| VIRTUAL
TOUR of DINOSAUR WORLD
PLANT CITY, FLORIDA
Sign seen from freeway hosted by a
friendly T-Rex

Advertised with a baby Brachiosaurus at the
nearby Comfort Inn

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| Triceratops
at the Entrance, the unique archway
and tree near archway give a clue of the neat place this is...


and
of course Glenn (kid at heart that he is) couldn't resist this pose: 
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| Brachiosaurus
mama seen from the bridge to gift shop

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And
another huge brachiosaurus

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View
of a fossil dinosaur replica seen from the bridge

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| The
front of the gift shop - Enter at your own risk! You feel like
you're entering a Jurassic Park!
and a new species we call "Buttasaurus",
keep your humor folks, it's for cigarette disposal...

T
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| The
picnic area and mural...

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A
nearby dinosaur puzzle to assemble

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And
a T-rex for youngsters to enter through the back for "say Ahhh"
pictures..

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| Now
begins the dinosaur habitat tour! |
Lystrosaurus ("spoon lizard"), a
sturdy plant-eater with distinctive tusks |
Protoceratops ("first horn face",
related to Triceratops with a bump instead of a horn
 Protoceratops
(eating)
Raptor being eaten |
Elasmosaurus - the tall one ("thin plate
lizard"), a
plesiosaur, the same as the Loch Ness Monster claimed to exist in Scotland) |
Mosasaurus ("long one"), a marine reptile named
for the river in Holland |
Massospondylus ("massive vertebrae")
an herbivore 13 feet long with large thumb claws |
Tanystropheus ("long
vertebrae") with a very long neck but only
10 vertebrae) |
Saurosuchus ("lizard crocodile") a
meat eater. Meat eaters usually died when they lost their teeth
rather than from old age |
Fantasy species we call Tadpole Horriblus |
Coelophysis ("hollow bones") found
in New Mexico, they traveled in herds and cared for their young |
Liliensternus (a therapod named for the German
that discovered it) |
Ceratosaurus (a horned lizard that hunts in
packs) |

Stegosaurus (roofed lizard) has the smallest
brain of all dinosaurs |
Scutellosaurus (little shield lizard) the size
of a house dog |
Gastonia (an ankylosaur, named for
Robert Gaston, an amateur scientist who discovered it) |
Utahraptor ("thief from Utah") a
kind of Velociraptor as in Jurassic Park |
Pterodactylus ("wing finger") with
hollow bones that flew and ate insects |
Huayangosaurus (named for where it was found
in Huayang, China), a stegosaur |
Dilophosaurus (two crested lizard) but no
frill as in Jurassic Park (fiction) |
Saltasaurus (found in Salta, Argentina), a
sauropod |
Ornitholestes ("bird robber) small and
agile |
Styracosaurus ("spiked lizard")
traveled in herds |
Iguanodon ("iguana tooth") tooth
found in 1822 by Mary Ann Mantell is the first recognized dinosaur fossil,
displayed in New Zealand |

Deinonychus ("terrible claw"),
hunted in packs, one of the most dangerous dinosaurs |
Parasaurolophus - a hadrosaur with a weird
hollow crest that may have been used to make sounds like a didgeridoo |
Thescelosaurus ("marvelous lizard")
an ornithopod, one found skeleton with a fossilized heart was named Willo,
displayed at the museum in Raleigh NC |
 Psittacosaurus
("parrot lizard") with a beak for eating vegetation, first found
in Mongolia |
 Saichania
("beautiful" in Mongolian language) named for the beautifully
preserved fossil found there; a club tailed dinosaur |
 Tyrannosaurus Rex
("tyrant lizard king") made famous by Jurassic Park |
 Carnotaurus
("meat-eating bull") only one specimen ever found, a real
devil of a terror, which some have likened to their ex-wives |
Leaellynasaura (named for Leaellyn, the
daughter of one of the discoverers; specimen found in Australia |
 Brachylophosaurus
("short crested lizard") the crest is solid; specimens found in
Canada |
Stegoceras ("covered horn") a
pachycephalosaur with a head like a bicycle helmet perhaps used for
butting heads with rivals |
 Triceratops
("three-horned face") made popular by The Land Before Time film |
 Stygimoloch
("River of Hades demon") name is Greek and Hebrew, named for
where it was found in Hell Creek, Montana |
 Spinosaurus
("spiny lizard") a carnosaur shown in Jurassic Park III; the
most complete specimen was destroyed in WW II |
Ultrasaurus ("ultra lizard") with
some of the largest bones of dinosaurs |
Fossil dig |
 Minmi
(named for its discovered site) the shortest named dinosaur |
 Dromiceiomimus
("Emu mimic") for its resemblance to the emu bird; good vision
and intelligence |
Bone yard with Ultrasaurus leg |
Maiasaura ("good mother lizard")
known from large nests found in Montana, young stayed with the herd for a
long time |
 Hylaeosaurus
("woods eater") an ankylosaur plant eater |
Euoplocephalus ("well armored head")
specimens found in Canada, an ankylosaur |
Torosaurus ("piercing lizard" ) a
ceratopsian with the largest frill |
 Tsintaosaurus
(named for where it was found, Tsintau China) a hadrosaur nicknamed
the "Chinese unicorn" |
Scelidosaurus ("ribbed lizard") a
plant eater found in England |
This display shows how dinosaurs are carved
from styrofoam |

Chasmosaurus ("cleft lizard") named
for the large holes in the frilled bone, without the holes it would be too
heavy to hold up his head |
Pelecanimimus ("pelican mimic"), a
coelursaur specimen found in Spain with over 200 teeth |
 Silvisaurus
("forest lizard") specimen found in a cow pasture in Kansas, the
skeleton damaged by the cows' hooves |
 Dicynodon (top)
("double dog tooth" with no teeth and only 2 fangs for digging
roots
Lycaenops (bottom) ("wolf face") a
meat eater that hunted in packs |
 Pachycephalosaurus
("thick headed lizard") a plant eater that butted heads with
rivals as mountain goats do. |

Dryptosaurus killing another ("tearing
lizard") a carnosaur with large claws, it hunted alone |
Dromaeosaurus ("fast lizard") fleet
of foot, with large claws, they hunted in packs |
 Troodon
("tearing tooth") once known as Stenonycosaurus, a meat eater
with large eyes and brain, found in Montana |
Gasosaurus (eater) a carnosaur found on the
property of a gas company
Velociraptor (running away) (raptor means
"thief" like the hyena of the dinosaur world |
 Avimimus
("bird mimic") found in Mongolia, with large eyes & brain,
thin legs & birdlike feet |
A subspecies of Parasaurolophus we named
"Trashasaurus" |
Allosaurus ("other lizard" - second
fiddle to T-Rex) a carnosaur, one of the largest North American meat
eaters |

Brachiosaurus ("arm lizard") group display of adults and
babies, a plant eater that lived in forests rather than in water. An
adult needs 400 pounds of food a day. Not pet material! |
| And
finally, believe it or not, the restrooms were artfully decorated with
dinosaur murals, we couldn't resist another series of photos - yes we DID
wait till everyone was out:
LADIES ROOM
The handicap stall

Backs of other stalls:

Hand dryer wall:

Entrance door

Over the stalls:

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| MEN'S
ROOM
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