Dinosaurs take up residence at Perth Zoo

• Life-sized dinosaur exhibit Zoorassic Park at Perth Zoo opens in a fortnight

• Provides important natural history lessons 

A giant Tyrannosaurus and towering Apatosaurus are among 19 life-sized and life-like dinosaurs which are taking up residence at Perth Zoo.

The animatronic dinosaurs begin arriving in South Perth today for the new exhibition, Zoorassic Park at the Zoo, which opens on March 12.

Environment Minister Albert Jacob said this was an exciting exhibition because the dinosaurs had been designed by a Fremantle company and some had not been on display in Australia before.

"The Perth community will be the first in the country to see these new dinosaurs," Mr Jacob said.

"They will be coming straight off a ship from China and get their first Australian experience at Perth Zoo."

The dinosaurs' creator, Animatronic Engineering, based in Fremantle, may take many months designing each creature which is then manufactured near Chengdu, Perth's Chinese Sister City.

The Minister said Perth Zoo was a leading visitor destination in Western Australia and one of Australia's most visited zoos on a per capita basis.

"We continually strive to make the zoo as accessible as possible," he said.

"It is already one of the most affordable zoos to visit in Australia and Zoorassic Park at the Zoo will be included in the standard entry ticket.

"This enables us to reach a broad cross section of the community and share important messages about our natural history.

"Dinosaurs were the world's biggest vertebrates and successfully roamed the Earth for about 160 million years. 

"We can see in modern-day animals clear links back to dinosaurs and this is how we can understand more about the forces that caused them and many other species to become extinct."

Fact File

• The largest dinosaur on display will be the Argentinosaurus at 18 metres long and nine metres tall

• For more information, visit http://www.perthzoo.com.au  

Minister's office - 6552 5800