Center for Science in Rockville Centre marks 25 years with new dinosaurs

Long Island’s own "Jurassic Park" grew as the Center for Science Teaching & Learning in Rockville Centre officially introduced three new animatronic dinosaurs — a prehistoric, plant-eating, early longneck and a duo of sharp-toothed predators.

The outdoor additions to the "Dinosaurs! And Live Animals" exhibit mark the center’s 25th anniversary and bring the center’s collection of moving, roaring dinosaurs to 15.

The 15-foot-tall Lessemsaurus is 30 feet long, and it is stretching its neck to reach the leaves of a nearby tree. It moves its head and roars. "It’s what the little kids call a longneck," said Ray Ann Havasy, center director. "We really wanted to have the sauropod type dinosaur represented in the exhibit."

The Lessemsaurus lived about 210 million years ago, said Zack Dowling, associate director. "Here we have our newest dinosaur, which is, funny enough, our oldest dinosaur," Dowling said as he stood underneath it. Even though it’s an herbivore, Dowling joked: "Something this size, I probably wouldn’t want to mess with it either way." For dinosaur mega geeks, here’s more info: The Lessemsaurus is a lesser-known sauropod from the late Triassic of Argentina.

Two Coelophysis dinosaurs join the Lessemsaurus. Coelophysis dinosaurs are small, swift and agile, as compared to the large, lumbering longnecks, Havasy said. "We want children to understand not all dinosaurs are big," she said. "Everybody thinks small dinosaurs couldn’t survive because the big dinosaurs would eat them." But the small dinosaurs were fast and could hide, she said.

The center chose to add two Coelophysis dinosaurs because "whenever you find them, you typically find many, many in the same bone bed," Dowling said, which indicates that they tended to travel in groups. "It seemed lonely to have just one of them." They are two-legged with a crocodile-like snout and teeth, and they move their arms, heads and tails and make a snarling sound.

"It’s quite interesting," said Stacy Gosine, 40, of Trinidad, who was in New York visiting her brother and came to the exhibit with her daughter, Alexa, 7. "I’ve never seen anything quite like this."

In addition to the 15 animatronic dinosaurs, the center also has eight total or partial dinosaur skeletons and various skulls. It also has 40 live animals, including owls, emus, goats and more.

Havasy said the center is "proud" to have reached its 25th anniversary. "When we started, it was just a tiny organization and we weren’t sure of the impact we were making," she said. Today, the center hosts 150,000 visitors a year, she said.

The center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily except Wednesdays. Tickets cost $15 for adults, $12 for children younger than 13 and free for younger than 1. 516-764-0045, cstl.org.