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Travel Back In Time With Dinosaurs At Consol Energy Center

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – There's a fascination with what life was like when dinosaurs, not humans, ruled the land.

And for a short time, you can get a better idea of what that was like, when the arena is transported 10 million years back in time.

KDKA's Kristine Sorensen got to meet the dinosaur affectionately known as "Baby T."

And even though he's the smallest, he's a little scary at 8 feet tall and 14 feet long.

In "Walking with Dinosaurs'" live show, 20 dinosaurs interact with each other on the arena floor in a theatrical production that cost $20 million to create.

"We take you through the three periods dinosaurs ruled the Earth in their massiveness, the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous period," said Walking with Dinosaurs spokesperson Terey Summers, "And it's hosted by a character that is a paleontologist, Huxley."

The noise these creatures make is loud and menacing, but it's the size that will really blow you away.

"To give you a little idea, the scope of these dinosaurs, Baby T comes to the knee of his mom in the show, the mama T-Rex is huge," Summers said. "And we also have a brachiosaurus and the brachiosaurus is around three stories tall."

But beyond the size, it's their life-like qualities that make them so amazing.

It's a combination of animatronic puppetry and the skill of the person in the costume.

"He is an actor and athlete," said Summers. "This suit right here weighs about 100 pounds, so it's intense to be able to manipulate and maneuver. And then there are means inside him to engage the sound and the eyes, but our larger dinosaurs, the come in weighing about 6 to 20 tons -- they're the size of like a family SUV."

Baby T is just getting warmed up for the big show that's coming July 30 through Aug. 3, when 19 more dinosaurs take over Consol Energy Center.

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