Rest assured, it is not a prank, and it is certainly not a local research facility’s DNA experiment gone spectacularly wrong.
The 30 or so dinosaurs that will roam the Kensington Oval over the next two weeks are part of a travelling theme park — The Amazing Dinosaur Discovery.
The life-like robotic dinosaurs are made of metal reinforcing rods, sculpted foam, pantyhose and latex, and have dozens of tiny electric motors inside that can make them appear as though they are wagging their tails, breathing, blinking, walking, chewing and roaring.
"They are fully animatronic — fully moving.
"These have been created based on the scale, size and shape of the fossils that have been found around the world.
"So this is as true to form and shape as it possibly can be."
Among the crowd favourites is a massive Tyrannosaurus rex, a 12m-long Brachiosaurus, some raptors, and Dusty the baby dinosaur.
"A lot of the kids will come up to say hello to our Baby Blue [dinosaur] and ask, ‘Is he real?’.
"So they’re in this real belief that these animals are still around. It’s quite remarkable."
Visitors can also go fossil-panning and bone-digging, go on dino-rides, and play in the dino-mite playground, among other activities.
"It’s interactive, it’s educational and most of all, it’s sensational."
Whether visitors were 2 or 102, they would be "enchanted" by the display, he said.
"You can just imagine how these enormous creatures ruled the Earth over 60 million years ago."
