Visitors to the Geology Gallery of the city museum on Tuesday encountered a pleasant experience of a historical kind — a robotic model of a Tyrannosaurus-Rex (T-Rex) dinosaur. Also, it was setting a pleasant precedent as such a dinosaur model is the first of its kind to be set up in a State-owned museum.
Children were spellbound by the life-like dinosaur model, replete with movements that one would have seen in movies such as Jurassic Park, and voice effects. As the robotic dinosaur moved, the awestruck children stared at with open-mouthed wonder.
School children collected in droves around the behemoth, which was made out of silica gel and purchased with the museum’s funds.
The formal inauguration of the first-of-its-kind initiative took place on Monday, informed museum curator Thulasi Brinda. “We had received feedback that the geology gallery, merely with stone and rock exhibits, did not enthuse visitors.” The dinosaur was purchased at a cost of about `15 lakh and it can move its head, blink its eyes and move its arms and legs. The Tyrannosaurus, she adds, lived in present-day north America. Rock fossils dating back to about 70 million years about the dinosaurs are available. “We intend to spread awareness among the younger generation through such ventures,” she said. The T-Rex was one of the largest land carnivores of all time. It is said that the largest complete specimen measured about 12.3 metres long, and 4 metres tall at the hips. It has been estimated to weigh nine tonnes.