Did Dinosaurs Poop?

September 14, 2012 - January 11, 2013

Did Dinosaurs Poop? is a new hands-on, informative exhibit for kids coming this September to the Museum of the Earth! Designed for an audience of families with children ages 4 to 10, the exhibit will present a fun, colorful approach to learning about fossils and dinosaur diets long ago. Visitors will take a digestion journey, traveling as dinosaur "food" from tooth to tush and then discovering how poop can become a fossil. They can also take on the role of paleontologist to uncover fossils, examine them, and figure out where - and when! - it came from.

This exhibit answers questions like "How do feces fossilize?", "What can we learn about past worlds from fossil poop?", and "How do we know what we know about dinosaurs?". Through colorful graphics, hands-on interactives, and real fossils, visitors will understand the process of fossilization, they will discover what stones, bones, teeth, and even tiny molecules can tell us about diet, they will begin to reconstruct past ecological webs, and they will become scientists themselves, discovering how to learn from the amazing fossil record.

FAMILY DAY: September 15, 10am-1pm

Come discover the mysteries of dinosaur digestion and Mesozoic food chains by exploring fossilized dinosaur feces, or coprolites, at our hands-on activities during Museum of the Earth’s Did Dinosaurs Poop? Family Day. Find your inner paleontologist by creating and eating your own “Dino Dung” candy creations or dissecting one to discover its contents. How do we know what dinosaurs and ancient creatures ate? Fossils, of course! There will also be two showings at 10:30am and 1pm of WSKG's Dinosaur Train: Every Dinosaur Poops episode. Activities and Dinosaur Train showings are included with the price of admission.

This program was made possible by a grant from the Tompkins County Tourism Program with additional support from M&T Bank and WSKG.