The special exhibit "Messages from the Mesozoic" is open through September 18, 2010 at the Virginia Museum of Natural History.  The hands-on exhibit features fossils and life-size displays of dinosaurs and other ancient creatures found in Virginia and elsewhere.

"Messages from the Mesozoic" allows visitors to learn about many different types of fossils, how fossils are formed, and where they are found.  Visitors learn that despite all the rich, paleontological discoveries that have been made in what is now Virginia, including dinosaur tracks and fossils of other Triassic creatures, no one has ever found an actual fossilized dinosaur body part in the Commonwealth.

Life-size casts of dinosaurs dominate the exhibit, which includes a 40-foot long skeleton cast of an Acrocanthosaurus, a massive carnivorous theropod dinosaur that existed in what is now North America during the early Cretaceous period, between 125 million and 100 million years ago.  The exhibit also includes a 12-foot long skeleton cast of a Deinonychus, a carnivorous dromaeosaurid dinosaur.  Dromaeosauridae were small-to medium-sized feathered carnivores that flourished during the early Cretaceous period, about 115 to 108 million years ago.  Other specimens and models include a Tenontosaurus skeleton cast, a Syntarsus with prey, a phytosaur, and more.

In the middle of the exhibit lies the Dino Dig Pit, a large, indoor sandbox with replica fossils underneath the sand that can be discovered using tools similar to those used by the museum's scientists in the field.  Additionally, the exhibit includes videos and other multimedia elements depicting museum research and in-the-field techniques.

Click here to learn more about the special exhibit Messages from the Mesozoic.