Walking with Dinosaurs in Melbourne

If you're a paleo fanatic in the vicinity of Melbourne, Australia, you might want to stop by the Melbourne Museum this weekend. The museum has been undergoing a massive renovation and the first of the completed exhibits, the Dinosaur Walk, is now open.

The exhibit promises to include some fossils not seen in many of the big-name institutions here in the United States. Visitors will be able to stroll beneath the immense sauropod Mamenchisaurus, marvel at the weird neck sails of Amargasaurus, and get a good look at the formidable teeth of Tarbosaurus. An assortment of more recent, but no less strange, fossil mammals will also be on display.

Some early reports about the exhibit also note that visitors will be able to get some hands-on experience with some dino droppings. They're as solid (and clean) as the bones but are actually much rarer. Unfortunately the museum is a bit too far for me to get to, but if you visit it be sure to let us know what you think!

Riley Black | | READ MORE

Riley Black is the author of The Last Days of the Dinosaurs and many other books. She is a science correspondent for Smithsonian magazine covering fossils and natural history, and she writes about the prehistoric past for a variety of publications.