Ancient Dinosaurs

 One last look for this visit up at Gaia.

The central staircase descends from the second floor down to the first, and is a work of art in and of itself.

Particularly the columns, adorned with carved animal heads.

The Fossil Gallery is down here, and the visitor first meets daspletosaurus, a cousin of the T-Rex.

There are a lot of fossils in here.

Dinosaurs have a lot in common with birds, a debate that continues today. Those of you on social media may be familiar with an emu by the name of Karen at Useless Farms. I'm convinced Karen is definitely a dinosaur.

And not all predators had to be big throughout the age of the dinosaurs. Dromaeosaurus is a raptor- a pack hunter and a relentlessly efficient one.

85 percent of the specimens in here are real fossils as opposed to casts, which are often used to fill in the gaps in a specimen.

Another look up at the big guy.

This is a cast, not the real thing- coprolite is fossilized dinosaur dung. 

Fossils are found throughout the world.