Many zoos have been very successful with dinosaur exhibits. Not only are dinosaur experiences very popular in zoos, but they offer opportunities for educational messaging centered around wildlife conservation. Through these realistic, fun and entertaining animatronic experiences, it is the hope of the Columbus Zoo that people of all ages will come to appreciate the prehistoric past and its lessons for our planet’s future.
Twenty-five animatronic dinosaurs will be on display in the Australia and the
Islands region of the Zoo. Some of the dinosaurs will be visible to all Zoo visitors who visit this region, while most will require a special admission ticket. When inside the Dinosaur Island Experience, visitors will be able to get close to the dinosaurs, dig in an archaeological pit, take a boat ride and visit a gift shop. Photos with dinosaurs also will be available.
Each dinosaur has an electronic “brain” that activates and controls its movements and sounds through a pneumatic system. These animals, made of make loud noises.
thane waterproof skin, have eyes that blink, tails that move and mouths that
Billings Productions, of Allen, Texas, is North America’s leading provider of animatronic dinosaurs for zoos, museums and theme parks. They are one of only a handful of companies in the world that produce large, life-size animatronic dinosaurs for traveling and permanent exhibits. Billings Productions has the added distinction of being the only US company that specializes in creating animatronic dinosaurs that can withstand outdoor elements.
Dinosaur Island will be open 9 a.m. to close from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Admission to Dinosaur Island is $3 for general admission, $2 for Columbus Zoo members and is included in the price of a ride wristband.
Yes! Our Education Department has organized a special “Dino Day” camp that is all about dinosaurs. Children ages 3 through Kindergarten will learn about dinosaurs and visit Dinosaur Island during this 3-hour class. Older children can attend a special Summer Experience Day Camp about dinosaurs; students in grades
5-7 will investigate what life was like for dinosaurs millions of years ago and what animals around the Zoo might be distant relative to dinosaurs.

Why did the dinosaurs die 65 million years ago when other animals continued to thrive and evolve? A group of scientists from the Extinction
Research Center are working on answers to that question, in the hopes of applying their knowledge toward saving wildlife today. As part of this scientific endeavor, viable dinosaur eggs were discovered and were being transported in a frozen state via ship to the Center for DNA studies. Enroute, power was lost, a shipwreck occurred and the frozen embryos went overboard near a chain of islands in Indonesia. Many thawed, hatched, climbed onto the banks and are now dangerously free!
A command post has been set up by the Extinction Research Center on the island where most of the dinosaurs are on the loose. The Center developed and published a list of the missing animals and is cautiously enlisting the help of the public in its mission to find, document and recover them all. The goal is both to recapture them before they wreck havoc on the island and its inhabitants and to ensure that the critical research can continue. Water taxis were commandeered to aid in the search and the Center is even working with Jack Hanna to broadcast the importance of and the danger inherent in this risky recovery attempt.
Join Jack and the scientists on this hunt of discoveryto find, identify and document the whereabouts of the dinosaurs on the loose. You will learn about wild animals that lived millions of years ago as well as how you can be part of the solution to the extinction facing many species today. But be warned, the mission is a dangerous one - there is no telling whathazards might be waiting for you, just around the corner or along the forested banks of the stream.

• Found in: England and Spain
• Name means: Heavy claw
• When it lived: Cretaceous period
• Physical characteristics:
30-feet long, 8-feet tall and weighed an average of 2 tons. It had a long low snout and narrow jaws filled with serrated teeth and hook-like claws
• Diet: Carnivore and one of few fish-eating dinosaurs
• Fun fact: Baryonyx could walk on all fours or on its two hind legs
• Found in: North America, Europe and Africa
• Name means: Arm lizard
• When it lived: Jurassic period
• Physical characteristics:
85-feet long, 50-feet tall and approximately 88 tons
• Diet: Herbivore
• Fun fact #1: Like the apatosaurus, its nostrils are on top of its head
• Fun fact #2: The brachiosaurus had a very large, powerful heart in order to pump the blood all the way up its long neck

