PPHM to open new large-scale dinosaur exhibit

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - The Panhandle Plains Historical Museum will open their summer exhibit, Dinosaur Discoveries: Ancient Fossils, New Ideas, next week on May 4.

Museum staff says this is not your typical dinosaur exhibit, as it came all the way from New York and includes the most up-to-date scientific information about the animals.

“I don’t care how old you are, who doesn’t love the story of dinosaurs and learning all about them?” said Stephanie Price, marketing director for PPHM. “This is really fascinating because it’s everything they’ve learned in the past couple decades that have changed how scientists view and see dinosaurs...and I think its really neat how science is constantly evolving and we’re always learning new things and dinosaurs are no different. The exhibition is going to wow you.”

The exhibit builds off of the museum’s current paleontology section, adding the latest dinosaur research and discoveries.

“Scientists are always learning new things and I think dinosaurs are no different, so this will be a really great way for people to learn more about dinosaurs than they probably ever have,” said Price. “Our paleontology exhibit was installed in the late 80′s early 90′s. [There’s been] so many research advances, so many new dinosaur discoveries, so this will be a great way for us to continue that story this summer.”

Museum staff says this is their first large-scale traveling exhibit in nearly five years and believe dinosaurs are the perfect way to bring visitors back into museums.

“What a great way to have kind of a summer blockbuster to come out of COVID-19 and bring everyone back to the museum,” explained Price.

Dinosaur Discoveries: Ancient Fossils, New Ideas includes large-scale dinosaur replicas, along with models of birds and other creatures alive during that time.

The exhibit teaches visitors how dinosaurs moved, behaved and about multiple theories surrounding why they went extinct.

“I just love looking at the magnitude of dinosaurs and how big they were, so I think seeing the T-Rex head and all of those things are really cool, said Price. “It’s also the things people don’t think about as dinosaurs like the birds and other things like that that really kind of shape how we think about dinosaurs. Both of those things are going to be really cool.”

The exhibit is included with the price of admission and is open until Labor Day.

Dinosaur Discoveries: Ancient Fossils, New Ideas is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (www.amnh.org), in collaboration with the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco;The Field Museum, Chicago; the Houston Museum of Natural Science; and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh.

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