Seattle’s Burke Museum is ready to share two of its newest inhabitants with the public as part of its Dinosaur Day festivities Saturday.
The two fossils are of giant marine reptiles, one a 21-foot-long, 125 million-year-old ichthyosaur, weighing more than 1,000 pounds; the other an approximately 200 million-year-old nothosaur, measuring 9 feet long and weighing several hundred pounds.
The ichthyosaur, whose name means “fish lizard” in Greek, represents a group of reptiles that lived in water, but breathed air as dolphins and whales do. That fossil, discovered in Germany, was recently donated to the museum and has become part of Burke’s permanent dinosaur display.
Nothosaurs lived during the Triassic period and spent part of their time in water and part of it on land, Burke spokeswoman Rebecca Durkin said.
The Hart family, whose members are private donors for the museum, provided the nothosaur fossil, which is now part of the Burke’s behind-the-scenes paleontology collection of more than 2 million fossils brought out only on Dinosaur Day.
Additional specimens will be brought up from the Burke’s storage rooms, Durkin said, so visitors can inquire about the extensive collection of Pacific Northwest vertebrate, invertebrate, plant and mineral fossils they will get to see. Experts will staff the display tables all day in order to answer visitors’ questions.
Another part of Saturday’s fun, under the guidance of fossil experts from Stonerose Interpretive Center of Republic, will be the area within the museum where visitors can use chisels to do some paleontology work of their own, splitting open shale, having the contents explained to them and taking home whatever is inside. In addition, Burke’s paleontology specialist, Bruce Crowley, will be seen at work on a real T-rex fossilized bone.
A dinosaur coloring activity featuring the work of geology writer and illustrator Mark Orsen will be provided for young visitors, and the museum’s Romp Room is certain to be filled with enthusiastic-sounding creatures, as children are invited to walk around wearing the museum’s costume dinosaur parts, including tails, spikes and masks.
“Every kid enjoys the fantasy of a world filled with dinosaurs, but with Dinosaur Day, that fantasy becomes a reality when they have a chance to see the real thing, talk to experts and discover what fossil hunting is all about,” Durkin said, noting that the event is appropriate for children of all ages.
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