Published in the Vancouver Sun July 30, 2011
BY AMANDA ASH, SPECIAL TO THE SUN
Jennifer Chow sounds like she’s in trouble.
Over the phone, it’s a jungle of noise and excitement as ravenous creatures chatter and chirp. Critters screech in the background. A bloodthirsty roar rings out in the distance.
Then comes the low, guttural clicking of a beast, signalling it has found its next meal.
“I just walked through [the exhibit] and I set off all the dinosaurs,” laughs Chow, business development manager for Dinosaurs Unearthed. Chow and her Richmond-based travelling exhibit company are the masterminds behind Telus World of Science’s latest show, Extreme Dinosaurs, and are ultimately responsible for all the commotion heard through the receiver. “They all move and roar once someone walks by.”
Luckily for Chow, the prehistoric predators nesting in Science World’s Extreme Dinosaurs exhibit aren’t real, although they definitely look it. The enormous display, almost elaborate enough to put Jurassic Park to shame, consists of 19 life-size animatronic dinosaurs that move, growl and chomp. Walk by the triceratops and it will lift its head, grunting at your presence. Stand beneath the king of all dinosaurs, the Tyrannosaurus rex, and watch out: it will gnash its teeth as its whip-like tail skims the tops of palm trees.
14 Comments