all the bones are just laid out waiting for them.
"The remains are often jumbled up, dispersed, broken and with some parts missing.
"I'm delighted with our virtual dig. It helps people understand what is involved in a real excavation, and so far the children seem to be making a better job of it than the adults."
Other displays encourage them to try to match the force of a tyrannosaurus rex bite, mimic the grinding action of stones found in the stomach of a brachiosaurus and to discover the unique chewing mechanism that the edmontosaurus used to grind up plants.
Visitors use a barcode on their ticket at interactive points throughout the exhibition to gain diet-related clues to the identity of a mystery dinosaur, and to continue their investigations at home.
Ailsa Barry, the head of interactive media at the museum, said: "We wanted to make Dino Jaws the first of many exhibitions here in which the science, content, interactive exhibits and website work together to create a complete visitor experience that continues long after the visitor has left the museum."
• The exhibition open today, and runs until April next year and costs £8 for adults, £5 concessions and £21 for a family of five.

A life-sized dinosaur head lets out a fearsome roar as it swings from side to side, gnashing its razor-sharp teeth.
Perhaps most unsettling of all is the way its blinking, menacing yellow eyes stare at visitors wherever they stand.

Brrr! I got freaked out after watching Jurassic Park the first time.

[OpenMind]

Originally Posted by SnoozeControl

Brrr! I got freaked out after watching Jurassic Park the first time.

Sounds great to me. I'm gonna dress up as a kid and get in at reduced price.

[chonsigirl]

That is so cool! I wish that had done that when Iwas a kid. I'm sneaking in behind you, Open. If I braid my hair into pigtails, do you think they will notice I'm an adult?

If I ever have time to get another degree, I still want one in palaeontology. I've always loved it since I was a kid.

[OpenMind]

Originally Posted by chonsigirl

That is so cool! I wish that had done that when Iwas a kid. I'm sneaking in behind you, Open. If I braid my hair into pigtails, do you think they will notice I'm an adult?

If I ever have time to get another degree, I still want one in palaeontology. I've always loved it since I was a kid.

if we hold hands, Chonsi, they'll think we're a cute pair of kids.

[chonsigirl]

Yeah, they would never know!

I still have some fossils I collected as a 12 year old, we used to collect them all the time. Carboniferous shells were in the rocks, they were all over the place. Oh, this made me think. I get to teach geology and palaeontology in 6th grade science! I feel a field trip coming up next year! Yeah, maybe the Smithsonian, they have a great exhibit.

[OpenMind]

Originally Posted by chonsigirl

Yeah, they would never know!

I still have some fossils I collected as a 12 year old, we used to collect them all the time. Carboniferous shells were in the rocks, they were all over the place. Oh, this made me think. I get to teach geology and palaeontology in 6th grade science! I feel a field trip coming up next year! Yeah, maybe the Smithsonian, they have a great exhibit.

I used to love reading about dinosaurs when I was a child. Wish I could be on your field trip.

[chonsigirl]

One day we will have a big FG meet here. And we can go to the Smithsonian.

My fellow scholars work there, and we can go downstairs to see all the labyrinths and collections that there isn't room for upstairs. I went 2 summers ago, to see them, and they took me up and down the nooks and crannies. We popped up in the strangest places-the middle of the ornithological specimens-the owls were eyeing me! We skirted outside the Hall of Gems-ha, no Hope Diamond for me-went back down underneath, and popped up in Africa! So many treats that day, all the specimens and scholarly works and maps, special libraries, etc. It was amazing, it would be a joy to work there. Cubbeyholes where they work and write on the most fantastic subjects, I would like to be a little mouse there in it's hole, peering out at the wonders around me.

[OpenMind]

Originally Posted by chonsigirl

One day we will have a big FG meet here. And we can go to the Smithsonian.

My fellow scholars work there, and we can go downstairs to see all the labyrinths and collections that there isn't room for upstairs. I went 2 summers ago, to see them, and they took me up and down the nooks and crannies. We popped up in the strangest places-the middle of the ornithological specimens-the owls were eyeing me! We skirted outside the Hall of Gems-ha, no Hope Diamond for me-went back down underneath, and popped up in Africa! So many treats that day, all the specimens and scholarly works and maps, special libraries, etc. It was amazing, it would be a joy to work there. Cubbeyholes where they work and write on the most fantastic subjects, I would like to be a little mouse there in it's hole, peering out at the wonders around me.

Hoo, that sounds like fun. You're a glutton for knowledge, Chonsi, but incorrigible for experience. In my 50 years so far, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about life on this planet, from the beginning to the current day. When I die, I shall have a book in my one hand and a pen and notebook in the other. In front of me will be my computer screen linking me with my FG friends and the world. Just not sure where I'll be at the time. (On top of the world, I'm sure.)

[AussiePam]

Can I come Daddy, P L E A S E !!!!!!!!! Are we there yet????