On November 5th, I visited the Peterborough Museum and Archives' ongoing Carnivorous Dinosaurs exhibit. 

The entire exhibit is located in one room, but there are more than enough castings to capture any dinosaur enthusiast’s fancy. A variety of life-sized skeletons, skull displays, and informative panels are featured, all of which are easily readable. 

The Peterborough Museum normally rotates their featured exhibits 3-5 times a year, but the Carnivorous Dinosaurs will occupy the gallery space until March 22nd of 2026, totaling 7 months. 

“We’re trying to bring in more natural history [exhibits],” said conservator Owen Thompson, who helped organize the exhibit. “We’re normally focused on human history here, but we’re interested in highlighting natural history in this temporary exhibit.”

The exhibit was developed in partnership with Research Casting International (RCI), a Trenton-based company known for their paleontologically accurate models.

“They have a series of exhibits small enough to host in galleries,” said Thompson. “They’re all castes, so they come pre-mounted, and are relatively easy to install.”

Apparently, the physical installation was the fastest part of setting up the exhibit.

“This [exhibit] is from an outside agency, which are often booked a year in advance,” said Thompson. “We started talking to RCI around then. The installation itself took about 2 days, but the logistics of it all was about a year in the making. It’s mostly paperwork…The installation involved ensuring accessibility in the floor plan…We had to ensure it was safe for the objects to be brought in, and that people [could] still navigate.”

As predicted, the exhibit has been quite successful with younger audiences.

“Every time we have a school group come in, there’s always a couple kids asking, ‘Where are the dinosaurs? I wanna see the dinosaurs,’” said Visitor Experience Coordinator Katie Crowe. “It really brings the community together. People like dinosaurs.”

Not only is the exhibit exciting for young people, it’s accessible for them to read and understand. The plaques are all at eye level for young children, and there is an interactive wall where visitors can velcro pictures of dinosaurs onto a board corresponding to the era in which they lived.

The exhibit’s broad focus allows for specimens from the Jurassic, Triassic and Cretaceous periods to be featured. It also means that both terrestrial carnivores, such as Coelophysis bauri, and aquatic species, such as Dinosuchus hatcheri, are included. And the choice of carnivores only serves to amplify the wow factor.

“They’re very dramatic,” Crowe said. “For example, the T. Rex has big sharp teeth—carnivores really capture the imagination. We actually have two T. Rexes: Scotty, one of the largest specimens found, and Jane the juvenile.”

For history enthusiasts like Thompson and Crowe, the exhibit also prompts introspection.

“The earth used to be a very different place,” Thompson remarked. “Millions of years ago, these guys were able to walk through the forests. That’s a very different world than the one we live in. It’s a popular line in a lot of recent science fiction movies that ‘The only constant is change.’ I think that’s good for understanding dinosaurs as a concept.”

I ended our interview by asking both Thompson and Crowe about their favourite dinosaurs from the exhibit.

“I like Scotty, because he’s the biggest one,” said Crowe. “He almost didn’t fit through the door.”

“Yeah, that was exciting,” Thompson agreed. “Mine is the Dimitridon, because it’s the oldest and looks weird.”

The exhibit will close on March 22nd.