The background
Liam Norris, exhibition and outreach associate and paleontologist, said the museum has seen some changes since it first opened to the public in 1939. In 2021, the center closed to review changes the team wanted to make. The first phase of transformation was the Great Hall, which is the lobby area where guests may purchase tickets for the museum.
The museum reopened in 2023 after the addition of the Great Hall mural, the reconstructed Quetzalcoatlus northropi, a pterosaur with a 33-foot wingspan and a replica of a tyrannosaur skeleton.
Once these updates were made to the entrance floor of the museum, Norris said the next section needing refurbishment was the bottom floor which houses the Epic Encounters exhibit.
The present
The Epic Encounters exhibit gives visitors information about paleontology through fossil displays, immersive design and interactive experiences.
Norris said while the fossils and skeletal mounts in the exhibit haven’t changed significantly, the greatest upgrade is the amount of information visitors can now intake from the exhibit.
When stepping into the room, community members can see the displays are separated into five slices of time and environments: Triassic, Permian, Cretaceous, Miocene and Pleistocene, also known as the Ice Age.
Prior to the exhibits revamp, each section only told one story about the environment. Now, visitors can read about almost every specimen showcased in their respective displays.
Approximately 77% of the specimens in the exhibit are from Texas—some were discovered by UT Austin alumni. The exhibit highlights the specimens origin points with a map where visitors can take a look at where each fossil was found.
Some of the fossilized skeletons highlighted were discovered in Austin such as the Onion Creek Mosasaur and the Shoal Creek Plesiosaur.
Dig deeper
Various interactive elements have been introduced to the space including the featured creatures touchscreen panels which give attendees the opportunity to dig deeper into the lives of eight of the animals in the exhibit’s collection.
“These are really fun because we wanted to pick some weirdos,” Norris said. “We wanted to pick animals that people wouldn’t see in other exhibits, other documentaries and art. We wanted to bring them alive and depict them in a way that would be relatable to people.”
In addition to the panels, the museum has introduced a choose-your-own-adventure game where individuals can choose to play as one of the five creature options in two environments and see how they would do living out a day in that creature’s life.
“We really wanted to get people into the mindset of what it’s like to be one of these animals and think of them as individuals not as movie monsters but as you know beings that we have shared the planet with,” Norris said.
What else?
The space also features the Discovery Center which opened in March 2025. The center is a hands-on paleontology exhibit which gives attendees of all ages a closer look at the paleontology process and fossils with activities.
Activities include a fake stream deposit where visitors can sort out fossils, replicated dinosaur and animal bones to compare their sizes and more. There are also paleontologists in the center available for questions.
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