A pair of exhibits bring dinosaurs back to Winnipeg

Dinosaurs are roaming Winnipeg once again thanks to a pair of exhibits that opened up for the season.

The Manitoba Museum unveiled its World’s Giant Dinosaurs exhibit Thursday morning, which was followed by the Assiniboine Park Zoo unveiling a new dinosaur to its Dinosaur’s Alive! exhibit.

The museum’s exhibit features a Brachiosaurus, measuring 24-feet high, and a 66-foot long Mamenchisaurus.

It is housed in the recently reopened Alloway Hall and was created with the help of dinosaur expert “Dino” Don Lessem, who worked as an adviser on the Steven Spielberg film, Jurassic Park.

“The awe of giant dinosaurs – you can talk about how great they are, but to see them is really jaw dropping,” Lessem said. “This is the greatest experiment in life’s history, to create animals as big as buildings – six stories high, weighing 50 elephants.”

Dinosaurs on display are either skeletons and robotics or sculptures and represent about 130 million years when dinosaurs ruled the land, according to the museum.

And Lessem said these aren’t your typical sculptures.

“They will pee on command and they will also fart,” Lessem said. “We want to give the impression of every aspect of dinosaur life.”

The exhibit runs from May 19 to September 4.

Not to be outdone, the Assiniboine Park Zoo opened its Dinosaurs Alive! exhibit with the unveiling of the newest dinosaur – a 13-metre long Tylosaurus, otherwise known as the T. Rex of the sea.

Bran Adams, Education Coordinator for at Assiniboine Park Conservancy said the Tylosaurus has a Manitoba connection.

“Here in Manitoba we had Bruce that was discovered right around the Morden area there – about a 65 to 70 per cent complete skeleton,” Adams explained.

There are now 16 life-sized animatronic dinosaurs along the path in the zoo, with the Tylosaurus being the first sea predator featured.

“Being a marine reptile, these guys have a lot of interesting connections to lizards and snakes,” Adams said.

Along with the dinosaurs, the exhibit also features a dig site and excavation site.