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Big adventures await during the school holidays (and beyond) at Auckland Zoo. The former elephant enclosure is holding something a little bigger… dinosaurs!
“Dinosaurs inspire so much curiosity about wildlife,” the zoo’s Zoe Firth explains. “Collectively, these pre-historic replicas offer us a brilliant opportunity to shine a light on nature’s extraordinary terrestrial and marine giants – past and present – and talk about taonga species here in Aotearoa that continue to need our help to safeguard them from extinction.”
Back by popular acclaim, the Dinosaur Discovery Track features more species although, in another way, they are far from new.
“This year, we’re especially excited to have sauropods, including Brachiosaurus. These gigantic, long-necked herbivores that soar over the track represent the largest animals to have ever walked our Earth. Plus, we’ve brought back a few 2025 favourites, including a Tyrannosaurus rex – that this time has a juvenile, and hatchlings,” Firth adds.
“We’ll also be delving into dinosaurs’ physical attributes, how they communicated and reproduced, and the fascinating connections dinosaurs have with many species we care for at the Zoo and help and support in the wild.”
Free with regular Zoo entry, the attraction includes 20 animatronic replicas of 15 different species from the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods (between 200–66 million years ago) made by The Dinosaur Company.
Dinosaur rangers will be on hand to chat with visitors while also delivering twice daily dinosaur keeper talks.
The Times has tickets to the zoo up for grabs but entries close soon! Click here for details and to be in to win.
