Friday, July 07, 2017

Five on Friday - the Dinosaurs of China

On Wednesday we visited an exhibition we'd had tickets for since March.  It seemed a long time since we'd booked the visit but the day had finally arrived.  Our time slot was 11.30a.m


Our destination was Wollaton Hall in Nottingham where, according to the poster, it's all happening.  It was busy but not as busy as we thought it would be, outside marquees and refreshment facilities and extra portaloos were in place.  We parked easily under the trees, in the shade and were in plenty of time for our entry slot.

The exhibition is entitled  'Dinosaurs of China,  Ground Shakers to Feathered Flyers' and is a joint operation between China, Nottingham City Council and Nottingham University. It is, according to naturalist Chris Packham in his introduction to the exhibition, 'a once in a lifetime experience exhibiting dinosaur skeletons and fossils never before seen outside of Asia.'

The message as you head towards the exhibits is that 'you may never look at dinosaurs or birds  the same way again'  as they try to answer what they term 'a ticklish question'  the question being  'could birds be the relatives of long lost dinosaurs?'   Since our last visit earlier this year the layout of the galleries had been altered and many of the exhibitions put away so that the skeletons, fossils and illustrations could be housed.  The exhibition moves through three areas, dinosaurs that didn't have feathers, those that did and proto or early birds.  The conclusion, which apparently has been known for quite a few years now is that
'dinosaurs are not extinct, birds are dinosaurs'

As it is Friday I'm showing you five photos from the exhibition for no particular reason other than that they are the best of the ones I could manage as trying to take photos around other people and especially groups of school children was quite difficult as was the light from the windows in some of the galleries.


1.  Protoceratops - is described as a humble relative of the mighty Triceratops.  A herbivore its period is late Cretaceous and many have been found throughout northern China and Mongolia.  It would have been the size of sheep.

2. Mamenchisaurus - was a late Jurassic herbivore and was discovered in Sichuan Province, central China.  It is classed in this exhibition as a peaceful plant eating ground shaker.

3. Lufengosaurus - was the first dinosaur  discovered, studied and displayed by Chinese scientists.  Another herbivore found in Yunnan Province in South Western China its age is early Jurassic and it would have been about the size of a transit van.

4.  Oviraptor - about the size of an emu and possibly an omnivore.  When first found it was laid on a nest of dinosaur eggs and was thought to be an egg thief caught in the act.  That is what its name means.  Since it was found many other fossilised Oviraptors have been found sitting on nests.  Its age is late Cretaceous and examples have been found across Mongolia and northern China.

5.  Linheraptor - this was a complete skeleton found in rock and is known as Velociraptor's Big Brother.  It is thought to have had feathers like other raptors. It was a carnivore of the late Cretaceous period and was found in inner Mongolia in north west China.  It was thought to be about the size of a bicycle.

Some of the background illustrations in the exhibition were wonderful so I've chosen five to put in the collage above to show you.

Joining in with Tricky at F.A.S.T blog for this weeks Five on Friday.  Use the link below to visit his blog and find others who are taking part this week.

http://www.fastblog.es/

30 comments:

  1. Wow! I think dinosaurs are fascinating and sooooo big! I bet this exhibit at Wollaton Hall was a lot of fun and educational, too. Happy Friday!

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    1. It was both educational and great fun, the school children were having a great time, but then so were lots of adults too:)

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  2. I've always found dinosaurs so fascinating.

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  3. While I would not like to meet one face to face, I too find Dino's fascinating. Thanks for posting, Rosie.

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    1. I wouldn't like to meet any of them as they were even the sheep sized one as I guess it wasn't as docile as a sheep:)

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  4. Wow, what an amazing exhibition. I would have loved to take the grandchildren to see that, they would all have loved it.

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    1. There was so much for children, a special area of their own, trails and quizzes, a little film and of course a shop bursting with plastic dinosaurs:)

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  5. How interesting and what a great place for the exhibition. I bet the school children were having a wonderful time, dinosaurs always seem to stir their imagination. The skull of the first one looks quite different and so big for its body.

