T'puram: Dinosaur Park opening on Children's Day

Thiruvananthapuram: Don’t shudder while standing near a dinosaur that opens and closes its jaws, wagging its tail and producing loud noise. Soon, one could experience all these at the ‘Evolution Park’ at the Kerala State Science and Technology Museum in the city. The models of 13 dinosaurs are being readied in the park, which is scheduled to be thrown open to the public on November 14, Children’s Day. The mechanically-animated models of Scelidosaurus, Triceratops, Dimetrodon, Stegosaurus, Pteranodon, Psittacosaurus, Velociraptor, Glyptodon, Woolly Rhinoceros, Diatryma etc would find their place among the displays. The park is coming up in an area scattered over one acre on the museum premises, with a fountain at the centre.

“The realistic models were done at Kolkata Science city. The work on adding additional features to animate them by fixing some parts is progressing at Visvesvaraya Museum, Bangalore. Seven dinosaurs would wave their heads and two will wag the tails in this manner,” says G Arul Jerald Prakash, director of the Kerala State Science and Technology Museum. The dinosaur models have been made in fibre material are are resistant to heat and rain.

The park has much more in store for the visitors. An amphitheatre with an estimated seating capacity of 300 with an amazing light and sound show too is being developed alongside. In the evenings, the show would have narration on the evolution of the earth and on the life of dinosaurs. This is expected to be very educative and information such as the origin of cells, living beings and the history of dinosaurs will all be imparted to the viewers.

Apart from the history of the dinosaurs that are displayed in the park, the details of other dinosaurs, the models of which could not be set up owing to space constraints, too will be included. “The entire show would be some 40 minutes long. To benefit more visitors, we may consider having two-three shows a day,” Arul Jerald Prakash said.

The opening of the ‘Robotic Corner’, in the old museum building where the ‘bioloids’ - robots which can do a lot of things humans can perform - are on display, too is scheduled for Children’s Day.