{"id":89416,"date":"2018-03-23T13:24:06","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T17:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=89416"},"modified":"2018-03-22T09:51:08","modified_gmt":"2018-03-22T13:51:08","slug":"colossal-dinosaurs-to-invade-syracuse-zoo-for-101-days-this-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=89416","title":{"rendered":"Colossal dinosaurs to invade Syracuse Zoo for 101 days this summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Colossal dinosaurs to invade Syracuse Zoo for 101 days this summer<\/strong><\/p>\n

A gigantic exhibit of prehistoric proportions is coming to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo this\u00a0summer. A dozen lifelike animatronic dinosaurs will populate the zoo\u2019s Wildlife Trail and other\u00a0outdoor areas from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, Friends of the Zoo President Janet Agostini announced.<\/p>\n

Zoo visitors will experience exciting encounters of the Jurassic, Triassic and Cretaceous kind\u00a0with 23-foot- long Baryonyx, 40-foot-long Tyrannosaurus Rex and 20-foot- tall Brachiosaurus,\u00a0among other creatures from the land before time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so excited to be able to present \u201cDinosaur Invasion: 101 Days of Dinosaurs\u201d to zoo\u00a0guests for the entire summer,\u201d Agostini said. \u201cWe have seen these dinosaurs at other zoos, and\u00a0they are amazing. There\u2019s something so compelling about encountering them outside in a natural setting that makes the experience very realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Friends of the Zoo worked with Texas-based Billings Productions, a leader in the design and\u00a0production of lifelike, life-size animatronic dinosaurs, on the plan to turn zoo grounds into a dinosaur theme park for the summer.<\/p>\n

The dinosaurs\u2019 \u201cskin\u201d is made from a special urethane compound that protects them against\u00a0the elements, so they can be displayed for months outdoors. Besides the popular T. Rex and\u00a0Brachiosaurus, \u201cDinosaur Invasion\u201d will include two adult Parasaurolophus with a nest and\u00a0babies, the emu-like Citipati, and the armored dinosaur Edmontonia.<\/p>\n

Zoo Director Ted Fox said he was thrilled when the Friends offered to bring dinosaurs to the\u00a0zoo. He said it presents opportunities for the zoo to talk about animals in its collection that\u00a0share characteristics with dinosaurs, explore the link between dinosaurs and birds and\u00a0illuminate the zoo\u2019s role in saving today\u2019s endangered species from extinction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really fun to see and hear these huge robotic dinosaurs, and it\u2019s also a great tool for\u00a0connecting people with some of the animals they see here at the zoo,\u201d Fox said.<\/p>\n

Friends of the Zoo plans to fill 101 Days of Dinosaurs with many educational opportunities,\u00a0including guided tours and a visit from \u201cDr. Dino,\u201d aka Chris DeLorey, the Director of Education\u00a0for Florida\u2019s Brevard Zoo and a well-known dinosaur expert.<\/p>\n

The zoo plans to kick off the exhibit on Friday, May 25, with a Grand Opening event, and the\u00a0public may be able to watch the dinos being installed. The initial \u201cunload\u201d is scheduled for May\u00a014.<\/p>\n

For more information on the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, visit rosamondgiffordzoo.org.\u00a0Updates on the dinosaur exhibit will be posted on the zoo\u2019s social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colossal dinosaurs to invade Syracuse Zoo for 101 days this summer A gigantic exhibit of prehistoric proportions is coming to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo this\u00a0summer. A dozen lifelike animatronic dinosaurs will populate the zoo\u2019s Wildlife Trail and other\u00a0outdoor areas from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day, Friends of the Zoo President Janet Agostini announced. Zoo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23813,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-ngc","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/T-Rex.jpg?fit=400%2C602&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/89417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}