Feb. 22, 2015 - Dinosaurs

Diana and I visited the Tallahassee Museum during our stay in Florida this winter. As soon as we walked through the gate, we saw this giant, pink, metal sculpture of a dinosaur. It depicts an Apatosaurus (Ah-PAT-uh-sawr-us) which lived during the Jurassic Period (208 to 146 million years ago). The sculpture is made out of discarded automobile parts.

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Since 2011, the Museum has been the home for 21 of these dinosaur sculptures. Here’s a sign with information about Jim Gary, the artist who created these interesting pieces. His goal was to make the animal’s body parts out of auto parts that served a similar purpose. For example, upper and lower control arms are legs, rocker arms form vertebra, and brake shoes are used as feet.

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Here’s a Stegosaurus (STEG-uh-sawr-us) which also lived during the Jurassic Period. Its body was the size of a bus. A sign near this piece said that Jim Gary worked on the Stegosaurus for 8 months. Notice the brake shoes that form the feet.

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This is a Dimetrodon (die-MEH-truh-don) and it would have been around during the Permian Period (280 to 248 million years ago). At that time, it was one of the largest land animals on earth; up to 12 feet long and weighing as much as 660 pounds. It was the top predator of the Permian Period.

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The Triceratops (try-SAIR-uh-tops) lived during the Cretaceous Period (146 to 65 million years ago). It grew to be 30 feet long.

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The Plesiosaurus (PLEE-see-uh-sawr-us) was a prehistoric marine mammal and it lived during the Jurassic Period.

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