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 The Liaoning Forest
A 700-square-foot diorama of a 130-million-year-old forest that existed in what is now Liaoning Province, China captures a place and time of vast scientific importance: fossil discoveries from Liaoning have shed light on the origins of birds, mammals, feathers, flight, and flowering plants. More than 35 different species of dinosaurs, reptiles, early birds, insects, mammals and plants densely populate this re-created forest. |
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Don’t miss:
A life-size model of a newly identified primitive tyrannosaur, Dilong paradoxus, covered with branched protofeathers—precursors to the feathers found on living birds.
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Mei long- A small birdlike dinosaur asleep with its head tucked between its forearm and trunk and its tail encircling its body. The pose matches the typical resting posture found in living birds, and it supports the hypothesis that non-avian dinosaurs, like the modern birds that evolved after them, were warm-blooded.
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Extinction
In this section, visitors can explore the hard evidence for theories about the events that ended the Age of Dinosaurs, including asteroid impact, global climate change, and massive volcanic eruptions.
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Dont Miss:
A slab of sedimentary rock recently collected from New Jersey that clearly shows a thin ash layer full of iridium, a metallic element that marks the boundary between the end of the Cretaceous Period and the beginning of the Tertiary Period about 65 million years ago. Scientists believe the Iridium came from a massive asteroid that vaporized upon impact and contributed to the extinction of more than half of all species on Earth, including the Mesozoic dinosaurs. |
Continue to All About Dinosaurs >>
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