Five places to find dinosaurs

Drumheller, Alberta, Canada, North America. Photo / Getty Images

Big, fierce and extinct they may be, but 65 million years after the last one died, dinosaurs continue to pose questions for humans. Obvious ones like: What did they eat? How fast could they move? What did they sound like? What colour were they? And the really big one: If it happened to them, could it happen to us?

Paul Barrett, the leading paleontologist at London's Natural History Museum, says: "Enormously successful, living all over the world and a big rock from space knocks them out. It's a wake-up call to human arrogance. Some things you cannot predict and we are still vulnerable to being caught out."

Phew, that's far too deep for a Thursday morning. Here are some really cool places where dinosaurs survive.

1. The Dinosaur Capital of the World

Drumheller, in the Red Deer Valley of Alberta, Canada, was founded on coal but now thrives on another underground resource: dinosaur bones. Paleontology is a serious business here — the fantastic Royal Tyrrell Museum is both research centre and tourist attraction, a 26m-high fibreglass T rex haunts a large portion of downtown, and many businesses carry dino-related names in a manner that may remind you of Bulls. If you want to be reminded of Bulls.

2. Dinosaur Heaven

The American Museum of Natural History in New York has 2000 dinosaur fossils: only 5 per cent are on display in its two dedicated halls. Highlights include a T Rex and Apatosaurus, and an Allosaurus which is displayed feeding on the partial carcass of an Apatosaurus. There's also a small dinosaur dig for children in the Discovery Room.

3. Last Dinosaur Standing

Dippy the Diplodocus — or the 26m dinosaur's plaster-cast replica — has left the building after 112 years in London's Natural History Museum foyer — surely just the blink of an eye in dinosaur time. However, the Dinosaur Gallery remains a favourite display, where visitors can walk along an elevated platform to view a Camarasaurus. There's also a Triceratops and the half-buried skeleton of the Edmontosaurus lying in its death position.

4. Brussels Sprouting

Brussels' Museum of Natural Sciences, also known as the Musée des Sciences Naturelles because Belgians like to say things in at least two languages, has the biggest dinosaur gallery in Europe with more than 35 skeletons on display. Highlights include 30 Iguanodons discovered in 1878; nine are shown in their "historic kangaroo pose," which means they're standing upright on two legs.

5. Dig It Yourself

Walter W. Stein has discovered and excavated more than 30 dinosaur skeletons as well as dozens of other scientifically interesting things in Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota. Last year Dakotaraptor steini was named in his honour. Well-preserved specimens are sold or donated to museums, but amateur fossil-hunters can join his expeditions and take home any random teeth or bones they find.