Throughout development, we consult our scientific advisors, including Kevin C. The JMZ is committed to presenting accurate scientific content. We intend to represent these animals in non-aggressive poses to counter the menacing stereotypes that exist of dinosaurs in popular culture and to avoid frightening young children. These specimens were chosen because they were common animals in California during the Cretaceous period and represent a variety of species that may challenge visitors’ preconceived notions of dinosaur-age animals. In the exhibition, there will be a diversity of sculptures such as an Ichthyornis, a toothed plunge-diving sea bird, a Pteranodon sternbergi, a flying reptile with a 16’ wingspan, and Hypsilophodontids, deer-sized dinosaurs that were herd animals. We were awarded a $250,000 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and now the interpretive exhibits are being developed in earnest by JMZ staff, and prototypes will be tested this summer. Advance planning ensured the courtyard was designed for the exhibit’s special needs. The exhibit concept was developed for a grant phyroposal prior to the new facility being built. Hands-on exhibits, touchable fossils, and illustrations will interpret the science in an age-appropriate manner for children. On warm days tortoises will roam beneath the redwood to showcase their connection to prehistoric turtles. The focus on California will help children understand change over time by comparing their familiar environment to what it was like millions of years ago. Discovering marine fossils in our Fossil Dig will convey that most of California was once underwater. It will create a “living diorama” interpreting the Cretaceous period in California with life-size sculptures of prehistoric animals nestled among prehistoric ferns and cycads.Ĭhildren may climb an Aletopelta coombsi, an armored dinosaur, and walk beneath our California state dinosaur, Augustynolophus morrisi, a 32-foot-long herbivore. The exhibition will be in the dawn redwood courtyard where our current outdoor play activities are. What will children experience when they visit? Understanding the past is an important precursor to understanding complex topics that are so relevant today, like climate change, ecosystems and biodiversity, and evolution. The California Dinosaur Garden will help children and their adults learn about prehistoric animals and plants, when they lived, and what the world was like then. For many children, the thrill of discovering dinosaurs, and the world they inhabited, is an early introduction to biology, paleontology, geology, and other branches of science. We imagined that a large gentle dinosaur peeking through the tree’s canopy would capture a child’s imagination.Įnduringly popular, dinosaurs provide an inviting entry-point to engaging young children-and adults-in science. It was once thought to be extinct because it was only known from fossil records until it was discovered growing in China in the 1940’s. The outdoor exhibition was inspired by our dawn redwood tree, a species from the age of dinosaurs. What inspired the California Dinosaur Garden? Why was it chosen as an exhibit for the JMZ? California Dinosaur Garden Q + A Our exhibits director, Tina, has answered a few frequently asked questions about our upcoming California Dinosaur Garden Exhibit.

Dinosaurs Among Us logo