2008 Dinosaurs - Gallery

Ten different species of dinosaurs came to life at the Bryce Jordan Center last night. Beginning in the Triassic Period and ending in the Cretaceous Period, audience members traveled through millions of years of history while watching the evolution of dinosaurs in their prehistoric world.

Guided by paleontologist Huxley, played by James Roberts, the evening began with a tour of the Triassic Period. Setting the scene, Huxley gave a brief overview of what Earth was like so long ago before the dinosaur Liliensternus entered the arena. During this period, there were no individual continents, just one large land mass known as Pangea. The large continent suffered droughts, making the landscape one large desert with little vegetation. Audience members quickly learned the harshness of the dinosaurs� world after a larger predator carried a newly hatched dinosaur baby away.

As Pangea began to split apart, dinosaurs entered the Jurassic Period. When Pangea began to break apart, narrow seaways were created, affecting the climate and vegetation. As the continent began to evolve, so did dinosaurs. With vast amounts of lush vegetation, more dinosaurs were able to subsist on plants. During this period, audience members watched as Stegosaurus, known for his plated back and spiked tail, interacted with the large and fearsome predator Allosaurus.

Brachiosaurus made an appearance in the Late Jurassic Period. Over 40 feet tall and weighing 40 tons (the equivalent of ten adult elephants), it is hard to imagine that Brachiosaurus ate only ferns and pine. Even in a large arena, his presence was both impressive and overwhelming.

After a twenty-minute intermission, the audience traveled back in time to the Cretaceous Period when an Ornithocheirus dropped from the ceiling of the Bryce Jordan Center. With a wingspan of nearly 40 feet, Ornithocheirus could traverse large amounts of space and fly over the newly formed bodies of water.

Moving into the Late Cretaceous Period, temperatures began to rise, hurting vegetation and endangering the dinosaurs. As dinosaur species began to die out, only the strongest dinosaurs could survive, causing dinosaurs to evolve into even stronger creatures. Audience members were introduced to Anklyosaurus, a heavily armored dinosaur with bony plates covering his entire body. Besides the thick, bony plates, Anklyosaurus was equipped with a club-like tail that weighed 150 pounds.

With dinosaurs evolving into stronger creatures with more defense mechanisms, it took one large carnivore to compete with the other dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus Rex. The evident crowd favorite, T-Rex made a very loud entrance into the Bryce Jordan Center and showed his aggressive behavior towards other dinosaurs.

The evening with dinosaurs ended when a simulated comet came crashing into the dinosaurs� world. According to Huxley, the comet was six and a half miles wide and weighed 100 million megatons. Producing large dust clouds that blacked out the sun, 65% of life on the planet, including dinosaurs, was killed.

The 90-minute experience with the life-like dinosaurs was very impressive. Seeing the actual size of some of the dinosaurs such as Brachiosaurus was truly amazing. With six performances left at the Bryce Jordan Center, more children and families will have the opportunity to experience a prehistoric world filled with dinosaurs.

-Missy Criswell