The traveling blockbuster exhibit “Dinosaurs Unearthed” will come to the Detroit Science Center starting Feb. 19. Announced today, the mammoth exhibit includes 24 animatronic dinosaurs, five full-sized skeletons and nearly 40 fossil replicas and eggs from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. It will be the largest dinosaur exhibition ever to come to Detroit.
The Kaliszewski family of Westland is looking forward to the exhibit. Kal Kaliszewski says his 4-year-old son Avery and 6-year-old daughter Kennedy are both major dinosaur fans.
“The kids and I are very excited to head downtown in February to see all of the dinosaurs and fossils,” Kaliszewski says. “Not only is it a fun learning opportunity, it will also let them experience downtown Detroit and what our great city has to offer.”
The Science Center is the fourth venue to feature the exhibit, which stopped in St. Louis and Cincinnati and is currently in Kansas City. Todd Slisher, Science Center COO and vice president of visitor programs and service, says the traveling exhibit often translates into record attendance.
“It was the third most popular exhibit in the history of the Cincinnati Museum Center, drawing 170,000 visitors,” Slisher says. “While at the Saint Louis Science Center, it drew 105,000 visitors in six months. And Union Station in Kansas City, Mo., has tallied more than 120,000 visitors for the exhibit since it opened in May — its average annual visitor number is 190,000.”
‘Dinosaurs Unearthed’
Feb. 19-Sept. 5
The Detroit Science Center
5020 John R St., Detroit
Tickets $17.95 and $19.95; free for children younger than 2; tickets now on sale
Cost includes “Dinosaurs Alive!,” “Dinosaur Planet,” all hands-on exhibits, live shows and demonstrations
Free admission to the Detroit Children’s Museum, 6134 Second Ave., Detroit, with any ticket purchased to the Detroit Science Center (visit must be within 30 days after your visit to the Science Center)
Call (313) 577-8400, ext. 420
Visit www.detroitsciencecenter.org
Slisher hopes such dino-magic will bring throngs of Metro Detroiters to the Science Center, which boasts an average annual attendance of 300,000.
To date, the Science Center has had two exhibitions exceeding 100,000 visitors, says Kelly Fulford, Science Center spokeswoman. “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit” in 2003 drew 192,000 visitors and generated $2 million in ticket sales over seven months. In 2007, the exhibit “Our Body: The Universe Within” attracted 268,000 visitors and generated $5 million in ticket sales over 12 months.
“Dinosaurs Unearthed” explores the “softer” side of the dinosaurs, highlighting the relatively recent discovery of feathered dinosaurs and their connection to birds. Slisher says many dinosaurs, even the most ferocious, donned chicklike fuzzy coats prior to reaching adulthood.
“The most famous of the dinosaurs, like the T-Rex, was covered with a downy, featherlike coat that helped them maintain their body temperature,” he says.
Feathered fossils were first discovered in 1996, and are the strongest evidence to date that modern day birds are actually descendants of theropods — a theory that had been debated for decades.
Eleven-year-old Tyler Lamb saw the exhibit at Union Station with his grandparents back in May.
“I love dinosaurs and hope to be a paleontologist one day,” he says.”Controlling the dinosaurs was really awesome. Seeing the dinosaurs with feathers is very cool. The sounds made it seem very real, too.”
In addition to revealing the feathery beginnings of various dinosaurs, says paleontologist Glenn Storrs, the exhibit may also change visitor-perception that the once larger-than-life critters were perpetually surly. Storrs is assistant vice president for Natural History and Science and the Withrow Farny Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at Cincinnati Museum Center.
“Recent discoveries, most notably in Mongolia and China’s Liaoning Province, indicate that many dinosaurs were social, active animals bearing coats and displays of feathers,” Storrs says. “Birds are direct dinosaur descendants and thus in the dinosaur group themselves. Dinosaurs are therefore not entirely extinct! ” In conjunction with the exhibition, the Detroit Science Center will give visitors an extra helping of dinosaur fun with “Dinosaurs Alive!” in the Chrysler IMAX Dome Theatre and “Dinosaur Planet” in the Dassault Systèmes Planetarium.