Who done it? The Cretaceous Crime Scene...

Our outreach department recently held a program called Cretaceous Crime Scene here at the Museum for a group of visiting students. The idea is that the students are "dino detectives" in charge of solving a murder scene. A poor dinosaur was killed in the night, and based on footprints and other clues found at the crime scene, the students must determine which of the suspects is the killer. The suspects are: Johnny Two-Fingers (a Tyrannosaurus); Abner the Alamosaurus; Norman the Ankylosaurus; Hungry Joe the Triceratops; Priscilla the Parasaurolophus; and Toothpick Pete (a raptor). The underlying message of the program is that a paleontologist is much like a detective; they both must look carefully at clues to solve the many mysteries they find. For a paleontologist, these clues are fossils, and these fossils help the paleontologist understand mysteries about ancient worlds.

Here are a couple photos from this program:


The crime scene.


The dino detectives in action!

If you are interested in this program, or others like it please feel free to visit our website for more information: www.museumoftheearth.org/outreach.php.