Jurassic Quest educator brings big love for dinos to inquiring young minds
Park Ranger Marty is seldom stumped when prompted for ancient answers
Kids love dinosaurs. That's the idea behind Jurassic Quest, a long-running touring dinosaur show with activities such as a fossil dig, exhibits of dinosaur fossils, and the main attractions: animatronic and rideable prehistoric beasts. We talked to dino trainer Marty Hoffman, a.k.a. Park Ranger Marty, about dinosaur education, paleontology, and who would win in a fight: the Spinosaurus or T. rex.
Q: You've got a background in standup and improv comedy. How did that prepare you for this job?
A: When I first went on the road with the show, I was hired just to entertain people in the lines. Eventually, they started to realize, oh, wait, this guy knows a lot about dinosaurs. Then I got more into the educational portion of it. I started doing the tour through the exhibit, which now we have reworked into a video tour. Because before people had five chances to see it throughout the day, and now when they walk up to a scene, the four main dino trainers are on a video screen talking about the different dinosaurs.
Q: How did the powers-that-be figure out that you knew a lot more about dinosaurs than they might at first have suspected?
A: I just talk a lot (laughs). Actually, I've learned a lot being on this show. I started meeting with paleontologists and I've done some work in the lab, separating bone, or fossil, from matrix. I've grown a lot as a dinosaur educator. We even have a DINO-411 line that goes to my phone so I can answer questions directly.
Q: You must get stumped once in a while.
A: There are 1,100 different non-avian dinosaurs, and that number changes constantly. Paleontologists are finding something new on average about once every two weeks. And the findings about existing dinosaurs change. In paleontology, they always say “wait until Thursday” because it changes that quickly. But I know how to look things up in a way where I'm going to get better scientific information than a lot of the general public would, and I realize when something is being blown out of proportion or is a lot more hyped than science-backed.
Q: What kinds of questions do kids ask?
A: They really want to know who wins in a fight between Tyrannosaurus rex and Spinosaurus. That is a big, big debate. The answer is, they would have never seen each other. Spinosaurus lived around 100 million years ago in Egypt, whereas T. rex lived around 68 to 66 million years ago in North America. However, if somehow you could put them in a ring and have them fight it out — Spinosaurus's jowls are longer and narrower and better designed for catching and holding onto fish, whereas T. rex jowls are designed for crushing bone. Spinosaurus was longer, T. rex heavier. With that bite-force, nine out of 10 times I would give it to the T. rex.
Q: What is the sweet spot agewise for this show?
A: I think it's me and I'm 54. We're really going for the 54-year-old dino-nerd crowd. No, two to 10 is our bread and butter. They just love it. But dinosaur fans of any age will enjoy it.
Q: You've been with the show nearly eight years. Don't you ever get bored of dinosaurs? A: No, no. Information from when I started the show in 2016 to now has constantly changed. I've been a dinosaur nerd all my life, but there are just so many dinosaurs there's always something to learn.