Museum, Show Me Center are places to be this weekend for dig into dinosaurs

The Mississippi River Valley Scenic Drive kicks off this weekend with Southeast Missouri landmarks, landscapes � and dinosaurs � with two opportunities for young and young-at-heart dinosaur lovers at the Bollinger County Museum of Natural History in Marble Hill, Missouri, and at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

The Bollinger County Museum of Natural History begins its raptor exhibit Saturday featuring two species of dinosaur and a look into the ice age, said board member Eva Dunn, leading up to the museum�s 20-year celebration in the fall.

She said the museum has always been open for the scenic drive in the past and this year the focus was to reopen this weekend.

The museum�s former curator split with the museum earlier this year, and the museum is open to the public again. It plans to keep a dinosaur exhibit, among other types of historical artifacts.

�We have our Utahraptor and our Psittacosaurus and our dinosaur bone,� Dunn said. �We decided not to just focus on dinosaurs but to kind of give a glimpse of what was in our area at the time, as well.�

The fossil "touch me table" sits in the lab room Friday at the Bollinger County Museum of Natural History in Marble Hill, Missouri.KASSI JACKSON

The Utahraptor is a cousin to Velociraptor. It lived during the Mesozoic Era to Early Cretaceous Period with an average length of 23 feet and weighed nearly half a ton. It used a huge �killing claw� located on its hind feet for devouring prey.

�All of these exhibits are what I call �phase one,� meaning they all could use a little tweaking, a little addition,� she said. �We have the baby Missouri dinosaur that�s going in the exhibit downstairs.�

Dunn said at the original Bollinger County dig site, a Tyrannosaurus tooth was uncovered, which proved a correlation to the Tyrannosaurus rex.

�There is so much rich history around here, both with people and animals,� Dunn said. �That�s what we want to showcase. We�re discovering the treasures of our region.�

She said the original Bollinger County dinosaur dig would not have even existed if the Chronister family � who discovered the fossils � weren�t initially digging a well.

Lainey Lawson, 2, digs in the fossil sandbox at Jurassic Quest on Friday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.KASSI JACKSON

Animatronic dinosaurs at Jurassic Quest are seen Friday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.KASSI JACKSON

According to Dunn, an 8-year-old boy and a state geologist discovered the Missouri dinosaur � scientific name hypsibema missouriense � back in 1942.

�We had a little competition to give it an unofficial name, and a little kindergarten guy won with �Dyna-mo,�� she said.

Dunn said it�s what she calls the �lost and found dinosaur� because when it was first discovered, the bones were transferred to the care of a geologist at the Smithsonian but soon after his death, they �got put away in a drawer� until the 1970s, which is when she said interest in the bones renewed.

According to Dunn, the hypsibema missouriense bones will be sent to Chicago.

�The museum up there is working with the owners of the dig site,� she said. �It�s sad to see them leave Missouri.�

With many things changing for the museum, Dunn said it is now free to go any direction with planning a future dinosaur exhibit, which she said �is a bit mindboggling.�

Bollinger County is still home of the Missouri dinosaur, she said, but there may be other places that have the Missouri dinosaur replicas.

�We encourage everyone to visit often, because we will be adding and upgrading,� she said.

Planning the event the same weekend as the Show Me Center�s Jurassic Quest was merely �100 percent coincidence.�

Jurassic Quest customer service manager Johnel Acosta said the show is a traveling animatronic dinosaur exhibit that�s four years in the making.

Rachel Szitas shows Keegan Mahaney, 5, his face paint at Jurassic Quest on Friday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.KASSI JACKSON

�We do have two shows; one travels the East Coast as the other travels the West Coast,� he said.

According to Acosta, each show has different dinosaurs that include bigger ones, such as the Spinosaurus � which is from 30 to 40 feet tall.

�Those are two that kids can spot really quickly because of the huge spine and really long legs,� he said. �The Triceratops and T. rex will always win the kids� heart, because those are the first ones they remember.�

The show travels the country in multiple 18-wheelers, he said, with two allotted days to set up, and this year, they�ve �mastered it in a day and a half.�

He said the show strives to provide something for all ages, with real fossils, face painting and caricature artists.

�Our baby dinosaurs are what we are known for. It�s exclusive to our show,� he said. �That�s what the little kids come for. As soon as they see that baby Triceratops, baby Tyrannosaurus rex and baby Longneck, their eyes light up and they just go crazy.�

The Bollinger County museum�s raptor exhibit is free and runs from noon to 4:30 p.m. every day through May 6.

Jurassic Quest runs through Sunday at the Show Me Center and tickets can be purchased at showmecenter.biz.

jhartwig@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3632

Pertinent address:

Bollinger County Museum of Natural History, Marble Hill, Mo.

Show Me Center, Cape Girardeau, Mo.