Dinosaur Exhibits

CMP

CMP

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I've seen many zoos, at least in the US, use animatronic dinosaurs or 'dinosaurs alive' types of exhibits. These are generally not of much interest to me, as they don't feature live animals but rather often inaccurate animatronics. I understand that these are probably good marketing and revenue generating exhibits, but are there instances where exhibits like these offer a more educational experience with contemporary counterparts? What species would be best to highlight how dinosaurs used to live?
 
ChunkyMunky pengopus said:
I've seen many zoos, at least in the US, use animatronic dinosaurs or 'dinosaurs alive' types of exhibits. These are generally not of much interest to me, as they don't feature live animals but rather often inaccurate animatronics. I understand that these are probably good marketing and revenue generating exhibits, but are there instances where exhibits like these offer a more educational experience with contemporary counterparts? What species would be best to highlight how dinosaurs used to live?
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I agree that they're not really that tasteful, and tend to take up room that would be better served for (living) animal exhibits. But the recent ones that they've done tend to really highlight the dangers of habitat destruction and human encroachment on an ecosystem and the numerous species living within it -- dinosaurs are extinct, after all, and teaching kids what extinction is and how it happens is important, I think.

My zoo will be opening up an exhibit called Dinoroarus this spring, as a temporary replacement for the now-inaccessible Children's Zoo (they decided to permanently close it due to Covid-19 and are working to reimagine it as a new zoo space in the near future). They plan to house several bird species within it so that they can stress the evolutionary linkage between the dinosaurs and their modern relatives.

As far as placing living species in such an exhibit that would have actually been around back then, I'm going to say crocodiles, turtles, and small lizards would be appropriate.
 
imaginarius said:
I agree that they're not really that tasteful, and tend to take up room that would be better served for (living) animal exhibits. But the recent ones that they've done tend to really highlight the dangers of habitat destruction and human encroachment on an ecosystem and the numerous species living within it -- dinosaurs are extinct, after all, and teaching kids what extinction is and how it happens is important, I think.

My zoo will be opening up an exhibit called Dinoroarus this spring, as a temporary replacement for the now-inaccessible Children's Zoo (they decided to permanently close it due to Covid-19 and are working to reimagine it as a new zoo space in the near future). They plan to house several bird species within it so that they can stress the evolutionary linkage between the dinosaurs and their modern relatives.

As far as placing living species in such an exhibit that would have actually been around back then, I'm going to say crocodiles, turtles, and small lizards would be appropriate.
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I would consider St.Louis to be my home zoo as well, and part of what inspired this post. I think what St.Louis is doing is much better than normally happens, but its a bit of a shame as the children's zoo actually had some decent exhibits as far as Children zoos go, especially with the Tasmanian devils and that one building with the tree kangaroos. I am under the impression that everything is being relocated? Where will the tree kangaroos and tasmanian devils go?
 
ChunkyMunky pengopus said:
I would consider St.Louis to be my home zoo as well, and part of what inspired this post. I think what St.Louis is doing is much better than normally happens, but its a bit of a shame as the children's zoo actually had some decent exhibits as far as Children zoos go, especially with the Tasmanian devils and that one building with the tree kangaroos. I am under the impression that everything is being relocated? Where will the tree kangaroos and tasmanian devils go?
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I haven't been to the zoo since they closed the Children's Zoo for good but I read on their website that the Tasmanian devils will still be viewable. The rest, probably not.
 
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Dierenpark Amersfoort has a huge dinosaur forest with some fun attractions, but also some very outdated dinosaur. Not only in form of paleontology, but also because of general degradation (The biggest problem animal being a floating dunkleosteus next to the top half of an algae-covered plesiosaurus)

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But again, also a beautiful life-size brachiosaurus

brachiosaurus.jpg
 

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It seems to be the new trend in zoos, and i'm not really a fan of it, as i'm mainly focussed on the actual animals.

Melbourne Zoo in Australia is incorporating a Dinosaur display for like the tenth time in the past few years. The size of some of them is outstanding though, and the kids do one seeing them.
Dino-Lab-Melbourne-Zoo-6.jpg


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I share the views of a lot of people on this topic, that these exhibits take up valuable space and money yet don’t even bother to be scientifically accurate, which means they can’t even be used for educational purposes
 
Paleoarchontas said:
I share the views of a lot of people on this topic, that these exhibits take up valuable space and money yet don’t even bother to be scientifically accurate, which means they can’t even be used for educational purposes
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I wish they would at least attempt to be up to date...
 
The one at Philly opening this month has some modern species, like polar bears, alongside the dinosaurs, to teach about conservation. I don't really get the connection between species that died millions of years ago and current endangered animals, but it's better than just dinos, I guess? BIG TIME – Philadelphia Zoo

Meanwhile San Antonio has upped their dino feature by adding dragons, and not the komodo kind o_O
 
They're mostly there to pander to kids, since kids love dinosaurs (this was probably true for many in this forum including me). Most of the dinosaur exhibits I've seen fall in one of these flaws: not bothering to be up to date (e.g. JP-style scaly velociraptors, herbivores with toothy snouts instead of beaks or theropods with bunny hands being the most common) or treating dinosaurs as scary monsters rather than actual animals, a flaw shared with most dinosaur media to be fair.

However I've seen some dinosaur areas that, while not totally accurate, at least have more education value thanks to fossil displays, life-sized skeleton casts, etc.
 
TinoPup said:
The one at Philly opening this month has some modern species, like polar bears, alongside the dinosaurs, to teach about conservation. I don't really get the connection between species that died millions of years ago and current endangered animals, but it's better than just dinos, I guess? BIG TIME – Philadelphia Zoo

Meanwhile San Antonio has upped their dino feature by adding dragons, and not the komodo kind o_O
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Dragons? Like the Game of Thrones kind? But... why? That’s... oh nevermind. :rolleyes:
 
Mystic Aquarium has a pretty tasteful dinosaur Exhibit. It may not be interesting to us animal enthusiasts, but it is well done and can be popular with young children (because, let's be honest, all kids go through a dinosaur phase).
 
Mr Gharial said:
Dierenpark Amersfoort has a huge dinosaur forest with some fun attractions, but also some very outdated dinosaur. Not only in form of paleontology, but also because of general degradation (The biggest problem animal being a floating dunkleosteus next to the top half of an algae-covered plesiosaurus)

View attachment 477582

But again, also a beautiful life-size brachiosaurus

View attachment 477588
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Forgot to mention that the dinosaur forest actually has some enclosures as well, there's a giant tortoise house in the middle and there also used to be cassowaries
 
I do think dinosaur exhibits are a good idea, its nice when zoos take a nod to the creatures of the past and they help with revenue. The main issue with the majority of them is poor presentation.

First a dinosaur exhibit is not a substitute for live animals so I don't like it when a dino-exhibit replaces what should be a live animal exhibit like we see with alot of children's zoos. It makes the dinosaurs feel like they shouldn't be there. But if a zoo has an area they don't use like a trail through a forest or existing gardens then dinosaurs wouldn't be a bad idea.

Also, they lack creativity. Most zoos go with cheap jurassic park knock offs accompanied by poorly researched info signs. If designers actually did some designing with more up to date models with a more immersive layout and design then the exhibit would be more attractive and thus increase its educational potential.

So in my opinion a dinosaur exhibit is a great idea but like the live animal exhibits in order to be successful a good deal of planning and thought has to go into it. Which sadly a good number of modern zoos are severely lacking.
 
Bronx has a dinosaur safari walk and while I didn't see it on my visit, judging by photos it looks like most of the dinosaurs are accurate.
 
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