Ohio State's Orton Geological Museum is turning to crowdfunding to pay for a new dinosaur skeleton, and hoping to use the effort to spur future revamping.
“Nothing gets kids excited about science the way dinosaurs does,” says museum curator Dale Gnidovec.
That's why the museum wants to raise $80,000 to get a new cast skeleton of one Cyrolophosaurus ellioti to loom over visitors as they walk through the doors.
The carnivorous dinosaur was named after retired Ohio State geology professor David Elliot, who discovered its remains in Antarctica in 1991. Cyrolophosaurus ellioti was 22 feet long.
Gnidovec hopes the new effort will encourage people to pay a visit to the free museum, which has been open since 1893.
“Dinosaurs are often a gateway drug to getting kids interested in science in general," Gnidovec says. "We think this would be an excellent addition to the STEM outreach of this museum.”
In addition to buying a new skeleton, though, Gnidovec says the crowdfunding will help the museum begin to change the rest of its offerings.
“Our current exhibits have been on display since about 1981, and they’re in desperate need of updating and refreshing," Gnidovec says.
Gnidovec says the museum doesn't earn enough money to make the upgrades on its own.
