Nation's Largest Children's Museum to Create One of the Largest Displays of Real Juvenile and Family Dinosaur Fossils in the U.S.

    INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Today's opening of the "Dino
 Discovery Lab" launches the creation of a $25 million effort to develop a
 one-of-a-kind juvenile and family dinosaur experience for visitors to The
 Children's Museum of Indianapolis.
     The Dino Discovery Lab, the first part of the new "Dinosphere" exhibit,
 allows children to sign up for in-depth programs which will allow them to work
 side-by-side with professional preparators as they clean and prepare
 65 million-year-old dinosaur fossils for display.
     The complete Dinosphere exhibit, opening in 2004, will feature one of the
 largest displays of real juvenile and family dinosaur fossils in the United
 States. Noted paleontologist Dr. Robert Bakker said, The Children's Museum
 will quickly earn its place "among the top dozen dinosaur exhibits in the
 world."
     Although specimens are still being collected, Dr. Jeffrey H. Patchen,
 president and CEO of the Museum, said, "The centerpiece is certain to be
 'Bucky,' a teenage Tyrannosaurus rex and the only juvenile T-rex ever placed
 on permanent exhibition in a museum. We also have acquired 'Baby Louie,' the
 only fully articulated dinosaur embryo fossil found in the world; a nearly
 complete Gorgosaurus; and 'Kelsey,' one of the top three Triceratops skeletons
 known to science."
     A major component of Dinosphere is research. No other museum in the U.S.
 will have such a range of sizes and ages of dinosaurs available for research.
 Guiding the effort is an advisory board of paleontologists and dinosaur
 experts, including Dr. Robert Bakker; Drs. Phil and Eva Currie, Royal Tyrrell
 Museum of Paleontology; Pete and Neal Larson, Founders of the Black Hills
 Institute of Geologic Research; Paul Sereno, Ph.D., University of Chicago; and
 Dong Zhiming, China Academy of Science.
     "Dinosphere is a wonderful combination of original research, field work,
 specimen acquisition, laboratory preparation, exhibit construction and public
 programming. Paleontology needs more museums with active field-lab-education
 programs like this one -- what The Children's Museum has accomplished is
 extraordinary," said Bakker.
 
                     MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT -  Click Here
                http://tbutton.prnewswire.com/prn/11690X03636614
 
 

SOURCE  The Children's Museum of Indianapolis