PUBLISHED February 7th, 2014 03:13 am | UPDATED January 20th, 2016 03:19 pm
I have to admit I have been spoilt growing up in London where the wonders of dinosaurs and the prehistoric age were easily accessible to me thanks to the Natural History Museum. I know many of you living in Singapore reading this will probably never have had the luxury of seeing such awe-inspiring exhibits.
But now, for the first time in Singapore, you can get up close and personal with dinosaurs in the latest exhibition to show at the ArtScience Museum – Dinosaurs: Dawn to Extinction, the largest dinosaur exhibition in SE Asia and a combination of four exhibitions from the American Museum of Natural History, San Juan National Science Museum, SCI! Expo at Monash University and artist Peter Trusler.
In all there are 400 fossils and models, as well as over 50 original artworks curated to take you on a journey of the pre-existence, existence, rise and extinction of dinosaurs giving an interesting insight into how these beasts evolved over the different ages.
Although not overly keen on the fleshed out specimens which were a bit too Jurassic Park, the real show stealers of this exhibition are the skeletal life size dinosaur specimens. For the most part moulds cast from actual dinosaur bones as opposed to actual bones or fossils themselves, the skeletal models in themselves are pretty impressive having taken two to three years to make.
Ones to watch out for (and quite frankly there is no way you could miss them!) are the 18-metre long Apatosaurus and a 17.6-metre long Lessemsaurus sauropod specimen. They are fantastically impressive, mildly terrifying and awe-inspiring. The absolute highlight is the gallery which houses the epic battle scene between a Lessemsaurus and the Fasolasuchus tenax.
The exhibition also gives you the chance to get up close with some rather fierce dinosaur gnashers, imagine what it would be like to get stomped on by a dinosaur (scary!), marvel at some pretty impressive skulls and feel some different skin types (creepy but quite cool!).
For a day out with a difference, and just to see those incredible specimens, Dinosaurs: Dawn to Extinction is worth a visit to immerse yourself in a world that once was, and unleash the inner dinosaur-curious kid in you.
Dinosaurs: Dawn to Extinction is exhibiting at The ArtScience Museum until 27th July 2014. For more information see here.