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The Evolution of Dinosaurs
How did dinosaurs become the rulers of the Earth?
And how did their story end – or did it?
- The exhibition is open
- The exhibition opens 3.10.
- Exhibition content
- At the exhibition, you’ll encounter around 20 life-sized dinosaur robots created especially for this exhibition.
- Age recommendation
- The exhibition suits people of all ages
- Noice
- Some children might find the exhibition’s soundscape a little scary
- Languages of the exhibition texts
- Finnish, Swedish, English and Easy Finnish
- Heureka tickets cheaper in advance
- Buy your ticket here
Meet dinosaurs from across the ages
Welcome to a journey through the world of dinosaurs! In the exhibition, you’ll come face to face with dinosaurs and follow their evolution and adaptation to a changing world. Along the way, you’ll discover how the legacy of these ancient giants lives on in today’s birds.
Dinosaurs are part of the great story of evolution on Earth
Dinosaurs were living animals, not monsters from stories. They were individuals that lived as part of ecosystems and evolved over time into ever-new species. All dinosaurs descended from common ancestors that lived during the Triassic Period, which means they were related to one another. They lived and evolved all over the world.
The exhibition takes you from the Triassic Period to the new era of life
In the exhibition, you’ll encounter around 20 life-sized dinosaurs robots created especially for this exhibition – including a T. rex! Explore what the world was like during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The exhibition ends with the start of the Cenozoic era.
Play the evolution game and step into a palaeontologist’s shoes
In the evolution game, you can experiment with how different scenarios affect the way your dinosaur evolves. You can also examine fossils in the exhibition.
When was the last time you saw a dinosaur?
The Mesozoic Era, known as the age of dinosaurs, lasted for more than 180 million years and consisted of three geological periods: the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.
But the age of dinosaurs did not end with the Cretaceous Period. One group of theropod dinosaurs survived the mass extinction that ended the Cretaceous and is still alive today. We know this group as birds.
Birds are living dinosaurs
When all other dinosaur groups went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous, some birds survived. Over time, these surviving lineages gave rise to the vast diversity of birds we see today.
You could say that we still live on a dinosaur planet: there are around 11,000 living bird species in the world – twice as many as mammal species.
What is evolution?
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Evolutionary theory is the foundation of modern biology
Evolutionary theory helps us explain how and why living organisms have come to be the way they are. It also allows us to make predictions about how they may change over time.
Evolution is not a tree that progresses in a single direction, but a branching bush in which lineages split and give rise to new species.
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Evolution happens because every animal is a unique individual
Animals’ characteristics are based on their genes, and some of these traits are inherited by their offspring. New kinds of individuals arise because offspring inherit different combinations of genes from their parents. Mutations – changes in DNA – introduce new genetic variation into populations.
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Evolution is still happening
Dinosaurs changed, evolved into new species and adapted to their environments according to the same principles of evolution as all living organisms. Evolution has no plan or end goal. It changes the characteristics of organisms through environmental conditions and natural selection.
Among the most recent arrivals in bird evolution are the passerines (Passeriformes). They include familiar small birds such as sparrows, finches, tits, buntings and nightingales, as well as crows and other members of the crow family.
