In a world-first, an Australian university has created an exhibition that lets people interact with life-sized, artificially intelligent dinosaurs via a giant touchscreen display. And it's pretty much like a virtual reality Jurassic Park, minus the risk of being killed by a rogue dinosaur.
While you can't actually touch the dinosaurs and reptiles at the Queensland University of Technology's (QUT) Dino Zoo, 10 different prehistoric species - including Tyrannosaurus Rex and the largest known pterosaur, Quetzalcoatlus - have been recreated and animated based on the latest scientific data, and projected onto the walls of The Cube so you can get up close and personal.
The best part is that the dinosaurs can see you, and 'think' about how they want to respond to your presence - which can involve them getting pretty feisty, as the Quetzalcoatlus below demonstrates.
While the exhibition was launched in time for kids to enjoy during the school holidays, let's face it, science nerds of any age will be pretty into the chance to hang out and interact with dinosaurs. Dino Zoo will now be a regular feature throughout 2016.
To create the installation, the team at The Cube, which is the world's largest educational interactive display space, partnered with palaeontologist Scott Hocknull from the Queensland Museum, in order to animate dinosaurs and prehistoric reptiles that aren't just super realistic, but are also scientifically accurate, according to the latest research. Which means, yes, there are feathers *cough* Jurassic World *cough*.
The exhibition also gives kids the chance to dig for fossils and provides information on mass extinctions and the timeline of Earth.
So if any of you are around Brisbane this year, make sure you check it out… and don't forget to send us your T. rex selfies.
QUT is a sponsor of ScienceAlert. Find out more about their research.