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 A life-sized T. Rex is the star of the show at Oregon Zoo's "Dinosaurs!" exhibit. Tom Paulu / The Daily News
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Dinosaurs invade Oregon Zoo
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 11:57 PM PDT
By Tom Paulu
Printable version
E-mail this articlePORTLAND — You normally expect to see live animals at a zoo, not ones that have been extinct for 150 million years.
But the Oregon Zoo has imported a T. Rex, stegosaur and 23 other dinosaurs for its special exhibit this summer.
The dinos are built on steel frames and covered by painted, foam rubber skin. Their heads move back and forth, they roar and one even squirts kiddies who venture near.
The dinosaurs were built by Billings Productions, a company in Texas. For years, zoo director Tony Vecchio has wanted to bring them because they’ve been a hit with children elsewhere.
It’s the first time the zoo has staged a special exhibit of non-living creatures, said zoo spokesman Bill LaMarche. The dinos can help educate children about extinction and how it threatens existing animal species, he said.
From the zoo entrance, signs point the way to the dinos, but you’ll hear them before you see them. The roaring resounds several hundred yards away, near the Trillium farm with its cute goats and heifers.
“Don’t be scared!” the ticket lady said as my wife and I, and 6-year-old daughter, Adrienne, entered the dinosaur walk.
The first critters encountered are a family of parasaurolophuses, a species dubbed the “cretaceous cell phone.” Because of its bone structure, scientists surmise that it sounded like a trombone. LaMarche said the dinosaur calls represent “an educated guess” based on the shapes of their sinus cavities.
For this exhibit, the little parasaurolophuses popping out of shells went “chirp-chirp.” And Mom parasaurolophus sounded a lot more like Godzilla than a Dixieland jazz combo.
Onward to the megalosaurus robot. Like most of the dinos, it’s less than full size, which would be 10 feet high. Still, the megalosaurus looks mean, baring its 3-inch long teeth and moving its 6-inch long claws and yellow eyes.
The dinosaurs are set up along a walking path squeezed between permanent exhibits and the zoo’s choo-choo train. The train chugged by a few feet away and people waved cheerfully.
“Dad, watch out. The next one squirts,” Adrienne advised me.
The dilosphosaurus emits a spray every minute or so; those that lived 200 million years ago spit to defend themselves or confuse their prey.
One of my favorite parts of the dino exhibit came next. A couple of pachycephalosauruses looked as if they were about to butt each other with their big, spiky heads. I had never seen a picture of a pachycephalosaurus. Maybe they weren’t discovered when I was a boy and seriously into dinosaurs.
“I want to go see Mr. T. Rex!” Adrienne summoned. Of course, he’s the star attraction and a photo of him adorns publicity material.
On the way to Mr. Rex, we passed the Sauropod Snack Stand, where one can buy drinks and such snacks as tar-pit taffy. Elk (real ones) grazed in a nearby pasture.
We also passed a stegosaurus, one of my favorite dinosaurs, with the big plate thingies on its back. This steggie emitted a growl like a junkyard dog, competing with a Tom Petty rock song blaring from the pavilion nearby.
Neither the stegosaurus or Petty were as loud as the T. Rex, the source of the huge roar heard throughout the zoo. “He sounds a lot like a present-day lion, except he’s louder,” LaMarche said.
Unlike most of the exhibit’s dinos, the Tyrannosaurus Rex is actual size: 15 feet tall and 45 feet long. It stands over a pile of bones, a reminder that it was “a king with a bone-crunching bite.”
“It’s OK,” a mother said to her little girl. “It’s not real.”
Adrienne wasn’t fooled. “I see the microphone up there,” she said, pointing to a speaker mounted in a tree.
After seeing all the dinosaurs, kids and adults can pick up a bit of real dinosaur fossil for a souvenir.
The gift shop sells stuffed dino toys, books and toys, along with Dino Doo chocolate that’s supposed to resemble poop from prehistoric times.
If the roaring T. Rex isn’t scary enough, catch ‘Dino Island II’ before you leave the zoo. During the five-minute long theater experience, people put on special 3-D glasses and strap themselves into chairs that rock and lurch while a movie depicts a flight into a dinosaur-infested island. Giant dinosaur teeth appear to come within a few inches of your face.
After it was over, Adrienne said, “I want to go again!”
I wanted an Advil for my headache.
We hopped on the train and got to be the ones waving to people in dinosaur land. I’d only taken the train at Christmas, when it does a much shorter loop. The full route, now called the “Dino train,” winds into Washington Park for half an hour and is quite scenic.
If only a dinosaur would leap out of the ferns and chomp on a passenger. That would be scary.
If You Go
What: ‘Dinosaurs!,’ an exhibit of 25 animatronic dinosaurs that move and roar.
When: Through Labor Day.
Where: Oregon Zoo. Take I-5 and I-405 to Highway 26 west. Go through the tunnel and take Exit 72.
Cost: $4 in addition to zoo admission, which is $9.75 for adults, $8.25 for seniors and $6.75 for children 3-11. Dino Island II is another $4 and the train costs $3. A package ticket costs $20 for adults and $18 for youth.
Information: www.oregonzoo.org
They're everywhere!
Dinosaurs are stomping all over Portland this summer. Several museums in the Rose City are featuring dino-related attractions.
OMSI — "Dinosaurs: China’s Ancient Giants"
Twenty complete dinosaur skeletons (both casts and fossils), a "dig pit" where kids of all ages can become paleontologists for a day, and a 67 foot-long adult Mamenchisaurus — the longest-necked dinosaur ever.
Runs through Sept. 1; 1945 SE Water Ave., Portland. (503) 797-4000 or www.omsi.edu
Portland Children’s Museum — Dinosaur Revolution
Become a dinosaur and take a journey through the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods before landing in the present and discovering evidence of dinosaur doings as a Junior Paleontologist.
Through Sept. 1; 4015 SW Canyon Road, across from the Oregon Zoo; www.portlandcm.org
World Forestry Center Discovery Museum — Ancient Trees: Walking in the Footsteps of Dinosaurs
Explore 25 living specimen trees that represent ancient plant groups and the herbivores that ate them
Through Aug. 2; 4033 SW Canyon Road, across from the Oregon Zoo; www.worldforestry.org
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