A new exhibit at the Peoria Riverfront Museum features the world’s largest dinosaurs. Not the ferocious tyrannosaurus rex, but the gentle, giant, long-necked sauropods.
“The World’s Largest Dinosaurs” is a collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History in New York. It’s the latest in a line of collaborative efforts between the Riverfront Museum and the country’s premiere natural history institution.
“We are so proud to work directly with that museum in New York to bring the best content that their scientists and their staff have spent years making right here to Peoria,” said Riverfront Museum president and CEO John Morris. “That’s pretty cool, because thousands of people will come through and learn about the world’s largest dinosaurs.”
The exhibit features models of the skeletons and bodies of the massive herbivorous beasts. A massive model of a head and neck hangs over the entrance to the exhibit, while a full model of a sauropod youth, at a relatively small 60 feet long, fills a significant portion of a hall deeper in the exhibit.
Riverfront Museum curator of science Renae Kerrigan said sauropods roamed the earth for over 140 million years. It’s a period significantly longer than all human history.
“I hope then it maybe makes someone think about ‘I want to learn more about the other types of dinosaurs that lived on this planet’ or maybe ‘well, why aren’t there dinosaurs here today?’” said Kerrigan.
Kerrigan said one of the most notable aspects of the exhibit is how many different species of sauropods there were. They range dramatically in size, from approximately the same size as a modern rhinoceros to a stunning 130 to 150 feet long from nose to tail.
Morris said the new exhibit and the latest collaboration with the Museum of Natural History comes at a time of growth for the museum. He said membership passed 4,000 for the first time earlier this year and exceeded 5,000 earlier this month.
“The World’s Largest Dinosaurs” is open to the public Saturday and remains at the Riverfront Museum until September.
