Hatching the Past: Dinosaur Eggs and Babies

What You'll See

This exhibit blends art and science with an astounding array of authentic dinosaur eggs and nests.

Exhibit Details

Take a rare and exciting look at the life of dinosaurs through their eggs, nests and embryos in Hatching the Past: Dinosaur Eggs and Babies. This remarkable hands-on exhibition offers an astounding array of authentic dinosaur eggs and nests collected from all over the globe—including those of each of the major plant and meat-eating dinosaur groups.

Although dinosaur eggs were first identified in the 1920s, their scientific significance was not fully appreciated until the end of the 20th century. Today, dinosaur eggs are recognized for their enormous scientific value and for offering fascinating details and fresh insights into the behavior, growth and evolution of dinosaurs.

Hatching the Past presents new discoveries about dinosaur reproduction and behavior and introduces some of the fascinating people and science behind these discoveries. This multi-media experience helps give credence to long debated theories that dinosaurs and birds are closely related.

A captivating experience for all ages, Hatching the Past invites visitors to touch real dinosaur bones and reconstructed nests—one more than eight feet in diameter—dig for eggs, experience hands-on exploration stations and view animated video presentations featuring well-known dinosaur experts. Each science-rich section is enhanced with exciting life-like models of embryos and hatchlings, colorful illustrations of dinosaur family life and stunning photographs of some of the world’s most renowned dinosaur hunters and their discoveries.

A central feature of the exhibit is a presentation about the discovery of “Baby Louie,”—the nearly complete skeleton of a dinosaur embryo with its bones aligned in the proper position. Charlie Magovern made this exceptional and rare discovery in 1993 when he was carefully cleaning a large block of eggs from China. He nicknamed the embryo after National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos.

Hatching the Past was developed by Charlie and Florence Magovern of The Stone Company, Boulder, Colorado in association with the Harvard Museum of Natural History. The Magoverns gained national recognition when their work was featured as the cover story in the May 1996 issue of National Geographic Magazine.