Dinosaurs come to the Erie Zoo

Erin McClelland, 25, left, takes a picture of her son Liam Lawrence, 3, both of Lake City, as Liam sits on a triceratops model at the dinosaur exhibit at the Erie Zoo in Erie on June 5. ANDY COLWELL/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

What's new is old at the Erie Zoo.

Really, really old.

The Kokoro Interactive Dinosaur Exhibit is now open, featuring a full-scale Tyrannosaurus rex head, a one-half scale triceratops head and torso and a one-half scale Pteranodon hanging from the ceiling.

The exhibit is in the Rotary Pavilion in the Children's Zoo area and will be on display through August. The $7,000 display is sponsored by JH Bennett Moving and Storage of Erie in celebration of the company's 100th anniversary.

Children can sit on the triceratops display, outfitted with a saddle. The exhibit also includes a "Dino Dig Box," in which visitors can use small brushes to unearth replica fossils. Children can also create colored dinosaur rubbings at two rubbing stations.

Emily Antolik, the zoo's public relations and communications assistant, said the zoo brought the exhibit here because of the major renovation work being done on two moated exhibits that has closed off a section of the zoo.

"We wanted to do something extra for the kids to see because that's a large part of the zoo being redone," Antolik said. "We wanted a little something special."

The dinosaurs, from California-based Kokoro Exhibits, are made from hand-sculpted polyurethane over steel and fiberglass frames, with touchable lifelike skin.

The appeal to young and old is evident, zoo Executive Director Scott Mitchell said.

"They're so darn big, and there's nothing like them on the planet. Crocodiles (and other animals as old as dinosaurs) are familiar to them. Something with three horns is not," Mitchell said.

"This is something completely different," Antolik said. "You don't see that in every zoo."

Count 3-year-old Liam Lawrence as a big fan. Liam visited the zoo with his mother, Erin McClelland, 25, on a recent afternoon.

His bedroom at home has dinosaur bookshelves and a lamp, and he as a dinosaur T-shirt.

He shrieked as soon as he walked into the pavilion: "Dinosaurs!"

Liam dug around for fossils and made a crayon rubbing of a triceratops before issuing another comment in approval: "Roar!"

