The T.Rex Discovery Centre in Eastend plans to showcase several new activities and displays this summer that should excite wannabe paleontologists of all ages and make it a family-focused vacation destination.
The popular dinosaur-focused attraction is roughly three hours from Moose Jaw and located southwest of Swift Current off Highway 13. The venue is also an hour’s drive from Cypress Hills Provincial Park.
The museum — home to Scotty, the world’s largest T.Rex — opens Saturday, May 20; admission is $10 per visitor and $20 per family.
An exciting new feature this year is more informational panels about the Tylosaurus, a dinosaur in the Mosasaurus family, explained Aimee Castillo, the centre’s visitor experience provider.
The specimen, a predatory marine reptile related to modern lizards and snakes, was discovered in the hills around Lake Diefenbaker near Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park. It is around 10 metres in length and had the skeletal remains of a smaller Mosasaur in its stomach.
The museum has a cast replica of the skeleton — the Tylosaurus lived 72 million years ago in an inland sea that covered most of the province at the time — on display. The original fossils are being preserved in the Royal Saskatchewan Museum’s (RSM) collection.
Another new addition is a dinosaur expedition passport, an activity booklet for visitors — especially kids — that encourages them to search for fossils and participate in activities while collecting stamps, Castillo said.
“If they’ve collected enough stamps, we’ll give them a special (prize) to make them a junior paleontologist,” she continued, adding families can use the passports to learn about other events happening this summer.
The discovery centre plans to add new activities to its paleo lab experience, but some features will only be ready later in the summer, said Castillo.
Those activities will encourage everyone to be a paleontologist and search for dinosaurs in the fields around the building.
Inside, participants can use a stop-motion animation table, while they can also use a new sand-filled stratigraphy table. A projector pointed down at the table will measure the height of any hills or mountains people create by showing coloured elevation levels.
Moreover, the projector will also show — through the computer program — fish, reptiles, rabbits and other animals that are part of the environment.
“It’s geared toward kids, but it’s a family experience that can be in there,” said Castillo. “For example, our dig tables (holding rocks and bones) … (are) geared toward kids; however, there (is) a harder part of the table where we have the (cast) plasters. And adults have also tried that and they had fun doing that.”
Other new activities that arise during the summer will be posted to the RSM’s website.
Besides in-house activities, the T.Rex Discovery Centre also conducts outreach activities to communities in the area, Castillo said. This summer, the centre plans to visit libraries in Shaunavon, Eastend and Maple Creek and hold “Storytime with Scotty’s Friends” while leading craft activities.
Asked why people should attend the centre, Castillo said, “We’re … located in the great area of Eastend, so you can see the beautiful Frenchman River Valley there. And it’s just a nice trip.”
