AMNH Offers Super-Sized Dino App

The American Museum of Natural History today launched DINOSAURS iPAD: The American Museum of Natural History Collections, its first app specifically designed for the iPad®-and the perfect way to fit a dinosaur under the tree this holiday season. DINOSAURS iPAD expands on the Museum's inaugural app, DINOSAURS: The American Museum of Natural History Collections for iPhone® and iPod®, by offering even more in-depth information and larger images of your favorite dinosaurs. With an opening screen mosaic of nearly 1,000 separate high-resolution images and unique social networking functionality, the new app encourages aspiring paleontologists of all ages to explore the Museum's world-famous fossil collection and engage in real-time conversations with other users from home, in the field, or in the classroom.

New chapters in DINOSAURS iPAD include detailed stories about eight popular dinosaurs: Allosaurus, Anatotitan, Apatosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus, Protoceratops, Stegosaurus, and Styracosaurus, as well as accounts of their discovery by such famed dinosaur hunters as Barnum Brown, Walter Granger, and Peter Kaisen. Over time, the app will be updated with new chapters to cover the dinosaurs in the Museum's collection.

DINOSAURS iPAD is a fun and interactive way to expand and refresh your dinosaur knowledge in advance of the Museum's major new exhibition, The World's Largest Dinosaurs (April 16, 2011-January 2, 2012), which will take visitors beyond the bones and into the amazing anatomy of a uniquely super-sized group of dinosaurs who thrived for 140 million years: the long-necked and long-tailed sauropods, which ranged in size from 15 to 150 feet long. With innovative, interactive exhibits-including a life-sized, detailed model of a 60-foot Mamenchisaurus-The World's Largest Dinosaurs will draw on the latest science to take visitors inside these giants' bodies and answer the intriguing questions of how such extremely large animals breathed, ate, moved, and survived.

DINOSAURS iPAD can be purchased for $2.99 at the iTunes Store. All proceeds will directly benefit the Museum's scientific and educational programs. DINOSAURS iPAD is the latest in a series of apps that highlight the Museum's storied collections and bring its world-class holdings to a global audience. It builds on the popularity of the Museum's first app, DINOSAURS: The American Museum of Natural History Collections for iPhone® and iPod® touch, which featured an iconic screen mosaic of Tyrannosaurus rex and in-depth chapters on Barosaurus, Coelphysis, Corythosaurus, Deinonychus, Psittacosaurus, Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus rex, and Velociraptor, as well as stories about the scientists who discovered them. Other apps from the American Museum of Natural History include Cosmic Discoveries, which lets users explore the mysteries of our universe via an interactive photo-mosaic comprising 1,000 stunning images, and American Museum of Natural History Explorer, designed as an "indoor GPS" which pinpoints a user's location within the Museum and offers turn-by-turn directions through more than 500,000 square feet of public space.

In addition to exploring its virtual offerings, the Museum also invites you and your family to visit in person this holiday season. This year, the Museum's popular Holiday Origami Tree features 500 intricate origami creations on the theme of discovery, while many Museum Halls make perfect backdrops for last-minute holiday photos. The Museum has even identified seven particularly festive spots for taking pictures, including classic winter scenes in various dioramas and near Museum icons such as Tyrannosaurus rex. Afterwards, visitors can go to amnh.org/cards to find a festive picture frame to use for emailing season's greetings and wishes for a happy new year to friends and family.

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