Baby Dinosaur Hatches at Nashville Zoo

In the wee Thursday morning hours, a baby Amargasarus hatched at Nashville Zoo at 5:00 am. Weighing in at 721 pounds and measuring 11 feet in length, this healthy baby will be staying with its mother on the DinoTrek trail until the end of July.

Nashville Zoo held a hatch day contest which gave visitors an opportunity to guess the date and time of the Amargasarus egg hatch. With over 1,110 entries, the Zoo is happy to announce that the winner of the DinoTrek egg hatching contest is Ella Champlin-Brush who guessed Thursday, March 31, at 5:17 am. Ella will receive a Nashville Zoo household membership as her prize.

Amargasaruses, belonging to the Sauropod family same as Brontosauruses and Diplodicuses, lived over 130 million years ago in the early Cretaceous period and their fossils have been found in what is now Argentina. These relatively small herbivorous dinosaurs had a long neck and a double row of parallel spines down their back. As an adult, these dinosaurs were estimated to have weighed over two tons and measured almost 33 feet in length. The diet of this dino might have consisted of plants such as fern seeds, cycads and club mosses.

Guests can spot the baby Amargasarus at the start of the DinoTrek trail along with the 20 other species of animatronic life-like dinosaurs. These dinos can hiss, roar, growl and even spit water. Educational signs along the path allow all guests to learn more about the 20 different species on display and young paleontologists can even conduct their own mini-excavation in a fossil sandpit. DinoTrek has been open since March 11 and will run until the end of July.

Admission to DinoTrek is $4 per person. Children under 2 years old are free. Tickets are available for purchase at the Zoo’s Entry Village, online and at the entrance to the exhibit. The supporting sponsor for DinoTrek is AAA. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.nashvillezoo.org.