From beaches in the Isle of Skye to museums in Bolivia, dinosaurs are easy to find – if you know where to look. Let’s list where you can find dino footprints, fossils and theme parks around the world…
The Jurassic park in Orlando is probably the most spectacular dinosaur theme park in the world. It resembles the park played in the Hollywood movie. It is the home of the gigantic fossilized remnants of a enormous T-rex and other dinosaurs. You can also check your DNA and see what kind of dinosaur you would be. Are you a fierce slayer or a non-violent herbivore?
This dinosaur park is constructed around real dinosaur tracks. The 2.5-mile track leads you through history with life-sized dinosaurs living. Not only does the park have more than 220 life-sized model dinosaurs, (including one of the world’s largest models, the 148 foot Seismosaurus), but also approximately 37,600 square feet of original dinosaur trails.
Dinosaurs did not just hang out in America. They were all over Croatia’s Istria peninsula in the Cretaceous period (79-145 million years ago) too. You can see footprints on the isle of Veliki Brijun in Brijuni National Park. And you can go on dino-related rides at Dinopark Funtana (140 kuna/£17), near Porec.
I’m an adult. I wish to see dinosaurs in a grown-up way. Then you want the American Museum of Natural History ($23/£17) in New York. It has a 122ft-long cast model of what is deemed to be the biggest dinosaur species ever unearthed. Dubbed “Titanosaur”, or patagotitan mayorum.
Jackson Hole inspired the scenery for Pixar’s 2015 film “The Good Dinosaur” CREDIT: ISTOCK
Dinosaurs Alive is situated in the largest amusement and water park in the Midwest. The World’s biggest animatronic dinosaur park has more than 65 life-sized dinosaurs spread across 12 acres. You can also increase your knowledge as a palaeontologist at the excavation site.
The gallery covers 160 million years, hundreds of samples and even has four heart-breaking dinosaurs. Located in Kensington, it’s the ideal place to round off a romantic date and show off your proficient dinosaur awareness. Get ready to visit presently if you want to get a last look at Dippy the dinosaur in the main hall. The 26-metre long plaster skeleton is to be moved out of the museum’s main hall to make way for a blue whale. Better still, the Natural History Museum is still running its much-loved “Dino Snores” nights, where guests sleep over at the institution – in the child-friendly form for £60pp; an adult version with dinner and drinks for £180pp (nhm.ac.uk).
The Jurassic Land theme park has more than 70 animatronic dinosaurs. Children can receive their own palaeontologist diplomas after discovering eggs and bones in the digging cave, and come face to face with predators during a trip in the Juracopter, Turkey’s biggest 4-D simulator.
It’ll cost you £9.45 for an adult and £12.30 for a child to have the opportunity to see the life-sized Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops or the Stegosaurus who call Dinosaur Adventure in Norfolk their home. You can also ride a go-kart for the “raptor races” and have a speedy game of dinosaur crazy golf.
The non-profit PaleoWorld Research Foundation, organize real fossil digs for adults and children. Have the chance to join palaeontologists in the Hell Creek formation, where remains of Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus Rex have been discovered.
Popular for its assortment of over 130,000 remains, the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Canada also has over 40 mounted dinosaur skeletons in its ‘Dinosaur Hall’.
The Musée des Sciences Naturelles has the largest dinosaur gallery in Europe. Interactive shows and over 35 skeletons on exhibition make this a must visit for any dinosaur admirer.
‘The “Badlands” of the Canadian province are littered with relevant sites’ CREDIT: GETTY
Just south of Sucre, in a quarry owned by Bolivia’s National Cement Factory, lies an extraordinary sight. Here, amongst giant earth-moving machinery, is a huge limestone wall covered in thousands of dinosaur footprints. Bizarrely, the footprints seemingly lead from the bottom, up the vertical wall and over the top.
Scientists believe the footprints were made by a baby T.Rex, flanked each side by its parents. They hadn’t defied gravity. The muck in which they walked solidified and went vertical when plates deep beneath the earth crashed together.
At the top of the cliff, you’ll find the Cretaceous Museum, home to 24 life-sized dinosaur models and a viewing platform that reveals the sheer magnitude of the world’s largest collection of dinosaur footprints.
Brachiosaurus dinosaur model (Dreamstime)
Dotted at sites across the world, dinosaur footprints are relatively a dime a dozen. A geological survey undertaken in 2016 in the village of Vallcebre, near Barcelona, found the impression of a dinosaur’s scales, formed 66 million years ago when it lay down in the mud.
Scientists believe the fossil probably belongs to a large herbivore sauropod (they discovered footprints close by). The fact that the fossil dates from the sedimentary rock period proves that it was one of the last dinosaurs to live on the planet.
Billing itself as Australia’s premier marine fossil museum, Kronosaurus Korner is a popular stop on Australia’s Dinosaur Trail in western Queensland. Here you’ll find ‘Penny’ the Richmond plesiosaur (Australia’s best vertebrate fossil), ‘Krono’ Kronosaurus queenslandicus (a 10-metre, giant marine reptile) and ‘Wanda’, Australia’s largest fossilised fish.
The trail also takes in other important sites in Australia’s prehistoric history. At Lark Quarry Conservation Park, 110km south of Winton, you’ll find the only evidence of a Dinosaur Stampede on the planet.
Closer to Winton, you’ll find the Jump-Up Lookout, home to Banjo the Australovenator and the Age of Dinosaurs Museum, featuring the largest collection of Australian Dinosaur fossils in the world.
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