#romkidsgoeswhere: Pearson International Airport & “A scene from the late Jurassic”

Our adventure to New York has wrapped, but even though @anastagee and I were back in Toronto, we had to make ONE FINAL trip to see some dinosaurs at Pearson International Airport.

Wait, what?! Dinosaurs at an airport?

Next time you’re at Pearson, drop by Terminal 1 and you’ll be able to check out this awesome “scene from the late Jurassic”! Learn more below!

Needless to say, it was a great way to say “hello” to home, with a piece of the ROM, a set of dinosaurs, and Toronto firmly below my feet.

CHECK THIS OUT: Research Casting International installs the exhibit!

DESCRIPTION OF THE SCENE

Othnielia rex, a small, agile, plant-eating dinosaur fed on low-growing vegetation, which it cropped with its turtle-like beak and then chopped with chisel-shaped cheek teeth.Othnielia walked on its hind legs, and used its stiff tail for balance. Unlike other herbivores, Othnielia lacked defenses such as bony spikes or plates, and it likely relied upon speed and agility to escape predators such as Allosaurus.

Allosaurus was the most common large meat-eating dinosaur in the Late Jurassic period. It grew to 11 metres (36 feet) in length, and weighed up to 3 tonnes. Allosauruswas a formidable predator, possessing powerful legs for swift pursuit. Its front limbs were equipped with large claws for grasping prey and its powerful jaws were trimmed with dozens of serrated teeth for tearing flesh.

The scene takes place against a backdrop of fossil-rich sedimentary rocks of the Morrison Formation. The sediments that formed the rocks were deposited on a vast lowland plain in a seasonally dry environment rich in dinosaur life. Morrison rocks, and the fossils they contain, are exposed widely throughout the western United States, from New Mexico to Montana. The Morrison fauna is best known for the giant plant-eating sauropods such as Apatosaurus and Barosaurus, but also includes the well-known plated dinosaur Stegosaurus, and the horned carnivore Ceratosaurus. Fossil remains of plants, fishes, frogs, salamanders, crocodilians, lizards, pterosaurs, turtles, and even small mammals provide a detailed picture of the environment in which the dinosaurs lived.

The display was conceived and overseen by Dr. David Evans, Associate Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology in the ROM’s Natural History department and was constructed by the craftsmen of Research Casting International (RCI), one of the world’s largest providers of museum technical services. RCI recently mounted the first fossil Barosaurus skeleton, the 27-metre (90-foot) centrepiece of the James and Louise Temerty Galleries of the Age of Dinosaurs in the ROM’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. The Barosaurus is the largest dinosaur on permanent display in Canada and one of only two Barosaurus skeletons on display in the world.

MORE INFO!