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‘The Dinosaur Prophecy’ links natural disasters to species disappearance

By Frances Borsodi Zajac 2 min read

As people deal with natural disasters today, so did dinosaurs millions of years ago. In fact, a new film at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Earth Theater connects natural disasters with the disappearance of some individual species long before the mass extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

“The Dinosaur Prophecy’ solves four famous cold cases of dinosaur disappearances in periods that range from 205 to 65 million years ago.

“These are catastrophic things that killed dinosaurs – flood, volcanoes and the final straw a major event from space,’ explained Kerry Handron, Earth Theater director. “We also deal with volcanoes, floods and threats from space.’

The film explores ways in which the animals met their demise – a flash flood, volcano, acid rain and meteor.

The species include Coelophysis from 205 million years ago to the Allosaurus and Diplodocus of the mid-Jurrassic period to the feathered Sinornithosaurus of China and the T. rex and Triceratops that survived until the extinction of all the dinosaurs.

Some of these dinosaurs will be featured in the revised Dinosaur Hall, which will open at the Carnegie next year.

The film also notes that while people face many of these same disasters today, the world has developed technology to better help withstand them.

“Disasters challenge us today but we have better eyes for watching and more options,’ narrator Jim Bratton noted. …”Each year we know more about the condition of our world and are more prepared for survival.’

“The Dinosaur Prophecy’ is a co-production of the Rice Space Institute, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, funded by NASA’s Office of Earth Science under the “Immersive Earth’ project, NASA cooperative agreement NCC5-316.

The Carnegie Museum is located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh and is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sundays noon to 5 p.m. and Mondays through the week before Labor Day. Parking is available.

For more information, call 412-622-3131 or visit the museum online at the Web site www.carnegiemnh.org.

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