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The Deadliest Dinosaurs in the World Come to Granite Run Mall

The prehistoric exhibit will run through Spring 2012.

Yanchuanosaurus, though not as well remembered as some of his carnivorous brethren, was no slouch. The meateater lived during the late Jurassic Period (about 150 million years ago) and at roughly 30-feet long was the largest predator in a region of what is now China.

And as of Saturday, he'll be at the

Through the Spring of 2012, Yanchuanosaurus and spate of other prehistoric predators will be on display in Dino Don's Dinosaurium, an informative and kid-friendly exhibit of some of the deadliest dinosaurs in the world.

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The Dinosaurium is curated by "Dino" Don Lessem—who's best known by the public as an adviser on Jurassic Park, but in paleontological circles as the discoverer of the Gigantosaurus, then the largest known carnivore who'd ever existed. The exhibit marks his latest stab at spreading the gospel of dino to a new generation.

"I've been around long enough that some grownups say, 'I read your book when I was a kid.' Which is flattering, but sort of depressing," joked Lessem, who's authored handfuls of children's books on dinosaurs, and written on the subject for the magazine Highlights.

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Though the exhibit is sprinkled with enough humor to hold the attention of adults and older kids (One T-shirt in the gift shop read "Coprolite Happens," coprolite being fossilized....well, you know) it is aimed, like many of Lessem's efforts, squarely at children.

"This is motion sensor-activated dinosaur poop, you go near it and it triggers its smell," he explained during a Saturday morning stroll through the P.T. Barnum-evoking exhibit, signaling to a small herbivore standing over a pile of something that fortunately smelled mostly like mulch.

To the right, a gaggle of elementary aged kids shot Nerf guns at replica heads of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, and Stegosaurus, while to his left six youngsters dug through an elaborate sandbox, hunting for sharks teeth and other fossils that had been planted.

"Dinosaurs are fun!" yelled an exuberant young exhibit-goer when a staff member asked him how the going was. "Excellent!" added his sister. Another boy, aged four and clad in a T-Rex T-shirt, prowled behind them, index and middle finger on each hand fashioned as claws.

"Ready to rumble!" he whispered.

In the rear of the space, the reconstituted skeletons of a Tuojiangosaurus (a 20-foot plant eater) and a Monolophosaurus (a 17-foot carnivore) were locked in a faux-wrestling match the Monolophosaur appeared to be getting the better of while a Yanchuanosaurus, head cocked and looking pretty spry for something that had been dead for 150 million years, looked on.

"The only way to make science digestible is to make it fun," Lessem explained as he walked by a please-touch stand, where a visitor palmed a Tyrannosaurus Rex tooth root and other very old, very cool things. "There are all kinds of learners," he added. "Some kids have to touch."

The exhibit isn't meant to be just fun (though Lessem insists it's that too), but edifying. It's a sort of pedagogical bait-and-switch, a way to sneak facts into young heads. Exactly how well the heads in question hold these facts will be tested on Nov. 12 in the mall's Boscov's Court, where the ten most dino-savvy students in the area will compete in a quiz.

Lessem of course, has other grand plans for the exhibit, and the Media resident promises to be a daily fixture at the Dinosaurium. He suspects he won't be the only one.

"I think people will show up," Lessem said as he surveyed his dinosaurs and the people who had come to see them. "If you build it, I guess, they will come."

Dino Don's Dinosaurium will be on the Lower Level of the Granite Run Mall through Spring 2012. It's open seven days a week, Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $4 for children, $8 for adults.

 

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