Page 12 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • July 18, 2012 Glen Rock Library hosts tyrannosaurus and friends by John Koster The crowd wasn’t the only thing that roared as Glen Rock children and parents met some visitors from Field Station Dinosaurs -- a 15-foot tyrannosaurus rex and his royal entourage. The tyrannosaurus was a remarkably plausible bunraku-style beast with pebbly mottled skin and a gusty roar -- both admittedly extrapolated by paleontologists who know exactly what a tyrannosaurus skeleton looks like but are not sure what sort of a voice the beast had or whether the thick reptilian skin was multi-colored or monochrone as are most lizards today. The visit began as Big Jeff, designated as a Dinosaur Troubador, sang songs about the joys of looking for fossils behind the garage to an audience of about 80 kids and parents on the library lawn. Jane Gordon, associate producer, helped put the event together with Children’s Library Director Trish Fischelman. Then Chris Palmieri, a dinosaur wrangler from Australia, walked over to the van and exclaimed, “There it is!” Nobody saw puppeteer Joseph Lymous while the tyrannosaurus was prowling the library lawn, but that was the whole point of buraku -- the puppeteer may be partially visible in a line of sight, but the minds of the audience screen him out because of the importance of the puppet. In this case, the Left: Chris Palmieri talks with the children as they pet the dinosur. Top: Children confront the tyrannosauraus rex. Above: Chris and the dinosaur on Rock Road. puppet had a heavy looking tail that flailed above the spectators’ heads, and stood about eight feet tall when he leaned back his reptilian head and roared. None of the children were terrified, but the dinosaur was realistic enough to make them somewhat leery of getting in its way. Some of them dared to pet the dinosaur, or even put their hands in his mouth. The T-rex, another giant puppet dinosaur, and two hand puppets are featured at Field Station Dinosaur in Secaucus, along with 31 “animatronic” dinosaurs that can move their heads and body parts, but do not stalk around among excited children as the T-rex did on the Glen Rock Library lawn.