Dinosaur eggs on display in Danville

More than 100 dinosaur egg fossils found a new nesting site at the Danville Science Center.

The science center is inviting families to discover dinosaur eggs for the opening of the new “Hatching the Past: The Great Dinosaur Egg Hunt.”

Visitors have the chance to touch real fossils like a Hadrosaur tibia (leg), dig for their own “fossils” or lay their eyes on a rare find like Baby Louie — a fossilized embryo captured in stone.

“I fully expect some people will come away with new insight into dinosaurs as living creatures and some may leave exclaiming, ‘What cute babies!’” Danville Science Center Director Jeff Liverman said.

Locals don’t need to travel to Washington, D.C., Atlanta or New York to experience real fossils, Liverman said. Several fossils come as life assemblages that show multiple eggs or embryos with an adult.  This gives possible insight into dinosaurs as parents.

Danville is the first city in Virginia to host the exhibit.

“It’s a real blockbuster,” Liverman said.

Baby Louie — named after photographer Louie Psihoyos who photographed scientists at work in China for a May 1996 issue of National Geographic magazine — was a rare find for fossil dealer Charlie Magovern in 1993.

Charlie and wife Florence Magovern own The Stone Company, which offers natural history services like museum-quality fossil acquisition and preparation services. The Magoverns of Boulder, Colo., grew their business from lapidary trade and selling finished stones to offering fossil specimens and reproductions. The company started studying eggs in the ’80s.

Charlie and Florence Magovern came across theropod Baby Louie and other fossilized egg nests by establishing relationships with Chinese geologists. They even accompanied scientists on a trip to China to uncover fossils in 1995. The company continued to acquire dinosaur egg fossils from around the world and developed a traveling exhibit in 2001.

The exhibit showcases treasures like a fossil egg the size of a bowling ball, and a pair of eggs 18 inches long. The Baby Louie hatchling may be a species of giant oviraptor. Visitors may also see a juvenile theropod jaw, gigantoraptor eggs and more.

Florence Magovern, also an environmental engineer, serves as curator for the 5,000-square-foot exhibit that offers videos, exploration stations and discovery panels in both English and Spanish.

Parents also appreciate the phonetic spellings, Magovern added.

Large copies of Psihoyo’s photographs and illustrations by artist Luis V. Rey, whose work is featured in children’s books on dinosaurs, colorfully enliven the fossils and models.

“It makes for a really nice family experience,” Magovern added.

“Hatching the Past” will stay in Danville until Sept. 6.

The Kiwanis Club of Danville Foundation sponsored the exhibit. Admission to The Danville Science Center, located at 677 Craghead St., costs $6 for adults and $5 for children.

For more information, call (434) 791-5160 or visit http://www.dsc.smv.org.