Literary Magazine

Museum of Ancient Life

The Museum of Ancient Life has the distinction of being the world’s largest display of mounted dinosaurs. Not only will you meet our fierce prehistoric friends at the museum, though, you’ll also become a part of their world. While you’re weaving through the exhibits, chirps of insects and growls of ancient creatures greet you in each hall. Exhibits like the Erosion Table and the Fossil Dig give you an opportunity be a part of the science of paleontology. Needless to say, this is not an ordinary museum.

Museum of Ancient Life
Fact Sheet

Opened to the public in June of 2000

The defining characteristic of the Museum of Ancient Life is found in its hands-on approach to exhibits

Guests are invited to touch actual fossils and feel real dinosaur bones and eggs, as well as other displays

Exhibit halls are designed to immerse guests in the subject matter, using expansive murals, soundtracks, plants and gurgling streams

There are 50 interactive, hands-on displays within the exhibit halls

With 60 complete skeletal displays, the Museum of Ancient Life is the world’s largest dinosaur exhibit

The Museum of Ancient is home of the most extensive display of original fossils in the state of Utah

A working paleontology lab operated by Western Paleontology is located within the museum and can be observed by guests as they tour the exhibit halls

Once a month the museum hosts Dinosnorzzz a dinosaur slumber party for children of all ages (adults also welcome), which includes a behind the scenes tour, a movie at the XANGO Mammoth Screen – 3D, snacks, exhibits, activities, breakfast and classes

Museum Monday is held weekly and includes special activities for families.

The Museum of Ancient Life is home to the XANGO Mammoth Screen – 3D, featuring a 6-story, large-format movie screen

Dinosaurs (Greek δεινόσαυρος, deinosauros) were the dominant vertebrate animals of terrestrial ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period (about 230 million years ago) until the end of the Cretaceous period (65 million years ago), when most of them became extinct in the CretaceousTertiary extinction event. The 10,000 living species of birds have been classified as dinosaurs.

The 1861 discovery of the primitive bird Archaeopteryx first suggested a close relationship between dinosaurs and birds. Aside from the presence of fossilized feather impressions, Archaeopteryx was very similar to the contemporary small predatory dinosaur Compsognathus. Research has since identified theropod dinosaurs as the most likely direct ancestors of birds; most paleontologists today regard birds as the only surviving dinosaurs, and some suggest that dinosaurs and birds should be grouped into one biological class.[1] Aside from birds, crocodilians are the only other close relatives of dinosaurs to have survived until the present day. Like dinosaurs and birds, crocodilians are members of Archosauria, a group of reptiles that first appeared in the very late Permian and came to predominate in the mid-Triassic.

Through the first half of the 20th century, most of the scientific community believed dinosaurs to have been slow, unintelligent cold-blooded animals. Most research conducted since the 1970s, however, has supported the view that dinosaurs were active animals with elevated metabolisms and numerous adaptations for social interaction. The resulting transformation in the scientific understanding of dinosaurs has gradually filtered into popular consciousness.

Since the first dinosaur fossils were recognized in the early nineteenth century, mounted dinosaur skeletons have become major attractions at museums around the world. Dinosaurs have become a part of world culture and remain consistently popular. They have been featured in best-selling books and films (notably Jurassic Park), and new discoveries are regularly covered by the media.

The term “dinosaur” was coined in 1842 by Sir Richard Owen and derives from Greek δεινός (deinos) “terrible, powerful, wondrous” + σαῦρος (sauros) “lizard”. It is sometimes used informally to describe other prehistoric reptiles, such as the pelycosaur Dimetrodon, the winged pterosaurs, and the aquatic ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs, although none of these animals were dinosaurs.

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