LANCASTER, Pa. — Lancaster's North Museum will unveil a new exhibit, Dinosaurs Among Us, on Saturday.
The North Museum, located at 400 College Avenue, is the only U.S. venue selected by the American Museum of Natural History to be a premier presenter of the exhibit and is one of only four premiere presenters in the world.
The exhibit highlights "the unbroken line between the charismatic dinosaurs that dominated the planet for about 170 million years and modern birds," the North Museum said in a press release.
Organized by the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Dinosaurs Among Us explores the practically obsolete boundary between the animals we call birds and those we traditionally call dinosaurs.
The other premier presenters are the Philip J.Currie Museum in Canada, Museode Ciencias, Universidad de Navarra in Spain, and Universum Museodelas Ciencisdela UNAM in Mexico.
"Living birds belong to a group, or clade, called the Dinosauria," the North Museum said. "It includes the extinct dinosaurs and all their living descendents, which is why most scientists now agree that birds are a kind of dinosaur -- just like humans are a kind of mammal. The more comparisons we make between birds and their closest non-bird relatives, the more connections we find.
"Using paleontological and biological evidence, audiences learn about the links between dinosaurs and birds by examining their reproduction, physical structures, and the evolution of flight, demonstrating that birds truly are the Dinosaurs Among Us."
Following months of collaboration with local professionals and museum volunteers, the North Museum launches its own dynamic, interactive, unique version of AMNH's traveling exhibit, which will run through March 31, 2024.
Using spectacular fossil imagery and life-size illustrations to bring to life the connection between dinosaurs and living birds, the exhibition is presented in both English and Spanish, with strategically placed images and text for both children and adults on panels as large as 8x19 feet, the museum said.
Items from North Museum's extensive collection of eggs, nests, taxidermy birds and fossils add three-dimensional facets to the exhibit.
North Museum CEO Andrea Rush credits the museum's impressive collection as one of the keys to its being selected by AMNH as the single U.S. premier presenter for the exhibition.
"The North Museum is marking its 70th anniversary in a very significant way," said Rush. "The North Museum's name, along with the other three museums internationally that are a part of this pilot experience, will carry on to every exhibition that happens related to Dinosaurs Among Us. throughout the world.
"This is our chance, and our community's chance to be a part of something much better than all of us, that will continue at this point to operate in perpetuity.
"From our interactions with specialized professionals in the local area, we have gleaned the most creative, applicable ideas and developed an exceptional experience for visitors from all over the U.S. We are so grateful for an invested, engaged Lancaster Community."
