Jurassic Quest comes to Vancouver in May

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Jurassic Quest

When: May 2-5

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Where: Pacific Coliseum, 100 N. Renfrew St., Vancouver

Tickets: From $28.88 at jurassicquest.ca and on site

Children love dinosaurs. That’s the idea behind Jurassic Quest, a long-running traveling dinosaur show with activities like fossil digging, dinosaur fossil exhibits, and the main attractions: rideable, animatronic prehistoric beasts. We spoke with dinosaur trainer Marty Hoffman, also known as Park Ranger Marty, about dinosaur education, paleontology, and who would win in a fight, Spinosaurus or T. rex.

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Q: You have experience in stand-up and improv comedy. How did that prepare you for this job?

TO: When I first went on tour with the show, I was hired just to entertain people in lines. Over time, they started to realize that, oh wait, this guy knows a lot about dinosaurs. Then I got more into the educational part. I began to take the tour of the exhibition, which we have now transformed into a video tour. Because before people had five opportunities to see it throughout the day, and now when they approach a scene, the four main dinosaur trainers are on a video screen talking about the different dinosaurs.

Q: How did the powers that be realize that you knew a lot more about dinosaurs than they might have initially suspected?

TO: I just talk a lot (laughs). In fact, I have learned a lot from being on this program. I started meeting with paleontologists and working in the lab, separating bones or fossils from the matrix. I have grown a lot as a dinosaur educator. We even have a DINO-411 line that goes to my phone so I can answer questions directly.

Q: You must get stumped from time to time.

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TO: There are 1,100 different non-avian dinosaurs and that number is constantly changing. Paleontologists find something new on average once every two weeks. And the findings about existing dinosaurs change. In paleontology they always say, “Wait until Thursday” because it changes so quickly. But I know how to research things in a way that allows me to get better scientific information than much of the general public would, and I can tell when something is being overblown or hyped up way beyond the science. Backed up.

Q: What kinds of questions do children ask?

TO: They really want to know who wins in a fight between Tyrannosaurus rex and Spinosaurus. That’s a big, big debate. The answer is that they would never have seen each other. The Spinosaurus lived about 100 million years ago in Egypt, while the T. rex lived between 68 and 66 million years ago in North America. However, if you could somehow put them in a ring and get them to fight, Spinosaurus’ dewlaps are longer and narrower and better designed for catching and holding fish, while T. rex’s dewlaps are designed for crushing bones. Spinosaurus was longer, T. rex heavier. With that bite force, nine times out of 10 I would give it to the T.rex.

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Q: What is the age sweet spot for this program?

TO: I think it’s me and I’m 54 years old. We’re really going for the 54 year old nerdy dinosaur group. No, two to ten is our daily bread. They just love it. But dinosaur fans of any age will enjoy it.

Q: You’ve been on the show almost eight years. Don’t you ever get bored of dinosaurs?

TO: No no. The information since I started the program in 2016 until now has constantly changed. I’ve been a dinosaur nerd my entire life, but there are so many dinosaurs that there’s always something to learn.

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