Jurassic Quest has returned to Canada for the first time since 2019, filling Moose Jaw’s Mosaic Place with life-sized animatronic examples of the ancient titans that dominated our planet tens of millions of years ago.
Jurassic Quest will be at Mosaic Place from June 10 to 12. Tickets are available from Sasktix.ca.
In addition to its large collection of very large creatures, the Jurassic Quest experience includes attractions such as dinosaur rides, “live” dinosaur shows, interactive science and art activities, bouncy houses, rides, and more.
“One of the main things we focus on is called edutainment, that’s educational entertainment,” explained “Safari” Sarah Menard, a dinosaur trainer with Jurassic Quest. “One of my favourite parts about Jurassic Quest is that people coming here learn real knowledge. We like to call paleontology a kind of gateway science.”
Menard and “Prehistoric” Nick Schaefer, a fossil expert, said that interest in dinosaurs can serve to introduce people — especially children — to the many interesting fields that explore Earth’s prehistoric past.
“Paleontology, archaeology, geology, even some things with the stars and the atmosphere,” Menard said. “You really think you’re just learning about animals, but really, you can learn that they had giant butterflies and giant snakes back at the same time. And those all happen by asking more questions.”
Schaefer said that the staff at Jurassic Quest has worked with paleontologists to try and make their dinosaur portrayals accurate. That accuracy includes details such as skin textures, colouring, and feathers.
“We have a lot of evidence to support that dinosaurs had feathers, at least theropods did, among other things,” Schaefer explained. “On dinosaurs like Velociraptor we find what we call quill knobs, which we see on modern day birds where their flight feathers attach. So, even though Velociraptors couldn’t necessarily fly, it would have had, basically, proto wings.”
There are also non-dinosaurs, especially in the Ancient Oceans exhibit. These animals aren’t technically dinosaurs, but they’re so cool that they couldn’t be left out.
“Our Ancient Oceans exhibit contains marine reptiles and other marine animals from the Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Neogene periods,” Schaefer said. “We have an animal called Archelon, it’s the largest sea turtle we know of in the fossil record. Full-grown, it was about the size of an SUV.”
There is also, of course, the largest known shark ever to have existed, the Megalodon. Megalodon was a super-predator estimated to have been at least 10.5 meters long (34 feet). Some estimates based on its giant fossilized teeth put Megalodon at twice that size. It lived approximately 23 to 3.6 million years ago.
Another non-dinosaur is the pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus, the largest flying animal discovered so far. The current minimum wingspan length estimate is 11 meters (36 feet). On the ground, it would have stood 3 meters (9.8 feet) at the shoulder.
“There are other pterosaurs that are close to being as big, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we find one even bigger,” Schaefer said.
New in 2022 is an interactive adventure called The Quest, where visitors can meet the dinos and sea creatures, take a unique Dino Snap, search for fossils, and more.
“We have a brand-new initiative we’re rolling out called The Quest,” Menard said. “People can come in and interact by finding clues hidden in our exhibit, they can take pictures with them, and it brings the experience past coming to Jurassic Quest, because you can interact online with us as well.”
If guests have any unanswered questions about dinosaurs or the ancient world in general after their visit, Jurassic Quest invites them to text 844-DINO-411. Staff will respond with the facts as soon as possible.
Learn more about Jurassic Quest on their website at jurassicquest.ca.
