CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Thanks to movies and museums, most people have a pretty good idea of what that world looked like when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, but what about the ones that lived underwater?
Well, you soon may find out. The Field Museum’s newest exhibition, Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep, will give visitors a chance to dive into the other side of the Jurassic period: its seas.
Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep, which opens Feb. 25, will take visitors on an underwater journey to encounter some of the fascinating, fierce, and strange creatures that dominated Earth’s Jurassic seas while dinosaurs ruled the land, the museum said in a statement.
The exhibition features over 100 fossils and models ranging from giant marine reptiles that looked like real-life versions of the Loch Ness Monster to small, strange starfish cousins called sea lilies.
“We’re excited to showcase these amazing encounters and let visitors experience the incredible diversity of the Jurassic oceans,” said Emily Parr, the exhibition’s project manager, in a statement.
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According to the museum, visitors will come face-to-face with marine predators and other friendly marine life of the Jurassic seas through real fossils and CGI projections. They will also be able to touch real fossils of shelled creatures from the Jurassic, feel the textures of replicated sea creature skins, and explore the features of marine reptiles on interactive touchscreens.
“People have always tried to imagine what ferocious beasts might lurk beneath the waves,” Parr said. “Through the exhibition, we’ll be able to show them the real monsters of the deep.”
The exhibition, which was produced and curated by London’s Natural History Museum, will showcase some of the top marine predators of the time. These include a true-to-life replica of a sleek, speedy reptile called an ichthyosaur and the skeleton of a long-necked plesiosaur.
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Visitors will be able to get up close with a fossilized tail of one of the biggest fish ever discovered: Leedsichthys, a 30-foot-long giant that cruised near the surface of the sea catching thousands of microscopic plankton. Plus, museumgoers will also get to see real specimens of today’s marine reptiles: crocodiles, sea snakes, sea turtles, water monitors, and marine iguanas.
“I hope visitors will get to know some of the animals that dominated our oceans for 160 million years, and learn that dinosaurs weren’t the only impressive reptiles around in the Jurassic,” said Lottie Dodwell, an interpretation developer at London’s Natural History Museum, who worked on the exhibition.
Jurassic Oceans: Monsters of the Deep will be presented with bilingual text in English and Spanish and it will require a Discovery or All-Access Pass for entry.
The exhibition will run from Feb. 25 through Sept. 5. For passes and more information, visit the Field Museum website.
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