• Found in: Patagonia and Argentina
• Name means: Meat-eating bull
• When it lived: Cretaceous period
• Physical characteristics:
Approximately 9-meters in length,
3-meters tall at the hips, and weighed approximately 1.6 tons
• Diet: Carnivore
• Fun fact: Carnotaurus had forward-facing eyes, which was not common among dinosaurs
• Found in: Arizona, Colorado and
New Mexico
• Name means: Hollow form
• When it lived: Triassic period
• Physical characteristics:
3-meters long, less than a meter tall and weighed roughly
50 pounds. It had three digits on each hand, sharp, jagged teeth and was considered a very fast runner
• Diet: Carnivore
• Fun fact: Coelophysis resembled a long-legged bird with a head similar to a stork
• Found in: Germany and France
• Name means: Pretty jaw
• When it lived: Jurassic period
• Physical characteristics:
Weighed roughly 6.5 pounds and was approximately 4-feet-long.
It was a bird-like dinosaur that walked on two thin legs with three toes on each foot
• Diet: Carnivore that ate small animals including lizards and small insects
• Fun fact: Only two compsognathus fossils have been discovered

• Found in: Montana, Wyoming, and
Oklahoma
• Name means: Terrible claw
• When it lived: Cretaceous period
• Physical characteristics:
3-meters long, 1-meter tall, and weighed an average of 175 pounds
• Diet: Carnivore
• Fun fact: Deinonychus watcher had very powerful jaws with 60 curved, blade-like teeth and a long, bony tail for balance
• Found in: North America and China
• Name means: Double-crested lizard
• When it lived: Jurassic period
• Physical characteristics:
20-feet long and 5-feet tall. It had long thin legs and short arms with three fingers and claws
• Diet: Carnivore
• Fun fact: Dilophosaurus’ hips alone could have weighed 1,000 pounds
• Found in: North America
• Name means: Two measures of teeth
• When it lived: Permian period
• Physical characteristics: 3.5- meters long and weighed roughly
550 pounds
• Diet: Carnivore
• Fun fact #1: The dimetrodon is not a dinosaur, it is a pelycosar which means “brain lizard”
• Fun fact #2: Dimetrodon used its tail for mating, thermoregulation and to appear larger to predators

• Found in: Edmonton Rock
Formation in Alberta, Canada
• When it lived: Cretaceous period
• Diet: Herbivore
• Physical characteristics:
22-feet long and 6-feet tall
• Fun fact: Edmontia had heavy armor to protect and defend itself
• Found in: Canada, New Mexico and Utah
• Name means: Beside crested lizard
• When it lived: Cretaceous period
• Physical characteristics:
40-feet long, 8-feet tall and weighed an average of 2 tons. It had a toothless, horn-like beak and numerous cheek teeth
• Diet: Herbivore
• Fun fact: Its crest was used to make sounds, enhance its sense of smell and for mating displays
• Found in: North America
• When it lived: Late Cretaceous period
• Physical characteristics:
Weighed approximately 400 pounds with a wingspan of 10 or more meters. It was toothless, with a very long, stiff neck.
• Fun fact: Of all flying creatures to exist, Quetzalcoatlus was one of the largest

• Found in: Africa
• Name means: Wrinkle face
• When it lived: Cenomanian stage of the late Cretaceous period
• Physical characteristics:
Its skull was studded with unusual holes and lines, which most likely indicated either armor or a fleshy display
• Fun fact #1: Rugops’ were believed to be scavengers because their bones were weak and contained an abundance of blood vessels
• Found in: North America,
Europe, India, China and Africa
• Name means: Roof lizard
• Physical characteristics:
9-meters long, 3-meters tall and weighed 3-4 tons. It had an arched back, short forelimbs, small head, tiny brain, a double row of plates (17 total) along its back and two pairs of long spikes
• Diet: Herbivore
• Found in: North America
• Name means: Spiked lizard
• When it lived: Cretaceous period
• Physical characteristics:
Up to 5.5-meters long, 1.8-
meters tall and weighed nearly
3 tons
• Diet: Herbivore
• Fun fact: Styracosaurus was named “spiked lizard” because of its notable horned neck frill

• Found in: USA, Canada and East Asia
• Name means: Tyrant lizard king
• When it lived: Cretaceous period
• Physical Characteristics: Measured an average of
12-meters long, 5-meters tall, and weighed approximately 6 tons. Its arms were only 1-meter long with two fingers that were unusually powerful for their size. T-Rex’s hind limbs were much longer and very strong.
• Diet: Carnivore
• Fun fact: T-Rex was one of the largest and most powerful dinosaurs to exist