Dinosaurs in the Wild: a palaeontologist's view

A new experience transports you back 67 million years to view time-travelling scientists studying dinosaurs in the wild

Where most efforts at “edutainment” fall down is on being overly bombastic, with too little actual science and far too much whizz-bang. But Dinosaurs in the Wild, a mixture of puppets, models and 3D films (all accompanied by live actors), merges the two brilliantly and is both fun for all ages and genuinely absorbing. It’s also impossible to come away without learning a great deal about the world of the dinosaurs and how they lived.

The central conceit is simple but well presented – tourists are offered the chance to “travel back in time” to a working research lab in what are now the fossil-rich beds of Montana, but 67 million years ago was a location full of dinosaurs, including Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus and the colossal Alamosaurus among others. You get to move between various research stations and see dinosaurs being studied and lab work going on to learn about their biology and behaviour, and also see outside to dinosaurs in the wild.

On the tour you are led by a guide, and each lab or zone has a relevant researcher to tell you what they are doing and why. The delivery and engagement from everyone is first-rate, but the dinosaurs are of course the key, and they are wonderfully rendered both digitally and in the (animatronic) flesh.

These are some of the most accurate and well thought-out depictions seen, and the dinosaurs move and behave appropriately with realistic colours and patterns. The depth and detail is impressive, with clear things like threat displays, interactions between species, dust bathing and the like going on. Not every aspect might be explained, but it’s all based on solid science where possible (the colours on the Dakotaraptor, for example, are fictional, but copied across from a fairly close relative, Anchiornis, that palaeontologists have reconstructed from fossils preserving colour) and reasoned speculation where not (small species probably hung out in groups to help them detect predators). There are lots of up-to-date details that have come from recent scientific studies, and it is about as cutting-edge as it could be.

There are various little activities to do on the way round, and the depth of the “world-building” is truly impressive. There are tons of little details everywhere, with open lab books showing the notes of the researchers, plans of buildings, diagrams and sketches and so forth. Indeed, the only real criticism of the whole thing is that there is a lot to see and read and digest and not enough time to do so. There were plenty of occasions when I wanted a bit longer to take in all that was laid out, and there might be several things going on at once, making it impossible to take it all in. That’s a real shame given the detail, care and time that has clearly gone into the whole thing, and being actively forced to move on was frustrating.

As a palaeontologist the tour was a delight, but Dinosaurs in the Wild plays well at all levels. The adults and children on the tour I accompanied all enjoyed it too. Hazel (12) said: “It was amazing, a really fun interactive experience.” We were by turns entertained and thrilled, and occasionally a little scared. There were jokes and wit and imagination in abundance, and I highly recommend this for all the family, dinosaur enthusiasts or not.

• Dinosaurs in the Wild runs on the Greenwich peninsula, London, until 31 July

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaKuTnrKvr8RoaWlpaGS6or6OamtonJmjvLSt1KuqZqGeYsGpsYywoKWcXZZ6sa3LnqanrJ%2BhvKi10q2qZq6ZmsQ%3D