Science and art come together at this year’s Paleopalooza, a weekend family festival of musical dinosaur puppetry, live animal shows of dinosaur descendants, rare dinosaur fossils, and even a look at the prehistoric sky, on Saturday and Sunday, March 4 and 5.
Visitors can watch as Alaskan artist Ray Troll uses chalk to recreate the famous Hadrosaurus foulkii in his distinctive style on a giant chalkboard in the Drawn to Dinosaurs exhibit. Troll, recipient of the Academy’s Gold Medal for Distinction in Natural History Art, will draw the New Jersey plant-eater over the two days, and it will remain on view for several months.
Field Station: Dinosaurs explores the eating habits and table manners of our favorite dinosaurs in a lively interactive show of puppetry set to music at 11 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday. The playful walking dinosaur puppet also will make appearances in Dinosaur Hall at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m.
Academy paleontologist Ted Daeschler, fresh from a research expedition to Antarctica, will describe his amazing adventure and Devonian fossil finds in a fascinating presentation at 2:30 p.m. both days.
At 1 p.m. both days, The Franklin Institute Chief Astronomer Derrick Pitts will take visitors on a star-filled tour of the prehistoric sky, demonstrating what T. rex would have seen when he took a break from devouring other dinosaurs to gaze up at the sky. That’s at 1 p.m. both days.
The festival also features displays of rare fossils from the Academy’s world-renowned collection, live animal shows with birds and reptiles (both related to dinosaurs), interactive activities, creative craft-making, and more.
Buy tickets online at a discount by clicking the green box above. For more information visit ansp.org.
Photos by Mike Servedio/ANS