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Science World
and PNE bring
dinos to life

WHEN I'M in one of my creationist
-moods,. | sometimes wonder if

dinosaurs weren't invented by ele-:

mentary school teachers desperate for
the undivided attention of a class full
of nine-year-olds,

By Martin Millerchip
Contributing Writer

It’s all down to size of course.
If you're four feet four inches tall

and constantly being told to clean up

your bedroom, looking .up to
Sizemasaurus is easy.

So getting children involved in
their own version of Jurassic Park is
not difficult. But there is a down side.

All this newly nurtured knowl-
edge has come to mark the end of
Dad's reign as the fountain of all wis-
dom.

Spelling is the first slippery step
on the way to the boneyard at the foot
of the cliff for worm-out old dinosaurs

like me.

“How do you spell parasaurolo-
phus?” established never-before-sus-
pected depths of ignorance and was
quickly followed with the more con-
temptuous “You mean you've never
heard of Corythosaurus!”’

There was only one remedy to ail
this insubordinate flowering of scien-
tific imagination and that was a trip to
either Science World’s Trivial Pursuit

. Paleo Edition or The Dinosaur World
“Tour. ;
- . Mayhap an overdose of prehistory
would teach the kid his place in the
evolutionary and family pecking
order. We did both exhibits in one day
. With a view to comparing them from
a nine year.old’s perspective.

The Dinosaur World Tour’

"At the PNE Forum until Sept. 4
it’s the largest travelling dinosaur

W Royal Cruise Line

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- HEWS photo Mike Wakefield

WEST BAY Elementary Grade One student Zoe Hemphill sculpts dinosaurs following a class trip

to The Dinosaur World Tour.

exhibit ever mounted.

The show. is based on five years of
field expeditions to the Canadian
High Arctic, the Alberta Badlands
and the Gobi Desert of China.

Part-of .the exhibit attempts to
recreate the feel of a camp in the Gobi
while the mascot of the show, a com-
puter graphic of a. newly-hatched
dinosaur, takes the same name.

Finding the gift shop stuffed with’
Gobis on the way out is somehow not
a surprise. At least Gobi-is neither
purple nor musically inclined.

The main exhibit hall offers a vari-

ety of hands-on and interactive dis-
plays. Actually chipping fossils out of «

stone gave me new respect for the
commitment of these scientists, not to

presents

A Special Cruise Night

featuring

“ROYAL ODYSSEY

25 July 1995
71S pm
INTERNATIONAL PLAZA
1999 Marine Drive North Vancouver B.C

Admission $3.00 per-person
inchales door prizes and refreshments

R.S.VP before July 20, 1995

The Bay Travel at Park Royal
222-9683

mention their wrist strength.

Michael found the televised talks
that accompanied many sections of
the main exhibit hall more than he
could absorb, especially with the tow-
ering distractions of so many huge
skeletons.

“Phe level of knowledge available

“is sophisticated. Teenage. paleontolo-

gists will find they too are’.informa-
tionally chalienged. ;
Trying to.see and hear everything

in a crowd is a challenge, so the.
opportunity to sit down and focus on’.

interpretive talks should be. taken.

The 7. rex: skeleton tour was.

PAT ENE ASME TL STEN INN ID SEAS SO OPIN MEIER

Michael's favorite part of the exhibit and.
gave rise to some fun with dog latin,

If Tyrannosaurus rex means “king’
of the tyrant reptiles, does. pater. °F
sauruy rex mean “king of the lizard-...
like dads?" Bee

Science World

We didn't get as far as the ticket

“turnstile before J heard the first “Dad,

wail a minute.” And that's the charm :
and curse of Science World -—- getting
around takes time.

Reflexes, strength and flexibility -
all have to’ be tested on interactive
machines before extinct herbivores 2

- Cun. be investigated,

- Trivial Pursuit Paleo Edition is.
not a dinosaur exhibit, :

But it does feature 13 robotic crea-. §

tures from prehistory that have fles

on their bones. They range from a

290-million- year-old Dimerrodon to:
the. local and_ recent, evolutionary-
wise, Manunanthus,

Visitors are. invited: to correctly :

“name the exhibits from the clues pro--:

vided ‘and :complete: a “passport” of :

stencil rubbings.
Michael “took a! break. from the a:

pursuit of stencils in order to sample:
the wider delights of Science World”
and the. Omnimax film The ‘Living
Sea but did, eveniually, insist on com: «;
pleting his passport.’ :

At the end of the day he endorsed
the. Dinosaur World Tour as a better

‘and more detailed exhibit If cost is’a

factor, Science World, stightly cheap-
er to start with, has various: §°2- for-1
promotions. .

-You ‘will spend . more time “at “

. Science World. it takes Just as long to

get o out as get in!”

° cate 3s, or 99 site up to 2300's sq ft
£ Phone and cable avallabiity

‘200 North Corfieid St., Box 1750,

- Parksville, B.C. V9P 2H5.-

“It’s great | to be back!”

Dye just recently rerurned to BCAA Travel, here, at our Park Royal Mall North location.Give me a call
I'd love to tell you all about our Bi-Annual Hosted “China Highlights Tour”, BCAA is currendy planning for.

‘ departure on October 25th. This rwo-week tour is ideal for travellers who are visiting China for the first time.
Enjoy breathtaking scenery, immortalized in art and literature, cruise down the Li Riverand marvel at the
Present day bustling streets of Shanghai, And all for just $3,429 (per person twin).

Find out why a tour to China is not just a holiday, but a Fabulous sightseeing a and cultural experience veh

'

Terri Lopushinsky,
‘Travel Consultant

BCAA. Park Royal

G08 Park Royal Mall North, West 2)
Tel: (office) 268-5650," (private line) 258-5667-