{"id":236214,"date":"2013-05-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-06T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/exploring-balboa-park-may-2013\/"},"modified":"2013-05-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-06T07:00:00","slug":"exploring-balboa-park-may-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/exploring-balboa-park-may-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring Balboa Park – May 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Johnny<\/a>
johnny mcdonald<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Johnny McDonald | Downtown News<\/p>\n

Dinosaurs<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

From a flesh-eating Tyrannosaurus Rex to the plant-munching Iguanodon, the Natural History Museum serves up a Mesozoic era dinosaur exhibit titled Dino Jaws.<\/p>\n

A better description might be: Who\u2019s coming to dinner?<\/p>\n

This animated replication of behemoths that roamed earth between 240 million and 65 million years ago reveals what and how they ate … even the mess they left behind.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s brought together with intriguing fossil evidence, hands-on exhibits, scientific insights and 10\u00a0lifelike and spectacular animatronics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see dinosaurs depicted in popular culture nearly every day, but don\u2019t often think about dinosaurs as real, living animals with biological processes that every other animal alive today experience,\u201d said Kesler Randall, paleontologist and local curator of the Dino Jaws exhibition.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeeding behaviors can be determined by jaw muscle and variation of teeth. The exhibit focuses on understandings from discoveries of feathered dinosaurs in the Mongolian Gobi Desert\u2018s Flaming Cliffs in the last 10 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearchers found beautifully preserved skeletons and good body outlines,\u201d Randall said.<\/p>\n

The timing at the museum couldn\u2019t have been better since Hollywood has virtually pushed the \u201cpanic button\u201d by retooling the Jurassic Park film into a three-dimension thriller where these giants appear to jump from the screen.<\/p>\n

We walked through a make believe land of protruding,\u00a0teeth-snapping and roaring dinosaurs while others are depicted amidst a timeless habitat, ecological conditions researchers believe might have existed.<\/p>\n

Museum visitors will come face-to-face with the plant-eating Iguanodon and Euoplocephalus.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A Euoplocephalus can be seen up close at Dino Jaws. (Courtesy Natural History Museum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The exhibition introduces visitors to the fascinating, and sometimes messy, subject of dinosaurs and their food. Dino Jaws, which has never before been seen in the United States, runs through Sept. 12.<\/p>\n

To get a better feel of things, the curious can even undertake a \u201cvirtual dig\u201d to unearth fossilized teeth, claws or stomach contents using specialist tools. The dig will be based on the discovery of Baryonyx \u2013 a giant fish-eating dinosaur \u2013 found just outside London.<\/p>\n

Randall pointed out that many new types of dinosaurs, mammals and reptiles emerged during the Jurassic, including the plated dinosaurs and the Sauropods \u2014 heavy, long-necked beasts that walked on four legs. There were also large meat-eating Theropods.<\/p>\n

Reconstruction\u00a0has been led by using skin fragments and feathers similar to small young birds or chicks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe extinction event of 65 million years ago was somewhat selective and not all the animals on earth died,\u201d Randall explained. \u201cThere are a number of theories why they became extinct but the meteor impact created a perfect storm for them to die. There also was a large amount of volcanism going on in Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou also had a drying up of a sea way in the middle of the continent where the Kansas plains are now. That had provided a large habitat for these animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theropods descendants are modern birds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a number of hypothesis about birds and the origin of flight,\u201d Randall continued. \u201cIt is believed birds climbed trees at first, utilizing feathers or hairs only to stay warm.\u201d<\/p>\n

This exhibition was originally developed by The Natural History Museum in London. Support for the San Diego exhibition is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.<\/p>\n

And elsewhere around the Park<\/i><\/b> \u2013 Retiring Executive Director Jeffrey Kirsch<\/b> will be honored May 11<\/b> for his 30 years of leadership at the Centro de Ciencias Reuben H. Fleet<\/b>. Kirsch is former chair of the Giant Screen Cinema Association and former president of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership<\/b>. He is recognized as a pioneer and major contributor to the production and exhibition of IMAX<\/b> films … Buzz Aldrin<\/b> who, together with Neil Armstrong, became the first to land on the moon with Apollo 11, will be at the Air & Space Museum<\/b> May 22<\/b> for a book signing of his book Mission to Mars, co-authored by Leonard David \u2026 the annual Old Globe Theatre<\/b> honors theatrical auditions for high school students is scheduled for May 4-5<\/b> and final performances are set for May 20<\/b>. Winners will advance to New York City for added scholarships.
\nAfter an award winning, 38-year sports-writing career with the San Diego Union and authoring three books, Johnny McDonald now considers writing a hobby. He enjoys covering aspects of the port district, convention center, Balboa Park, zoo, and stories with a historical bent. You can reach him at johnny23@cox.net.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johnny McDonald | Downtown News Dinosaurs From a flesh-eating Tyrannosaurus Rex to the plant-munching Iguanodon, the Natural History Museum serves up a Mesozoic era dinosaur exhibit titled Dino Jaws. A better description might be: Who\u2019s coming to dinner? This animated replication of behemoths that roamed earth between 240 million and 65 million years ago reveals […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":236215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Exploring Balboa Park - May 2013","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}