Dinosaurs will take over the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Sunday for the 11th annual Dino Fest, featuring rare fossils, paleontologists, live presentations and hands-on activities exploring prehistoric life.
The festival will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., with museum members receiving early access from 9 to 10 a.m.
Visitors will be able to meet paleontologists from the museum’s Dinosaur Institute and other institutions, view rare specimens from the museum’s collections and explore Dinosaur Hall, including its T. rex growth series, according to the museum.
The museum’s paleontology collections contain more than 12 million specimens and are the largest on the West Coast, museum officials said.
Among the day’s presentations will be a 10:30 a.m. storytime, an 11:30 a.m. discussion with paleontologists, a 1:30 p.m. demonstration showing how fossils are protected in plaster jackets for transportation from the field, and a 3 p.m. presentation focusing on animals that survived the mass extinction that ended the age of non-avian dinosaurs.
The museum will also present its “Dinosaur Encounters” program at 11 a.m. and 1:45 p.m., using large-scale puppets and multimedia storytelling to explore paleontology. Additional admission is required for the performances.
Screenings of “T. REX 3D” are scheduled for noon and 12:45 p.m., also for an additional charge.
At 3:15 p.m., the museum will screen an episode of NBC’s “Surviving Earth” titled “When the Asteroid Fell,” focusing on the aftermath of the mass extinction event. A virtual question-and-answer session with series executive producer Tim Haines and Dinosaur Institute curator Nathan Smith is scheduled before the screening.
Other activities will include a LEGO Build the Change program focusing on protecting birds, which are living dinosaurs, along with opportunities to see a dinosaur puppet artist at work and meet Buddy the Dinosaur from the PBS children’s series “Dinosaur Train.”
Visitors can also explore the museum’s “L.A. Underwater” exhibition, which examines a period millions of years ago when much of what is now Los Angeles was beneath the Pacific Ocean.
Dino Fest is included with paid museum admission, although some programs require additional tickets. Advance reservations are recommended.