Dinosaurs take over the Market Cross, Kilkenny!

Roar-some fun in store: City’s shopping centre is all set to celebrate Dinosaur Day!

The Market Cross Shopping Centre, Kilkenny will host its Dinosaur Day on May 20th 

Dinosaur fans are in for a real treat this month as the Market Cross Shopping Centre delivers a dino-mite attraction!

The Centre will host Dinosaur Day Live on Saturday, May 20, when children of all ages will get the chance to go back in time and see what dinosaurs were really like.

Join Terri the Triceratops, Vinny the Velociraptor and Trixie the Giant T-Rex for some Dinosaur-size fun, with meet and greet sessions at 12 noon, 1.30 and 3pm. This free giant day out is suitable for all the family - see www.marketcross.ie for more details!

Dino facts for kids to get you in the mood for Dinosaur Day, here are some fun facts you may not have known about the greatest creatures who walked the earth…

The word dinosaur comes from the Greek language. It means ‘terrible lizard’ and refers to their enormous size. Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for more than 150 million years.

They became extinct about 65.5 million years ago. The largest land-based dinosaur was the Argentinosaurus huinculensis, which could reach up to 130 feet in length. The first dinosaur to be named was the Megalosaurus. It was discovered in 1824.

The oldest dinosaur is the Eoraptor, who roamed the Earth around 230 million years ago. People who study dinosaurs are called paleontologists. Dinosaur fossils were first discovered in the early 1800s. Their remains were preserved in rock, which gave people a better understanding of dinosaurs and how they lived.

Scientists believe that birds descended from dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were also cousins of lizards, snakes, and crocodiles! Many adult dinosaurs had feathers. While some had feathers to stay warm, other types of dinosaurs had flight feathers that they used to fly. Dinosaurs and humans did not coexist. Humans did not appear on Earth until about 65 million years after dinosaurs became extinct. Not all dinosaurs were carnivores. Many of the biggest dinosaurs, including the Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus, were herbivores, or plant-eaters.

Dinosaur fossils have been found on every continent, proving they lived all over the world.

Some dinosaurs were smaller than a chicken. Dinosaurs were colourful. While scientists have believed that dinosaurs were grey, green or brown, new research has revealed that they were likely more colourful than that. Dinosaurs laid eggs. Most dinosaurs laid eggs and built large nests to protect their babies and keep them together. Young dinosaurs grew fast. Dinosaurs reached their full size in seven or eight years. Some dinosaurs had a long lifespan - it’s believed that some large dinosaurs could live almost 100 years.

Not all dinosaurs existed at the same time. For millions of years, new dinosaur species emerged while others went extinct at different times. Dinosaurs got sick. There is evidence that non-avian dinosaurs caught respiratory illnesses and developed symptoms like runny noses and coughs. We haven’t found all the dinosaurs yet. New species of dinosaurs are found all the time, giving us a clearer glimpse into what life was like for them.

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