Disasters and Dinosaurs

By: Terra Hall Email

Posted: Sat 11:16 PM, Feb 07, 2009

It wasn't your typical guys day out, but for 7-year-old Sean Hummel and his dad Aaron, visiting the Dinosaurs and Disasters exhibit at Morrill Hall was the perfect way to spend a Saturday.

"It's really awesome and there's like wonderful creatures and wonderful rocks and glowing rocks," said Sean, a visitor from Lincoln.

Sean became interested in dinosaurs three years ago and it's been a match made in heaven ever since.

"They're very interesting creatures and there's lots to learn about them, like how they got killed and how they lived for thousands and thousands of years," he said.

For visitors, especially the youngest ones, the displays create a unique way to learn more about the sometimes surprising behaviors, lifestyles and living relatives of dinosaurs.

Prehistory is fun. It's interesting. It determines what kind of world we're living on today and by studying what's happened in the past we can learn what might happen in the future," Said Mary Ann Holmes, the event's co-coordinator.

"There's nothing more rewarding than turning kids on to geology," said Jonathan Allen, a UNL geosciences Graduate Student. "If anything, it's really great to get kids excited in something that you love. I mean, you really couldn't ask for anything else."

Still Sean does have one request... to dig for dinosaur bones. But for this, he may have wait until he makes his dream of becoming a paleontologist a reality

"I want to, but my dad don't really let me dig in our backyard," Sean said.

For Sean and his dad it's all about making sure these dino-mite memories of a day at the museum don't go extinct anytime soon.

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