Dino-Mania Comes To Raleigh With Traveling Jurassic Park Exhibit

The Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park: The Lost Worldopens at theN.C. Museum of Natural Scienceson Friday for a 3 1/2-month run.

The traveling exhibit features some familiar props and models from the movies; "Jurassic Park" and "The Lost World." Visitors will also see some rare dinosaur specimens rarely seen before.

"The unique thing about this is not only are there dinosaurs from North America here, but there are also dinosaurs from both China and South America that have never been shown in North America before," says Vince Schneider, the museum's paleontology curator.

The exhibit is sure to attract many of the people who saw the dinosaur movies, but it also gives scientists and researchers a chance to correct some of the dramatic license the movie makers took.

Don Lessum served as a scientific consultant for the movies. He helped to create the exhibit as a way to educate dinosaur fans in a way that was left out of the movies.

"The movie is really falsely named. It really ought to be called 'Cretaceous Park,'" he says. "It didn't really sound as good, because most of the movie dinosaurs come from the last dinosaur era."

"You'll find that many of the dinosaurs are sort of on steroids," he says. "They're quite a bit larger and fierce than in real life."

The exhibit will be open Mondays through Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sundays from 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.