Take a rare and exciting look at the life of dinosaurs through their eggs, nests and embryos in Hatching the Past: Dinosaur Eggs and Babies. This remarkable hands- on exhibition offers an astounding array of dinosaur eggs and nests collected from all over the globe – including those of each of the major plant and meat-eating dinosaur groups.
Although dinosaur eggs were first identified in the 1920’s, their scientific significance was not fully appreciated until the end of the 20th century. Today, dinosaur eggs are recognized for their enormous scientific value and for offering fascinating details and fresh insights into the behavior, growth and evolution of dinosaurs.
Hatching the Past presents new discoveries about dinosaur reproduction and behavior and introduces some of the fascinating people and science behind these discoveries. This multi-media experience helps give credence to long debated theories that dinosaurs and birds are closely related.
A captivating experience for all ages, Hatching the Past invites visitors to touch real dinosaur bones and reconstructed nests-one more than eight feet in diameter, dig for eggs, experience hands-on exploration stations and view animated video presentations featuring well known dinosaur experts. Each science-rich section is enhanced with exciting life-like models of embryos and hatchlings, colorful illustrations of dinosaur family life and stunning photographs of some of the world’s most renowned dinosaur hunters and their discoveries.
The amazing collection of fossils on view includes a bowling ball-sized egg of a sauropod from Argentina – laid by a long-necked plant-eating titanosaur that lived 75 million years ago; a large cluster of eggs laid by a duck-billed, plant-eating dinosaur, and the longest dinosaur eggs ever discovered – almost 18 inches long – laid by a new giant species of oviraptor, a carnivorous, ostrich-like dinosaur.
A central feature of the exhibit is “Baby Louie,” – the nearly complete skeleton of a dinosaur embryo with its bones aligned in the proper position. Charlie Magovern made this exceptional and rare discovery when he was carefully cleaning a large block of eggs from China. He nicknamed the embryo after National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos. Visitors can also view an animated DVD presentation about the discovery of “Baby Louie.”
General Information
Available Package Options
Turnkey
Collection and interpretation
Languages
English
Spanish
German
Italian
Venues
Past and Future Venues
Past ‘Dinosaur Eggs & Babies’ venues by size – North America
400 -600 square meters (4,000 – 6,000 sq ft)
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Cranbrook Institute of Science, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Danville Science Center, Danville, Virginia
Don Harrington Discovery Center, Amarillo, Texas
Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, Florida - twice
Hastings Museum of Natural History, Hastings, Nebraska
Museum of Idaho, Idaho Falls, Idaho
Orlando Science Center, Orlando, Florida
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, Norman, Oklahoma
Science Spectrum, Lubbock, Texas
Virginia Living Museum, Newport News, Virginia - twice
200 -300 square meters (2,000 – 3,500 sq ft)
Catabwa Science Center, Hickory, North Carolina
Delaware Museum of Natural History, Wilmington, Delaware - twice
Eastern Tennessee State University Natural History Museum, Gray, Tennessee
Fullerton Museum Center, Fullerton, California
Impression 5 Science Center, Lansing, Michigan
Kenosha Public Museum, Kenosha, Wisconsin - twice
Lakeview Museum of Arts and Science, Peoria, Illinois
Las Vegas Natural History Museum, Las Vegas, Nevada
Mid-America Science Museum, Hot Springs, Arkansas
Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, Jackson, Mississippi
Museum of Science and History, Fort Worth, Texas
Neville Public Museum, Green Bay, Wisconsin
New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey
Pacific Science Center, Seattle, Washington
Planetario Alfa, Monterrey, Mexico
Science Center of Connecticut, West Hartford, Connecticut
SciTech Hands on Museum, Aurora, Illinois
Springfield Science Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts
State Historical Society, Des Moines, Iowa
Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Hays, Kansas
Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Yale Peabody Natural History Museum, New Haven, Connecticut - twice
110 – 190 square meters (1,100 – 1,900 sq ft)
Arizona Museum of Natural History, Mesa, Arizona
Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, Greenwich, Connecticut
Frank McClung Museum, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee - twice
Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia
Harvard Museum of Natural History, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Hi Desert Nature Center, Yucca Valley, California
Las Cruces Museum of Natural History, New Mexico - twice
Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, Burlington, Vermont
Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, New Hampshire – twice
Museum of Arts & Sciences, Macon, Georgia
Museum of Science and History, Jacksonville, Florida
Museum of the Earth, Paleontological Research Institution, Ithaca, New York
Quarry Hill Nature Center, Rochester, Minnesota
Rawlins Public Library, Pueblo, Colorado
Schiele Museum of Natural History, Gastonia, North Carolina - twice
University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, Boulder, Colorado
University of Oregon, Museum of Natural and Cultural History, Eugene, Oregon
100 square meters (1,000 sq ft and smaller)
Aurora History Museum, Aurora, Colorado
Classical Chinese Garden, Portland, Oregon
Colburn Museum, Ashville, North Carolina
Explorium of Lexington, Lexington, Kentucky
Hi Desert Museum, Yucca Valley, California
Mt Airy Museum of Regional History, Mt. Airy, North Carolina
Saint George Dinosaur Discovery Center, Saint George, Utah
The Museum, Greenwood, South Carolina
University of Kansas Museum of Natural History, Lawrence, Kansas
International
200 -1000 square meters (2,000 – 10,000 sq ft)
Australasia
Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum, Bathurst, NSW, Australia
Imaginarium Science Centre, Devonport, Tasmania, Australia
Melbourne Museum, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Museum of Tropical Queensland, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
National Wool Museum, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Newcastle Museum, Newcastle, Australia
Otago Museum, Dunedin, New Zealand
Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
South Australian Museum, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Waikato Museums, Hamilton, New Zealand
Europe
Museo del Jurásico de Asturias MUJA (Jurassic Museum of Asturias), Asturias, Spain
Città della Scienza (City of Science), Naples, Italy
Centre d'Interpretació de Coll de Nargó, Spain
Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont (ICP), Catalunya, Spain
Horniman Museum, London, England
National Museum of Scotland, Glasgow, Scotland
National Museum Cardiff, Wales
Natural History Museum of Denmark, Denmark
Naturama, Svendborg, Denmark
Geomuseum, Faxe, Denmark
State Museum of Natural History, Braunschweig, Germany