Dinosaurs come to Bradenton for the first time ever

Dinosaurs are coming to Bradenton for the first time.

Back in the Mesozoic area, some 230 million to 65 million years ago, dinosaurs roamed most of the earth. But there was no roaming Florida, because it was underwater back then.

They’ll be here soon though. An exhibit called “Dinosaur Discoveries: Ancient Fossils, New Ideas” opens at the South Florida Museum on Saturday. You’ve got plenty of time to catch it, too. It’s staying at the museum through the end of the year.

The exhibit comes from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, in collaboration with the California Academy of Sciences, the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh.

It focuses on new information about the ancient creatures that scientists have unearthed in the past couple of decades. The American Museum of Natural History’s website says that in the 21st century, its scientists have uncovered an “animal Pompeii” of exquisitely preserved specimens in northern China, a 28-inch-long fossil in Germany that suggests that all predatory dinosaurs might have had feathers and, in Poland, the oldest evidence of dinosaurs ever found — fossilized tracks from an animal smaller than a house cat.

The exhibit uses a combination of major fossil finds, computer simulations and provocative models to create a detailed examination of recent scientific discoveries about the long-extinct animals. The exhibit showcases the array of investigative tools, from bioengineering computer software to CT scans, used by modern scientists to reinterpret many of the most persistent and puzzling mysteries of dinosaurs.

On Friday, the evening before the exhibit opens, the South Florida Museum will host a preview reception. It gets going at 5:30 p.m. It’s free for museum members and $5 for everyone else.

Details: Sept. 17-Dec. 31, South Florida Museum, 201 10th St. W., Bradenton. Tickets: Adults $19, seniors 65 and older $17, children 4-12 $14 children under age 4 with a paying adult free. 941-746-4131, southfloridamuseum.org.

This story was originally published September 14, 2016 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Dinosaurs come to Bradenton for the first time ever."