A giant Tyrannosaurus and towering Apatosaurus are among 19 life-sized, life-like dinosaurs welcomed to the zoo as part of the new exhibition Zoorassic Park.
One Tyrannosaurus Rex and an Apatosaurus, affectionately known as Patty, arrived at the zoo last week with dinosaur keeper Jennifer Allan.
“Any animal transfer is a big event in the zoo community, but when you’re moving life-sized dinosaurs it’s literally an enormous feat,” Ms Allan said.
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READ NOW“The dinos travel as complete specimens, except for the largest T-Rex, the Argentinosaurus and the Spinosaurus which, due to their size, will arrive later in the week in various parts ready for assembly.
“The largest dino on display will be a whopping 18m long and nine metres tall.”
Animatronics Engineering based in Fremantle spent months designing the creatures before they were manufactured at a facility near Chengdu in China.
“It’s very exciting for the Perth community to have the opportunity to be among the first in the country to check out these new awesome dinosaurs,” Ms Allan said.
“Just seeing the dinosaurs being moved through the zoo ground with the assistance of cranes, forklifts and trolleys is unusual.”
Zoorassic Park at Perth Zoo will open on March 12 and the exhibit is included in a standard entry ticket.
“Everyone loves dinosaurs and they share many characteristics with today’s amazing animals, but extinction doesn’t have to be one of them,” Ms Allan said.
“To understand their story is to understand the need to protect today’s species from the same fate.”