The
following images will take you on a virtual tour of the Prehistoric Journey
exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS).
This does not represent all displays or specimens in the exhibit.
It is merely intended to give you a concept of what is contained in the
exhibit. I took these images one day as I toured the exhibit.
If you're in the Denver area, hopefully this will encourage a trip to DMNS.
As you take
the museum's tour, you will be traveling chronologically through Earth's
past history, beginning 4.5 billion years ago and ending in the present.
The exhibit starts with Origins some 4.5 billion years ago.
Next is Early Life of 600 million years ago with life forms on the
Ancient
Sea Floor and leads into the Cambrian Explosion - an incredible
diversification of underwater life 545 million years ago. The Sea
Lily Reef exhibit depicts life 425 million years ago in a great Diversity
in the Sea when life became more complex with trilobites, brachiopods,
cephalopods and the first fish. Between Two Worlds shows the
time when life began to venture onto land approximately 385 million years
ago. Plant life expanded and life forms such as the scorpion-like
arthropods and amphibians developed. The Kansas Coastline
exhibit depicts forests and flight around 295 million years ago with reptiles,
big amphibians and huge flying insects. Then, the Permian extinction
(around 250 million years ago) wiped out most life forms. Time of
the Dinosaurs shows dinosaurs and land reptiles which lived 230 to 65 million
years ago. The Cretaceous Creekbed diorama shows dinosaurs
living among the first flowering plants. The K-T extinction marked
the end of the dinosaurs. Tropical Rockies and the Rainforest Treetop
depicts life when the mammals diversified and the Earth's climate was very
warm. The Expanding Grasslands describes a cooling Earth and grasslands
expanding. Mammals evolved along to become efficient eaters in the
new grasses. The Nebraska Woodland shows "big pigs" and tiny
camels living some 20 million years ago. At the end of the tour,
you can see the museum's Earth Sciences Laboratory where scientists
use modern tools to uncover Earth's past mysteries. This is not just
an exhibit - it is a real, working laboratory in use every day (and some
nights) by museum staff and volunteers. (Exhibit information courtesy
of DMNS "Prehistoric Journey - Trail Guide".)
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For the official DMNS Prehistoric Journey exhibit, click here.