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Dinosaurs Coming to American Museum of Natural History

With feathers, wishbones and nests, the dinosaurs in the American Museum of Natural History’s exhibit might look familiar. That is because “Dinosaurs Among Us” focuses on dinosaurs’ connection to its modern evolutionary legacy: living birds.

“With this new exhibition, we invite visitors to question what they think they know about dinosaurs – how they looked and behaved and even whether all of them actually became extinct,” said Ellen Futter, president of the American Museum of Natural History.

Running from March 21, 2016 to January 2, 2017, the exhibit highlights the similarities between dinosaurs who dominated the planet for about 170 million years and modern birds. Guests can view life-like models, including a 23-foot-long tyrannosaur with a coat of proto-features. Other models include a tiny dinosaur whose sleeping posture mimics a living bird and a relative of a Triceratops that had simple plumes on its body.

Exhibits also use fossils to demonstrate a common ancestry, such as a fossilized dinosaur nest, recently hatched dinosaur and other bird-like dinosaur species.

“The idea that birds are dinosaurs isn’t a new one,” said Michael Novacek, senior vice president of the museum. “It was first proposed by Thomas Huxley about 150 years ago. But now it’s taken on a whole new dimension as different technologies, and as a result, different ideas, are being applied to the field.”

For more information, visit amnh.org.