Fabulous Fossils on display at Life

There are real dinosaurs behind the glass!

Visitors to the Life Science Centre are discovering a pre-historic world filled with fascinating facts and fossils. The Centre’s Age of the Dinosaur exhibition not only contains life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, but also some incredible specimens on loan from the Natural History Museum’s collection including real bones and fossils of plants and animals that lived during the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods. Ian Simmons, Science Communications Director at Life, said: “There are some truly wonderful pieces on display including teeth, claws, ammonites and a T. rex skull.   I love that every fossil tells a story, giving us snapshot of an ancient event, it’s fascinating how a piece of history has been captured and preserved for some many millions of years.” Life’s Science Explainers will be on hand over the summer to help visitors discover the stories behind the fossils and learn what life on Earth was like for the dinosaurs.  There will be real fossils that visitors can hold including dinosaur poo which is studied to find out what was on the menu when they roamed the planet some 65 million years ago. Visitors to the exhibition can also roll up their sleeves and learn what it’s like to be a palaeontologist by taking part in Life’s Dino Dig and piecing together fragments of bone to identify species of dinosaur. Age of the Dinosaur is at Life until 3 November.  Additional dinosaur activities at the Life Science Centre include the Dino Mighty show within the Science Theatre and Timechasers 4D motion ride. One ticket price covers all activities throughout the centre. Visitors receive a timetable of activities on arrival to help plan their day. Photo caption info: 8 year old Harvey Weir from Jarrow takes a look at an ammonite fossil in Life Science Centre’s Age of the Dinosaur exhibition