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    1. We wondered why Wollaton of all the natural history museums had been chosen but it is a great venue, with plenty of outside space and parking and they had almost emptied the place of their other exhibits to take it in. There is also a great Chinese connection with the City Council and University but I think the main reason was probably its central position within the UK:)

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  6. What a wonderfully interesting post Rosie. The exhibition looks just amazing and you got some super photos. Would so love to go and my son is interested in dinosaurs too so do hope it is on a while longer and I will look into booking tickets. You do find some interesting places to visit :)

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    1. It's on until 29th October so plenty of time to see it. Tickets £7/£5. All day parking in the normal parking is £4 we arrived at 10.30a.m. and there was plenty of parking to be had. The reserved parking is £7 but on a 'fisrt come first served basis' we were glad we risked the ordinary parking. There is a part two exhibition at the Lakeside Arts Centre on the University Campus which we are going to next week, no tickets needed and it is mostly workshops and talks, Paul has tickets for a talk at the Djanogly Cente. We've been there serveral times and seen some great exhibitions there including L S Lowry and Elizabeth Frink. The archaeology museum is there too, it's on the tram line:)

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    2. Thanks Rosie for the information - have already mentioned it to my son so do hope to go. Reserved parking sounds a bit steep especially if only on a first come first served basis!! Thanks too for the information on the second exhibition - do hope Paul enjoys his talk!

      On a totally different matter - did you know there are currently Bee-eaters in Notts? - not sure how far from you but they are in a quarry and RSPB have organised a view point and parking. Hopefully will be try and go myself as have never seen them - went years ago when nesting in Herefordshire and the nest had been predated evening before and the adults had disappeared on the day we went!! Let me know if you didn't know about them and would like further details.

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    3. We thought the reserved car arking was a bit much, if you got there and the space was full you'd have to hope for day parking anyway and I don't know if you'd get a refund, I suspect not. When we parked the deer herd were close by so we got some lovely photos of them too.

      Thanks about the info on Bee-eaters, I didn't know about it but googled the information, where they are is just off route we usually take towards Melton Mowbray and then on to Spalding to visit friends but I doubt we'd be able to get there for a week or so and they would probably have moved on by then. Great to see them on a photo and hear about them, I hope if you visit you see them:)

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    4. Thanks for the tip re: the reserved parking. Hectic here after the holiday (why is there always so much to catch up on?!!) so not sure when I will be able to go either. Son wants to go so it will have to be a weekend. Will keep an eye on how long they stay and just hope can visit before they leave. May depend on whether or not they nest??? Hope they stick around long enough for you to see them too.

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  7. A fascinating exhibition Rosie. I like that you gave an indication of the size of each dinosaur. I wouldn't like to meet up with the one the size of a transit van! I wonder how many creatures are yet to be discovered? x

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    1. I don't think I'd like to meet up with the sheep sized one let alone the transit van sized one!:) I wonder too what creatures are yet to be discovered:)

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  8. This is such an interesting way to spend a day, Rosie, thanks for taking us along.
    Amalia
    xo

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    1. Thanks Amalia, glad you enjoyed the visit:)

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  9. I've just had to read this out loud to my 4yr old son Logan and he wanted me to tell you that he loves dinosaurs hahaha


    Thanks for joining in with Five on Friday, we hope you have had a wonderful weekend :)

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    1. Ah, glad Logan enjoyed hearing about the dinosaurs, so much to love about dinosaurs especially at 4 years old:)

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  10. I really ought to make the effort to go and see that. It's only down the road from me. Looks good.

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    1. It's an interesting exhibition, I'm glad we went to see it:)

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  11. How fascinating! A really interesting thing to go and visit I am sure.

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  12. A great day out! I've not booked tickets for this but I have the link bookmarked as I've wanted to go since I heard of it a couple of months ago but don't know if we have the time to make the trip!

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    1. It's on until late October so I hope you get a chance to visit, we are going to a talk next week at the Lakeside on the University Campus - the other venue where they have events to accompany the main exhibition:)

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  13. Fascinating - it does make you think about these huge and weird beasts wandering about the place - and a great venue. I recognised Woollaton - it was a favourite destination when I was at the university, often a good hangover cure.

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