"Dinosaurs Alive!" opens

photos © Mark M. Hancock and The Dallas Morning News

Nevaeh Saltzman, 4, of Argyle tries to scare others participants during "Dinosaurs Alive!" opening day activities at the Heard Natural Science Museum in McKinney on Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008.


Major Murdock, 5, of Dallas (left) makes a mask with his grandmother Jeanie Garrett of Carrollton (right) during "Dinosaurs Alive!" opening day activities at the Heard Natural Science Museum.


Pattrick Clark (left) applies a temporary tattoo on his girlfriend's son Caelan Rodriguez, 3, of Dallas during "Dinosaurs Alive!" opening day activities at the museum in McKinney.


Caelan Rodriguez, 3, (right) applies a temporary tattoo on his mother's boyfriend Pattrick Clark (left) during "Dinosaurs Alive!" opening day activities at the museum.


Maddie Nolan, 4, of Richardson (right) gets a toy dinosaur from volunteer Brad Northcutt as Tex, the Heard T-Rex, (left) during "Dinosaurs Alive!" opening day activities at the museum.


Guests flee the rain as a Chasmosaurus remains in the woods during "Dinosaurs Alive!" opening day activities at the Heard Natural Science Museum. The Museum's new "Dinosaurs Alive!" exhibit features a walking trail with life-size animatronic dinosaurs.


A Dilophosaurus waits for victims during "Dinosaurs Alive!" opening day activities at the museum. The trail features nine life-size, animatronic species.


Connor Harmon, 10, of Crossroads gets sprayed with simulated poison (water) by a Dilophosaurus during "Dinosaurs Alive!" opening day activities in McKinney.


A 50-foot-long by 17-foot-high Tyrannosaurus Rex roars during "Dinosaurs Alive!" opening day activities at the Heard Natural Science Museum in McKinney. The Museum's new "Dinosaurs Alive!" exhibit features a walking trail with life-size animatronic dinosaurs.

The animatronic T-Rex dinosaur gave me a new perspective on these critters. The exhibit lets you see how big they are in comparison to yourself. If you think about them moving with the same quickness of a bird (a turkey skull is essentially a miniture version of a T-Rex skull sans teeth), you realize how fast a human could be a snack.