Stan the T.rex is back at Quarry Hill Nature Center — and this time he brought friends. And starting this Saturday, your family will be able to visit with all of them.
"When Stan was here in 2006, we had 18,000 people come to the exhibit," said Lori Forstie, public relations and outreach coordinator at Quarry Hill. "This year, the exhibit runs 10 days longer. Our hope is we'll have more than 20,000 visitors. For some families, this might be the only time they see a dinosaur skeleton like this. We think it's really special to bring the dinosaurs to Rochester, and to house them at an accessible place for an accessible price."
The "T.rex: Tiny Arms, Big Teeth!" exhibit is Quarry Hill's sixth large-scale fossil exhibit. In addition to the first Stan exhibit, other exhibits have included a giant sea turtle, a woolly mammoth and a giant ground sloth.
"If you saw Stan the last time he was here, you'll notice he's been cast in a different pose this time — the New Mexico post, a little more crouched down, like he's stalking prey. One of the nice things is how close you can be to these gigantic dinosaur fossils. Kids will be able to get right up close to Stan's big teeth," said Forstie, noting that Stan was cast specifically for the Quarry Hill exhibit by the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research.
In addition to Stan, the exhibit features three of his family members, an Allosaurus, Gorgosaurus, and Tarbosaurus.
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"All four dinosaurs are Theropods and they are all bipedal, which means they walked on two feet and had very tiny arms," said Forstie. "We'll have skulls of the Gorgosaurus and Tarbosaurus and a full skeleton of the Allosaurus. Big Al is big. Not as big as Stan, but 27 feet is still pretty imposing."
In addition to the dinosaurs on exhibit, family members will also have hands-on fun with dinosaur-themed books, puzzles and activities.
"Although there's not a lot of touching of the dinosaurs on exhibit, we do have smaller fossils and a T.rex tooth that the kids can handle," says Forstie. "We'll also have a dig table set up where kids can test their paleontologist skills."
Exhibit tickets are $4 for adults and $3 for kids and are available at the door. Admission to the nature center is free of charge.
