Jersey Zoo welcomes 'lifelike' dinosaur puppets

A zoo has invited visitors to see "lifelike" dinosaurs in Jersey.

Jersey Zoo says the animated puppets roar, blink and move like real dinosaurs, and will be on show from 25 to 31 May.

There will also be "meet-and-greets" with a 5m (16ft) triceratops and 4m (13ft) velociraptor.

The zoo said visitors could get their picture taken, attend a ranger academy and learn how to get the velociraptor to turn and roar.

The zoo said the dinosaur attraction had been set to open on Saturday 24 May but it had to postpone the event by one day due to matters outside of its control.

Jersey Zoo's education team said it would also be hosting fossil-handling sessions in the Discovery Centre every day.

Visitors can see a triceratops tooth and touch coprolite, a spinosaurus vertebrae and a fragment of T-Rex tooth, it said.

Ian Osborne, director of commercial at Jersey Zoo, said the dinosaur activities were fun as well as educational and immersive.

He said he hoped visitors would "learn more about the fascinating animals that used to roam our planet".

Mr Osborne added: "As a conservation organisation, we are fighting every day to stop more species from going extinct and hope this event will inspire our guests to think more about the impact they are having on the natural world, as well as the steps they can take to protect it."

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