Saturday, March 26, 2016

A day at Fowler Park



Hi to all our followers 🐾 🐾 

 Our humans took us to Fowler Park.  As is most parks it was very nice with lots of smells to sniff!  We got to run and play and hike....it really wore us out! 







So our humans took us home, gave us a bone 🍖🍖 and we took a nap.
 
Meanwhile, our humans took themselves to the  Fernbank Museum of Natural History, in Atlanta, GA.


 

 
The Fernbank Museum is not a large museum but is well organized.  It is set up on three levels with a range of exhibits that encourage a greater appreciation of our planet and its inhabitants. 



A bronze sculpture greets you are us enter the welcoming front entry.  The centerpiece of the plaza is a family of bronze dinosaurs poised to greet visitors-many of them families as well-as they arrive at the Museum. The dinosaurs are a hadrosaus species known as Lophorhothon atopus, which once lived in the region that is now Georgia.  Fernbank is the first museum to ever create a display of Lophorhothon atopus. The sculptures are part of an outdoor exhibition, which includes details about the dinosaurs, their prehistoric environment, and their deduced behaviors, including the care they took of their young.
In August 2009, Fernbank patrons voted on names for the new family- mother Georgia (center), Haddie (left juvenile) and Ferny (right juvenile)!
 


 
Once inside you meet several other local species and on the entrance level you actually take "A walk through time in Georgian" natural history.  A short word about the displays: As with any natural history museum I found I had a heavy heart as I admired the beauty of these magnificent creatures.  As we are free I am sure these creatures would have preferred their freedom too.  With that in mind the displays at the Fernbank were beautifully done and here are a few examples:
 
























From our walk through Georgian time we wandered into Fernbank's NatureQuest.  What a cool place for kids!!  Museums never had set ups like this when I was a kid!!
Let the adventure begin! Explore the nooks and crannies of a multi-level clubhouse. Shimmy up spiraling netting to discover the insides of a mighty red oak tree. Walk through a virtual waterfall and investigate the rock work and live animals within it, and more.

Fernbank NatureQuest is a new, immersive experience that turns kids into explorers, scientists and adventurers as they discover the many wonders of the natural world through hundreds of hands-on activities, live animal displays and engaging encounters.
 
I made these photos larger so you could see the various nooks and crannies and spaces to explore.
 
 
 
 
 
 






 Next, another exciting place for our children and grandchildren to visit ...  The World’s Largest Dinosaurs !  Now, they are not saying the largest dino collection ... just the largest animals.
What does it mean to be big? Here are a few examples of the world's largest dinosaurs. Explore the greatest, most massive dinosaurs ever discovered as they would have looked hundreds of millions of years ago. Then enjoy the photos of the life-sized bones and discover the staggering anatomy of some of the biggest creatures that ever lived.  
Nigersaurus This African sauropod had a huge number of teeth.

Anatosaurus This dinosaur is now known as either Anatotitan or Edmontosaurus.

Stegosaurus The small-brained, spike-tailed plant eater. (The smaller skeleton)

Thecodontosaurus The first prosauropod ever to be discovered

 
The Great Hall is filled with plaster sculpture of the dinosaurs from the Mesozoic period.
 
 Pterodactylus
Pterodactylus

 Brachiosaurus and Allosaurus
 Close up of the Brachiosaurus - big huge body ... little tiny head (way off in the distance on the photo)
 Brachiosaurus's head, but notice the beautiful architecture of the room.
Huge dinosaur bones and little tiny children!  What a perspective right?


That's the Fernbank Museum of Natural History.  I love BIG cats!  The beautiful cat below and I are signing off for this chapter.  Hope you enjoyed it.  More soon ...