Free dinosaur exhibit with junior T. rex and baby Triceratops opens at MRU

Calgariansno longer have to drive out to Drumheller to starea life-sizedinosaur replica right in the eye socket.

Ajunior T. rex, a baby Triceratops, and an otter-like early marsupial were unveiled Thursday at Mount Royal University's new and free Cretaceous Lands exhibit.

Get a preview of the two dinosaurs now displayed in Calgary

7 years ago

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Mount Royal University's free Cretaceous Lands exhibit opened Thursday morning.

The three acquired fossil casts are representative of the period marking "the end of the dinosaur and the beginning of the mammals,"explained professor emeritus WayneHaglund.

Scientists believe the animals died roughly 65 million years agoin what is South Dakota today.

Thought by some to be a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, the Nanotyrannus lancensiswas anagile predator, with dagger-like teeth and a sleek skeleton.

Scientists believe it may have hunted in packs. Others believe it was a distinct species with more teeth in its jaws than the T. rex.

Triceratops was a large, four-legged plant eater that weighed up to 12 tonnes. The baby displayedat the Cretaceous Lands exhibit was probably between one and three years old when it died.

The marsupial on display was related to the opossum, although it was semi-aquatic like an otter.

With short, heavily constructed jaws and blunt premolar teeth, it likely crushed small prey such as lizards and frogs and the shells of mollusks.

The Cretaceous Lands exhibit follows theCretaceous Seas display unveiled atMountRoyalin 2015.