PHILADELPHIA, September 16, 2015

Dinosaurs will be thundering into Philly next summer, hot on the heels of the biggest, most fearsome spiders—tarantulas—at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.

The 2016 exhibition season opens Jan. 30 with Tarantulas: Alive and Up Close. Visitors will come face-to-face with 20 different species of live tarantulas—cute but terrifying with their hairy legs, fangs and bad reputations. Then on June 25, back by popular demand, Dinosaurs Unearthed stomps in with a cast of roaring, moving, life-size dinosaurs that are state-of-the-art and scientifically accurate, down to the feathers on T. rex.

Nestled in the heart of Philadelphia’s Parkway Museums District, the Academy is the nation’s oldest natural history museum. The museum’s signature exhibits, popular with both children and adults, include Discovering Dinosaurs, Butterflies! (a tropical garden of live butterflies), Outside In (a children’s discovery center with live animals), and historic dioramas depicting animals around the world in realistic habitats.

In addition, the Academy presents a series of engaging and educational temporary exhibits. Below is the schedule of exhibits for 2016. For frequent updates, visit ansp.org.

Tarantulas: Alive and Up Close

Special Exhibits Gallery

January 30 through May 30

Tarantulas have a reputation that precedes them—terrifying, fast, hairy, scary—the biggest, baddest and most fearsome of all spiders. In Tarantulas: Alive and Up Close visitors will come face-to-face with 20 different species of live tarantulas—fangs and all. Interactive activities highlight the unique attributes of some of the 900 known species of tarantulas, which thrive in diverse habitats around the world. Experience an air current and find out why tarantulas are so hairy, climb a kid-size tarantula burrow and get your photo taken.

Click here for an image and caption.

Dinosaurs Unearthed

Special Exhibits Gallery

June 25, 2016–January 16, 2017

Roaring, moving, life-size dinosaurs invade the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University for a multi-sensory experience for the whole family. State-of-the-art and scientifically accurate—down to the feathers on T. rex—Dinosaurs Unearthed features more than a dozen realistic, full-bodied animatronic dinosaurs, as well as skeletons, skulls, claws and horns, real mosasaur and Spinosaurus teeth, an Oviraptor egg, and the ever-popular coprolite (dino poop). A dig site for young paleontologists, a Dino Detective touch-screen quiz, chances to control dinosaur movements, and other activities encourage exciting hands-on exploration.

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Drawn to Dinosaurs

Art of Science Gallery

November 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016

Drawn to Dinosaurs delves into the science and art of visualizing a living animal based on fragmentary fossils. This intimate exhibit illustrates what scientists can deduce from the fossil record when creating a reconstruction of a skeleton or model and what they must look to artists to interpret. The centerpiece is a full cast of the plant-eating dinosaur Hadrosaurus foulkii, discovered in 1858 in Haddonfield, N.J. The Academy created a full cast of this duckbilled dinosaur and put it on display in 1868, becoming the first in the world to display a dinosaur skeleton.

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