The Denver Museum of Natural History has acquired a new look. It dates back to the day of the dinosaur.
"Prehistoric Journey" is the latest in an already impressive lineup of displays at the venerable Denver institution.It lets you go back - way back - in time.
The exhibit is a series of dioramas and enviroramas depicting life as it was millions of years ago. (An envirorama, says the museum, is a walk-through exhibit complete with sights and sounds from the past.)
The displays recreate sites where prehistoric fossils were discovered in North America.
"One of the unique things about `Prehistoric Journey' is that next to each reconstructed scene is original fossil evidence from the actual site," says museum paleontologist Dr. Richard Stucky. "Children will love it. First they'll see the reconstructions and then they'll see the fossil evidence."
Unlike a number of museums that display dinosaur skeletons, the majority of specimens are fossils. Very few are casts.
And many of them come from the interior of the western United States, still a hotbed of paleontology.
The stegosaurus, for example, was found near Canyon City, Colo., in the 1930s. The allosaurus was found in Moffat County near Craig.
The diplodocus came from Dinosaur National Monument, and some of the trilobites were collected in western Colorado.
Visitors follow a path that begins in the re-creation of an ancient sea bed (600 million years ago) and ends in a depiction of grasslands (20 million years ago).
One diorama depicts Chicago 425 million years ago, when it was under water.
Others show eastern Kansas 295 million years ago, when it was beachfront property; Shoshone, Wyo., 50 million years ago, when it was a tropical rain forest; and western Nebraska 20 million years ago, when it was roamed by carnivorous monsters called "Terminator Pigs."
All in all, there are seven ancient areas.
The path is a yellow brick road of sorts, but instead of encountering the tin man or the cowardly lion, you meet up with a diplodocus, an allosaurus and a stegosaurus. Instead of Oz, you end up in Cenozoic Era.
All in all, there are seven ancient areas.
The new look wasn't cheap. "Prehistoric Journey" cost $7.7 million.
Among the museum's other outstanding exhibits are the wildlife dioramas and a display of precious and semi-precious gems.
Admission to Prehistoric Journey is included with admission into the museum. You can make reservations by calling 1-800-925-2250. There's a $1 service fee per ticket.
Museum admission is $4.50 adults, $2.50 children 4-12, $2.50 seniors 65 and over.
Location: 2001 Colorado Blvd., a dinosaur's footstep from the Denver Zoo. Hours: Sept.-May: Mon., Tues., Wed. from noon to 5 p.m.; Thurs., Fri. from noon to 9 p.m.; Sat. and Sun. 9 to 5.