Dinosaur Exhibition Opens in Paris

Going big for dinosaurs. A new dinosaur exhibition opens this week at the Museum of Natural History in Paris. Children express awe at the sheer size of the ancient creatures.

Published

7 months ago

Categories

Science

Topics

Paleontology

People

Ronan Allain

Places

France, Paris

Transcript

SCRIPT: Dinosaurs disappeared 65 million years ago - But now they're back at a new exhibition in Paris Visitors to the Natural History Museum can see dinosaur fossils and the whopping size of some dinosaur eggs Life-sized examples of the animals span out across the exhibition hall - and are a big hit with kids. SOUNDBITE 1, Ulysse (French, 8 sec): "I'm really fascinated by their size. I didn't know that their neck was so long. It's also interesting to see the inside and what they looked like." SOUNDBITE 2, Mariella (French,12 sec) "It's amazing to see life-sized dinosaurs in the exhibition. It's really interesting. Their size is very impressive." An impressive stature ...that can be seen mirrored in the large body parts also on display Children can play with a massive dinosaur heart - big enough to pump 600 litres of blood a minute. Nearby - a femur more than two metres long. The fossil was discovered in southwestern France just three years ago. SOUNDBITE 3, Ronan Allain, Palaeontologist, Natural History Museum in Paris (French, 20 sec): "This is from an animal that measured forty to fifty metres. That's the size of an Olympic swimming pool. It would have weighed forty to fifty tonnes. So it was very very big and very heavy." Along with dinosaur anatomy, visitors can also learn more about these ancient creatures' diet and reproductive habits. Museum curators hope the large-sized exhibition will draw a suitably big crowd before it closes in May. ---------------------------------------- SHOTLIST: PARIS, 24 Oct 2012 at the Natural History Museum -VAR of dinosaurs at museum -VAR children looking at exhibition SOUNDBITE 1 -Image of dinosaur at exhibition SOUNDBITE 2 -VAR dinosaurs at exhibition -VAR of femur -VAR of Ronan Allain SOUNDBITE 3 -VAR of kids looking at exhibition