Pterosaurs in Los Angeles

Interested in getting out of the summer heat?  The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is currently running a special exhibit for dinosaur buffs of all ages.  It’s called Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs and it’s spectacular.   The family and I wandered over to Los Angeles recently to check it out.  We chose an early time on a Saturday.  As expected, the museum became more crowded as the day progressed.

Special exhibits often don’t allow photography but this one did.  It was a challenge since the area was very dark and shutter speeds were therefore slow.  I bumped up my ISO but wasn’t totally satisfied with that either.  I’m never totally satisfied with museum shots.

Still this Ornithocheirus flying above us was very impressive.  Its wingspan was something like 10 to 15 feet!  That’s much bigger than I expected, but then again I don’t know much about paleontology.  That’s why I go to museums!

The biggest pterosaur we have knowledge of so far is Quetzalcoatlus.   This certainly was one BIG flying animal! I suppose we don’t really have sufficient fossil evidence to know what it looked like but estimates place the wingspan at an average of 33-35 feet.  Those are plane-sized wings.  They had a model flying above us and it took up the entire gallery ceiling space.

Once again I was surprised to learn that pterosaurs came in so many different sizes and shapes.

There was a lot of information presented and one could spend a quite a bit of time reading and thinking about all of it.  But there were also fun things to play with.  Kids, and adults, enjoyed the chance to fly like a pterosaur.  All one had to do was stand on the circle and move.  A motion sensor projected the movement onto the pterosaur image on the screen as both the human and the image glided through the forest.

One of the most breathtaking displays was at the end of the exhibit.  I shouldn’t spoil it for you but it really was wonderful and my image doesn’t do it justice.  It simply glows out of the darkness. This diorama shows an area in northeast Brazil, the Araripe Basin, where many fossils were found.

This special exhibit will be at the Natural History Museum through October 2, 2016.  It’s well worth a trip downtown.  Parking is easy and not too pricey. For those who don’t want to drive, the museum is also light-rail close; the Expo Line goes right to it from Union Station.  I should mention that this is a special event and timed tickets are required.  One can order these at the museum’s website.  Just click on the link in the first paragraph.  Hope you have as much fun as I did.