Dinosaurs of all sizes, including 50-foot megalodon shark, invade Ohio Expo Center

Earlier this week, dozens of tractor-trailers arrived at the Ohio Expo Center carrying interesting — and in a few cases, terrifying — cargo.

That’s how you get more than 100 life-size, animatronic dinosaurs from one place to the next for each new Jurassic Quest exhibition.

Whoever opens the backdoor to the truck holding the megalodon — a shark-like creature and one of the biggest animals to ever live — just better be prepared for what’s inside.

“The megalodon is 50 feet long and he gets his own truck to himself,” said Nicole Wood, with a chuckle.

“Some of the dinosaurs need a little bit of assembly, because they’re taller than the trucks,” continued Wood, senior creative director for Jurassic Quest, a Texas-based company that puts on dinosaur shows across the country.

“We’ve worked really hard with paleontologists that we have dinosaurs that look accurate and we represent what size they would have been in real life.”

That includes species ranging from those that barely reach a human’s knees to the Spinosaurus, who dwarfs the popular Tyrannosaurus rex, often heralded as king of the dinosaurs.

All these dinosaurs — plus chances to dig for fossils, ride on top of a dinosaur and learn how to train a Utahraptor — will take over roughly 100,000 square feet of the Bricker Building at the fairgrounds, with ticketed time slots running from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

A drive-thru version of the exhibit came to town last summer, but this one allows guests to get up close and personal with the impressive creatures.

Fans of prehistoric times will have an opportunity to walk through the Cretaceous, Jurassic and Triassic periods and see the creatures who lived during each era.

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And, of course, there will be three tiny (size is relative in this instance) baby dinosaurs for attendees to pet, cuddle and learn about.

Safari Sarah, a dinosaur trainer, will offer all sorts of tidbits about the baby T. rex she’s working to train.

“His name is Tyson,” Sarah said, choosing to use her stage name and stay in character. “He’s definitely the more rambunctious of the three baby dinosaurs we have and he’s carnivorous so he takes some extra care.”

Her favorite fun fact to share with visitors is that chickens are the closest living relative to the Tyrannosaurus rex.

“I love telling people that a chicken stripped of its feathers is very, very similar,” she continued. “They have tiny arms and big thighs and the only difference is several hundreds of millions of years.”

She also explains that triceratops’ signature horns are coated in keratin, just like human hair and nails, drawing a common link between people and these prehistoric creatures.

In addition to the magical wonderment of how these dinosaurs could possibly be alive today — children love to ask her that question — Safari Sarah said she hopes a day spent with the massive reptiles is fun and educational.

“Although we love dinosaurs and they’re entertaining and fun, we want to be teaching people the correct things about them,” she said.

The balance between the playful nature of such an exhibit and sharing knowledge is what Jurassic Quest hopes to strike, Wood continued.

“We have these really awesome, inspiring dinosaurs, but then we’ll talk about how the oviraptor, whose name comes from the word egg, that we learned they didn’t actually steal eggs,” Wood said. “Then, you can also jump in a dinosaur bounce house.”

To maximize social distancing, the event has a timed entrance so people must purchase a specific slot of time.

Wood said people can zip through the exhibit quickly or stay all day, but two hours is usually ample time to see everything.

Besides meeting one of the baby dinosaurs, Wood’s favorite attraction is the extensive fossil display and hunt Jurassic Quest boasts.

“We have real fossils in there and it’s run by fossil experts,” Wood said. “That’s a hidden gem for me.”

award@dispatch.com

@AllisonAWard

At a glance

Jurassic Quest will be in Columbus Friday through Sunday at the Ohio Expo Center, Interstate 71 and East 17th Avenue. The show runs from 9 a.m. to 8 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and requires a timed ticket, which can be purchased at www.jurassicquest.com. Tickets cost $22, or $19 for senior citizens. A kids' unlimited rides pass costs $36, which includes admission. Masks are encouraged.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: What dinosaurs can I see at Jurassic Quest at the Ohio Expo Center?