Ultimate Dinosaurs Exhibit Roars Into San Diego's Natural History Museum Starting February 25

February 19, 2017

Cutting-edge 21st century technology puts a new twist on prehistoric creatures beginning February 25 when Ultimate Dinosaurs opens at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. This highly interactive exhibition utilizes augmented reality technology and features 16 free-standing dinosaur skeletons from unusual locations in the Southern Hemisphere. The exhibition will be on view at theNAT all spring and summer through September 4, 2017. San Diego is the exhibition’s fourth North American stop, and the first on the West Coast.

Based on new, groundbreaking research from scientists around the world, Ultimate Dinosaurs reveals a new group of dinosaurs that evolved in isolation in South America, Africa, and Madagascar - dinosaurs unfamiliar to popular imagination. The exhibition seeks to answer the question - why are Southern Hemisphere dinosaurs so unique and bizarre, and why are they so different from their North American counterparts?

"This dinosaur exhibition is unlike any you’ve seen before," said Judy Gradwohl, president and CEO at the San Diego Natural History Museum. "Ultimate Dinosaurs features species virtually unknown to most North Americans. The augmented reality technology allows visitors to imagine what these species may have looked like in their day, bringing prehistoric natural history to life."

Through the use AR technology, full-scale dinosaur skeletons are transformed into flesh-covered, animated beasts. This same technology highlights the dramatic plate tectonic changes in our planet’s geography that set the stage for the evolution of these amazing creatures.

The exhibition tells the story of the break-up of supercontinent Pangaea into the continents we know today and the ways that continental drift affected the evolution of dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era, 250-65 million years ago. As Pangaea divided first into Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south, and later into the many continents we know today, dinosaurs were passengers on these drifting land masses. Visitors to Ultimate Dinosaurs will discover that an amazing diversity of species evolved in isolation as a result of this phenomenon. Where dinosaurs were located geographically helped promote their evolution into an incredible array of unusual forms that dominated wherever they lived.

In addition to seeing the skeletons, learning more about the adaptations that made them unique, and using AR technology to make them come to life, visitors can expect hands-on activities that will help them explore physical characteristics of dinosaurs like the functions of cranial crests and frills, stride patterns, and more. The exhibition also features many other skulls and dinosaur bones that allow visitors to directly compare features of different animals.

Tickets for Ultimate Dinosaurs are on sale for $28 for adults, $26 for seniors/students/military, $15 for youth age 3-17, $8-11 for members and free for children age 2 and under. Passes include admission to all other exhibitions within the Museum as well as access to 2D and 3D films, including National Geographic’s Sea Monsters 3D, which brings to life the extraordinary marine reptiles of the dinosaur age and complements the content of Ultimate Dinosaurs.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit sdnhm.org/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibitions/ultimate-dinosaurs.