Perot Museum Unveils Paleo Lab
Guests at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science now have a real-time view of the dynamic dinosaur research of museum paleontologists as they process and prepare fossils fresh from the field.
Media and students from Uplift Luna Academy were invited Tuesday morning to a private unveiling of the glass-encased permanent exhibit. The new lab will highlight a special Dinosaur-focused event at the museum this weekend.
Children and us fellow journalists were able to feel the tools as they vibrated through rock segments museum paleontologist were currently studying.
Cameras in the lab project close-up examinations of live fossil preparation while museum brainiacs explain and demonstrate the tools and techniques, and how this work connects to the specimens displayed throughout the exhibit hall. Guests just might witness the unearthing of a new prehistoric species.
“Clearly we’ve been busy with dinosaurs this last summer, but we’re not finished,” said Linda Silver, Eugene McDermott chief executive officer at the museum. “At the Perot Museum, we know that dinosaurs are a gateway to STEM and science education both for children and adults and families.”
The exhibit opens on the heels of the Perot’s summer of dinosaurs where the museum is currently hosting ‘The Ultimate Dinosaur Exhibit’ (Click here to read more about that), the only place this summer to see 17 rarely seen species from the southern hemisphere.
This weekend (Sept. 1 and 2), the museum will celebrate dinosaurs with the inaugural Dino Fest.
Activities will invade all five levels of the museum, bringing loads of fun from fossil hunts and dissections to the exploration of meteorites and coprolites (AKA dinosaur poop). The event is free for members and included with general admission for non-members.
“We’re working right now at the museum on becoming the premier arctic paleo exploratory and research entity; not just for the region, but also for the world,” Silver said. “We have large ambitions around this goal. We anticipate seeing ourselves publishing new research, our new discoveries that our paleontologists are finding out in the field, training the next generation of paleontologists and inspiring their research.”
The Paleo team at the Perot Museum has already made several big discoveries, including Nanuqsaurus hoglundi, the polar tyrannosaur that will greet guests from atop the new lab. A pint-sized cousin of the T. rex, Nanuqsaurus was discovered and named by the Perot Museum’s renowned paleontologists, Dr. Tony Fiorillo and Dr. Ron Tykoski, in 2014.
Events this weekend will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday (with a beer garden open until 7 p.m.) and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Guests also will have an opportunity to share some dino love with a foster child through a community CASAsaurus sculpture. For a $5 material fee, participants will receive a pair of toy dinosaurs and fun facts about that species. After filling out a gift tag for a foster child, guests will add one dinosaur to the sculpture and have one to keep as a souvenir. All dinosaurs donated to the sculpture will be distributed to foster children through Dallas CASA.
