USA Today article on DMNH

[Stang1996@aol.com]

>From USA Today - Friday October 20, 1995 - 7D

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ON THE TIME TRAIL OF DINOSAURS

By Jerry Shriver
USA TODAY

    Those good old, old, old days, when Kansas had a coast-line and 
Wyoming was a rainforest spring back to life Saturday with the 
opening of the $7.7 million 'Prehistoric Journey' Exhibition at the 
Denver Museum of Natural History.

IF YOU'RE IN . . .
DENVER
    
    Six years in the making, the 17,000-square-foot permanent display 
explores 3.5 billion years of life on Earth, from the planet's first 
protozoans to the emergence of shovel-tusked elephants and 
humans.
    Visitors walk along a time trail that winds through natural habitat 
scenes and "enviroramas" re-creating fossil quarry sites from specific 
locations in North America.
    The Kansas Coastline envirorama, for example, depicts that region 
as a shallow estuary on the edge of an ocean from 295 million years 
ago.  "You'll see actual water, and the sound and lighting effects of a 
sunset and giant dragon flies buzzing across the area.  The scene 
will change as you watch it," says museum Spokeswoman Amy 
Tekansik.
    Dinosaur fans will find 500 real fossil specimens, some of which 
have been remounted in new, dynamic poses - tails up, for instance - 
"reflecting the latest knowledge," says Tekansik.  Highlight: an 
80-foot _Diplodocus_ skeleton that towers over a brawling 
_Allosaurus_ and a _Stegosaurus_.
    The trail winds up at the Schlessman Family Foundation 
Laboratory of Earth Sciences, a working fossil lab where visitors can 
interact with scientists and technicions.
    A parade of dinosaur floats through Denver City Park at 9 a.m. 
Saturday marks the official opening.

   /The Denver Museum of Natural History, 2001 Colorado Blvd., is 10 
minutes east of downtown.  Hours: Monday-Wednesday, noon-5 
p.m.; Thursday-Friday, noon-9 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-5p.m. 
 Museum tickets, which include admission to 'Prehistoric Journey,' 
are $4.50 for adults, $2.50 for children.  Information, 800-925-2250./

[Picture Caption] 'PREHISTORIC JOURNEY': An _Allosaurus_, left, 
and a _Stegosaurus_ engage in battle in the Denver meuseum [sic].

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The picture is very nice and shows _Allosaurus atrox_ going for the 
neck of _Diracodon stenops_.  This picture shows very nicely _D_'s 
throat ossicles.  I want to go.

Peter Buchholz
Stang1996@aol.com