Read the article and find similar feeds here: posted July 2003 by Ivette M. Yee
They roamed the Earth for 165 million years, and now they’re going shopping?
That’s right, the giants of the prehistoric age have taken over the Gardens of the Palm Beaches. Through July 27, 10 lifelike dinosaurs will be scattered throughout the mall, lurking amid tropical landscaping as part of its “Dino-mite Dinosaur Exhibit.”
Stopping stroller traffic in its tracks, the exhibit draws parents and children from all over. Looming above, a mother and baby Triceratops have their backs to the Steve Madden shoe store, while the Corythosaurus nests near Abercrombie & Fitch.
Little hands line velvet ropes separating human from beast.
“That’s what you get,” said Jordan Tierney, 7, of Boynton Beach, sticking her tongue out at Elasmosaurus, an ancient sea dweller with sharp teeth. “He’s ugly,” she said.
Kokoro Dinosaurs, a Los Angeles company
, manufactured Elasmosaurus and the rest of the exhibit using the latest in robotic technology to create models for museums.
The creatures start with a steel frame. Wiring and breathing systems are placed in the frame to provide lifelike mobility. Designers build a control box at the base of each model, then sculpt and apply a pliable polyurethane body onto the frame. Each dinosaur’s skin is molded from silicone, based on existing patterns from fossilized dinosaur skin.
Kokoro Dinosaurs consults with paleontologists at museums and universities throughout the United States and Canada, making sure its models are authentic.
From their movements to their growls, each dinosaur meets its Jurassic mark. The company creates dinosaurs for about 40 museum exhibits a year.
