Southern Dinosaurs Ready to Roam Downtown Raleigh Museum

The exhibit, calledTerror of the South,will feature replicas of dinosaurs that once roamed our area.

Museum director Betsy Bennett says visitors will be able to imagine what life was like 70 million years ago.

The exhibit includes a fossilized skeleton of an acrocanthosaurus which dates back 110 million years. It is the only complete skeleton of its type of dinosaur in the world.

"It's a southern dinosaur," says paleontologist Dale Russell. "It was typical in the south. It was the ecological counterpart of Tyrannosaurus Rex in the south."

Russell calls the skeleton a rare specimen.

"We have a rare jewel. This is one that people will come from all over North America and the world to see and to study," he says.

When it is complete, the Terror of the South exhibit will have special effects to bring attack scenes to life.

It is an experience the museum director promises visitors will remember for life.

"It's really exciting and we're ready for everybody to come and see and learn," says Bennett.

The museum is scheduled to open April 7, 2000.