Dinosaur Eggs and Babies

Discover dinosaurs through their eggs, babies, nests, skeletons and more! This exhibition features cast specimens from all over the globe. With plenty of hands-on excitement, 'Dinosaur Eggs and Babies' is a fresh look at the incredible world of dinosaurs.

A captivating experience for all ages, ‘Dinosaur Eggs and Babies’ invites visitors to touch real dinosaur bones and reconstructed nests, dig for eggs and experience hands-on exploration stations. Each science-rich section is enhanced with exciting life-like models of embryos and hatchlings, and colourful illustrations of dinosaur family life. The 'Dino Den' within the exhibition will be an added bonus for families, with dinosaur costumes to wear, fossil finding fun, and the ‘Dino Show’ running throughout the day.

The amazing collection of fossils on view includes a bowling ball-sized cast of the egg of a sauropod from Argentina – laid by a long-necked plant-eating titanosaur that lived 75 million years ago; a large cluster of eggs laid by a duck-billed, plant-eating dinosaur, and the longest dinosaur eggs ever discovered – almost 18 inches long – laid by a new giant species of oviraptor, a carnivorous, ostrich-like dinosaur.

“Dinosaurs have long captured people’s imaginations, and they continue to do so, as evidenced by the recent discovery of dinosaur prints near Nelson,” says Clare Wilson, Director – Exhibitions, Development and Planning. “This exhibition is a fantastic opportunity to feed that fascination, with a plenty of exciting interactive exhibits to educate and enlighten.”

Although dinosaur eggs were first identified in the 1920s, their scientific significance was not fully appreciated until the end of the 20th century. Today, dinosaur eggs are recognized for their enormous scientific value and for offering fascinating details and fresh insights into the behavior, growth and evolution of dinosaurs.

‘Dinosaur Eggs and Babies’ presents new discoveries about dinosaur reproduction and behavior and introduces some of the fascinating people and science behind these discoveries. This multi-media experience helps give credence to long debated theories that dinosaurs and birds are closely related.

A central feature of the exhibit is “Baby Louie,” the nearly complete skeleton of a dinosaur embryo with its bones aligned in the proper position. Charlie Magovern made this exceptional and rare discovery in 1993 when he was carefully cleaning a large block of eggs from China. Nicknamed “Baby Louie” after National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos, the embryo was found to be a new species of giant oviraptor. A model of Baby Louie that appeared on the cover of the May 1996 issue of National Geographic and a cast of the skeleton lying atop its eggs are featured in the exhibition.

‘Dinosaur Eggs and Babies’ is a travelling exhibition produced by StoneCompany.com in association with Gondwana Studios.

Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to imagine a time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

Special Egg-stras!
Dino Tours
Explore millions of years of dinosaur evolution, existence and extinction!
An introduction to the prehistoric world of these wondrous reptiles...
Daily, 2.30pm, free with your exhibition admission

Digging Deeper Gallery Talk
Join us as we dig a little deeper into the stories connected to Dinosaur Eggs and Babies.
Daily, 4.30pm, free with your exhibition admission

Cretaceous Create-us Activities
Roll up your reptilian sleeves and sink your teeth into a creative children’s activity exploring the world of dinosaurs.
Every Saturday and Sunday, Daily during the school holidays
11.30am, free all holidays with your exhibition admission

Event listed by Otago Museum

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