The National Dinosaur Museum is Australia's largest permanent display of prehistoric specimens, located in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding township#Aust ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. It is located in Gold Creek Village, an area within the suburb of Nicholls. The museum's exhibition follows the

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

of life, with a particular focus on

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s. With an annual patronage of 100,000 visitors, the museum is one of the most popular attractions in the Australian Capital Territory. The gift shop stocks a range of natural history books, dinosaur replicas, toys, fossils, crystals, minerals and meteorites. Established in 1993, the museum has been steadily improved and updated since its conception. It offers earth science dinosaur oriented displays that keep up with most recent discoveries in the geological sciences. in September 2011,

Jeno Kapitany Jeno may refer to: * Jenő, a Hungarian given name * Jenő (village), a village in Fejér county, Hungary * Jeno Paulucci (1918–2011), American businessman and entrepreneur ** Jeno's, Paulucci's brand of pizza products, now sold under the To ...

, Martin Rowe, Chris Michael and Kate Michael were been appointed including local and international scientist and geologist

Tom Kapitany Tom Kapitany (born 15 December 1960) is an Australian botanist, geologist and entrepreneur. Kapitany is the director of Crystal World in Victoria, Australia, a director of National Dinosaur Museum in Canberra, Australia, a director of Collector ...

. Major upgrades have taken place in April and May 2012 with the addition of twelve

animatronic Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions. It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy a ...

dinosaurs as well as an extensive collection of life size models displayed both within and outside the museum. The museum caters for guided tours for school groups of all ages by appointment, as well as hosting birthday parties, dance with dinosaurs events for young children, private parties, corporate functions and dinosaur sleep overs during school holiday periods. New displays of Australian dinosaurs, earth sciences including meteorites, fluorescent mineral displays were added over 2012 and 2013. Opening hours are 10am to 5 pm seven days a week including public holidays, but are closed Christmas Day. After hours visits are available by appointment only .

Gallery

NDM_Exhibit_-_Archaeopteryx_diorama.JPG, Exhibit - Archaeopteryx Diorama NDM_Activity_-_Geode_cracking.JPG, Geode Cracking NDM_Dinosaur_Garden_-_Tyrannosaurus_rex.JPG, Dinosaur Garden NDM_Exhibit_-_Plateosaurus.JPG, Exhibit - Plateosaurus

References

External links

National Dinosaur Museum
Museums in the Australian Capital Territory Dinosaur museums Museums established in 1994 Natural history museums in Australia Science education Fossil museums Paleontology in Australia 1993 establishments in Australia {{dinosaur-stub