Marking the culmination of the Perot Museum’s “summer of the dinosaur,” the inaugural Dino Fest will get underway Sept. 1-2 with a “Back to the Jurassic” augmented reality experience, hands-on fossil digs, live music and a beer garden on the plaza, T. rex sports challenges, trivia games, live bird (aka modern-day dinosaur) interactions, paleo demos and lectures, art activities, face painting and more. Young guests can become junior paleontologists as they learn all about Arctic dinosaurs, while all ages can engage with paleontologists Dr. Fiorillo and Dr. Tykoski.
Also, the new Paleo Lab makes its public debut this weekend. The new glass-encased permanent exhibit will give guests real-time views of the dynamic dinosaur research of Museum paleontologists as they process and prepare fossils fresh from the field. Cameras in the lab will project close-up views of live fossil preparation while Museum Brainiacs explain and demonstrate the tools and techniques, and how this work connects to the specimens displayed throughout the exhibit hall. Guests just might witness the unearthing of a new prehistoric species.
The Museum’s paleo research team has already made several big discoveries, including Nanuqsaurushoglundi, the polar tyrannosaur that will greet guests from atop the new Paleo Lab. A pint-sized cousin of the T. rex, Nanuqsaurus was discovered and named by the Perot Museum’s renowned paleontologists, Dr. Tony Fiorillo and Dr. Ron Tykoski, in 2014. The new skeletal reconstruction of Nanuqsaurus for the Paleo Lab is the first ever on display.
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WHEN: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sept. 1 and from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 2. The beer garden on the Plaza will stay open from 3-7 p.m. Saturday and from noon-4 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE: Perot Museum of Nature and Science, 2201 N. Field St., Dallas, TX 75201.
For more information about the Perot Museum’s Dino Fest, click here.
