Dinosaurs return to Museum of Natural History

Dinosaur fans were lined up out the door at 9:30 a.m. at Halifax’s Museum of Natural History earlier this month to attend the opening of the museum’s Dinosaur Exploration 2 exhibition.  

“My favourite one that I saw was the Allosaurus in its hunting mode,” self proclaimed “dino fan” Brandon DeGrace, 11, told The Signal.

“I’m so happy, this is just amazing how they can reconstruct something that is so long gone. They show how strong and how fierce the world could be before humans stepped foot on this planet.” 

The Allosaurus that Brandon is referring to is the exhibit’s Allosaurus versus Ceratosaurus fight scene. This scene showcases some of the exhibit’s only meat-eating two-legged dinosaurs battling it out.  

While the 2024 exhibit featured carnivorous and long-necked dinosaurs, Dinosaur Exploration 2 is putting armoured and horned dinosaurs at the forefront.  

The Signal spoke with Tim Fedak, senior curator of geology with Nova Scotia Museum, who explained that the armour and horns “are pretty defensive structures.” 

“Those are both plant-eating dinosaurs that were eating large amounts of plants because they were so big. And they’re relying on their body armour, their scales, or maybe the tail club, as a defensive thing.” 

Along with the several fossil casts on display, the exhibit also offers a hands-on dig box for younger visitors, as well as informational programming for both dino-toy wielding toddlers and elderly couples with linked arms. 

Dinosaur Exploration 2 offered two programs during the opening weekend: What Colour is your Dinosaur? and Who’s that Dinosaur? More programming will be added throughout the the exhibition, which runs until Sept. 7. 

Tessa Biesterfeld, a naturalist interpreter with the museum, facilitated the Who’s That Dinosaur? program on opening day. The program breaks down dinosaur names for attendees and explains the origins and meanings behind them. 

 “Since dinosaurs are extinct animals, they don’t often have common names,” Biesterfeld said. “So, we’re just kind of delving deeper into that, trying to cut those scientific names into little pieceable chunks for people of all ages to understand.” 

Dinosaur Exploration 2 is a travelling exhibition, provided by Research Castings International in Trenton, Ont. However, the Museum of Natural History has purchased some Nova Scotia-specific dinosaurs like the Coelophysis, which will remain in the museum after September. 

Fedak is encouraging visitors to bring a sketchbook and pencil along with them to draw what they encounter in the exhibit.  

“That’s something I personally think is really valuable in pursuing a science,” Fedak says. “This is advice to people who want to learn and think about things scientifically, there’s really a strong value in taking a moment to observe in detail what you’re looking at and trying to record those things.”