Jayhawkasauraus: New Dino Lab spotlights KU

KU’s expertise in dinosaurs is now on full display inside the Kansas City children’s museum Science City in the fully restored Union Station.

At 1,700 square feet, the “Dino Lab” is the largest of its kind in the nation. It features KU paleontologists working on dinosaur fossils and is the first to show the entire scientific process of preparing dinosaur fossils for exhibition.

Visitors to the lab will be able to communicate with the paleontologists via a special phone. TV monitors outside the lab will show close-up views of their work, as well as video from the Wyoming dig site where the fossils were recovered.

The ultimate goal of the lab is to reunite an entire family of enormous Camarsaurses. First in line is nicknamed Lyle, which was recovered by KU paleontology students and volunteers in 1997 in Sundance, Wyo. When completed, Lyle will be one of the largest mounted dinosaur specimens in the world. When Lyle roamed North America about 140 million years ago, he was about 65 feet long and 14 feet high at the hips, and he weighed more than 60,000 pounds.

For more information visit www.sciencecity.com/dinolab_fascination.cfm