Real Reptiles to snake through Age of the Dinosaurs in discovery day at Ulster Museum

Perfect as the Ulster Museum’s Age of the Dinosaur show is for developing imaginations, even skyscraper predators can’t rival real reptiles.

This Saturday (August 4 2012), the Belfast venue’s Learning Zone welcomes an Albino Burmese python, Biscuit, with the faintly scary measurements of 14 feet in length and five and a half stone in weight. Jubjub, an Asian Waterdragon, will also be paying a visit.

“It’s a great addition to our line-up of special events,” says Geraldine Macartney, the Learning Officer at National Museums Northern Ireland. "We’ll be exploring the common ancestry of snakes and dinosaurs 300 million years ago, as well as investigating some interesting facts.

“For example, we know that snakes have the remains of a pelvic girdle which shows that, like dinosaurs, they once had legs. The experts who can tell us all about Jurassic plants, dinosaur feathers and  the links between birds and dinosaurs.

“It’s a great opportunity for lovers of dinosaurs and reptiles to come along and find out more about the links between some of the animals which exist today and the creatures which roamed the earth hundreds of millions of years ago.”

Brian Stewart, of the company Talking Reptiles, is promising to introduce several reptiles whose existence reveals clues about dinosaurs.

An interactive area in the show, Discover Dinosaurs, also offers fossil-handling sessions with Dinosaur Demonstrators. Giant leg bones, skulls and dinosaur eggs are among the fearsome specimens.

• Runs 10.30am-5pm.

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