August 14, 2007
By Lesego Madumo
A DINOSAUR exhibition, fresh from London's famed Natural History Museum, is planned for Gold Reef City's Theme Park. Featuring seven of the reptiles, it opens on Sunday, 19 August and runs until Sunday, 18 November.
Once mighty rulers of the planet, dinosaurs have been extinct for about 65 million years. The exhibition includes replicas of the baryonyx, oviraptor, ornithommosaur, triceratops and tyrannosaurus rex, and the organisers promise it will be entertaining and informative for young and old.
"This fascinating dinosaur encounter is educational, interactive and entertaining; it is family edutainment at it's best," says Steve Cook, the chief executive of the Theme Park. A guided tour includes stories and "interesting facts" about dinosaurs, he adds.
Kept behind glass to allow photographs, the exhibits are a small example of the more than 700 species of dinosaur that dominated the earth for more than 160 million years - ruling the planet for longer than any other group of animals. They first appeared on land some 230 million years ago but became extinct during the ferocious Cretaceous period. Many animal and plant species came to a rapid end during this time.
Dinosaurs were colossal reptiles, evolving in many sizes and shapes. In 1842, Sir Richard Owen, the 19th century English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist, named them dinosauria - fearful great reptiles.
The baryonyx had peculiar crocodile features, with its conical teeth; today scientists believe it was a fishing animal, similar in traits to the modern brown bear. Fossils of the animal were found recently in the Sahara Desert.
Compared to other dinosaurs, the oviraptor was small - the bird-like creature is believed to have stood 1,8 metres to 2,5 metres tall and weighed over 35 kilograms. It had long legs with a flexible neck, a long tail, short burly arms, and curved claws on both its three-fingered hands and three-toed feet.
The "ostrich dinosaur" or ornithomimosaur arguably survived into the mid to late Cretaceous period in the western parts of North America.
One of the larger dinosaurs was the ticeratops. A herbivore, it had horns and weighed about 6 000 kilograms. It was found mainly in North America. Its greatest enemy was the tyrannosaurus rex, a gigantic meat eater that lived into the last stages of the Cretaceous period and the most well known of all the dinosaurs.
Its fossils were the first large carnivorous dinosaur to be discovered and to this day it is thought to have been the largest dinosaur that ever lived. The T-rex, as it is usually called, was the fiercest of all, with its sharp teeth. In 2005, fossils of almost 30 specimens were discovered. However, there were only three complete skulls in the find.
The exhibition includes a dino-dig, a hole where visitors can search for dinosaur fossils and eggs - though these are synthetic.
The Gold Reef City Theme Park is open from Tuesdays to Sundays, from 9.30am to 5pm; it is open on Mondays during Gauteng school holidays. Ticket prices range from R60 for children under 1,2 metres in height to R80 on weekdays, and R120 on weekends for both learners and adults.
Booking is essential, through Computicket on 083 915 8000; for further information, email
info@goldreefcity.co.za
Permission to use web site material
Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as:
- Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website
(www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency
(www.joburg.org.za)";
- If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original
article on this website;
- The name of the article's author is acknowledged;
-
The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill
in this brief online form).
Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 |
