Dinosaur Land on the German island of

Rügen Rügen (; Rani: ''Rȯjana'', ''Rāna''; , ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic ci ...

() was opened by Rüdiger Kunkel on 30 April 2008 on land that had belonged to the East German

National People's Army The National People's Army (, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (DDR) from 1956 until 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) and the (Bord ...

(NVA). The site covers an area of 9.5 hectares in the municipality of Glowe and is not far from the villages of Spycker and

Bobbin A bobbin or spool is a spindle or cylinder, with or without flanges, on which yarn, thread, wire, tape or film is wound. Bobbins are typically found in industrial textile machinery, as well as in sewing machines, fishing reels, tape measures ...

on Lake Spycker. Excavation of a Dinosaur Model 2009

The focus of the park is its display of dinosaur models, each with an information board. In addition there are models of prehistoric fish, marine mammals and the odd turtles,

hominid The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); '' Gorilla'' (the ...

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus.'' They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabi ...

s and sabre-toothed tigers. The models are made of

glass-reinforced plastic Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

s (GFP) and are made by hand. At the time of opening there were around 1000 of these models displayed on a roughly 800 metre long circular walk. The largest has a height of twelve metres and a length of 27 metres and represents

Diplodocus ''Diplodocus'' (, , or ) is an extinct genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaurs known from the Late Jurassic of North America. The first fossils of ''Diplodocus'' were discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othnie ...

. In early 2009 the circular walk was extended to 1,100 metres with around 120 exhibits. This expansion had an emphasis on marine life. The park also offers various activities, for example, a simulated archaeological dig on a dinosaur skeleton using shoves and brushes, as well as searching for fossils in the remains of a chalk pit.

External links

Dinosaur Land, Rügen

Events & Activities In Sellin, Rügen

Interview with Rüdiger Kunkel and Sven Neumüller

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dinosaur Land (Rugen) Miniature parks Amusement parks in Germany 2008 establishments in Germany Parks in Germany Vorpommern-Rügen Rügen Glowe

See also

External links