Scienceworks’ popular exhibition Explore-a-saurus is leaving Melbourne soon, and visitors can bid farewell to the dinosaurs by voting for which prehistoric creature has earned the title of ‘Awesome-a-saurus’!

Explore-a-saurus has seen more than 150,000 visitors explore a world of forensic palaeontology and animatronic dinosaurs since opening in June 2011, and will be closing at Scienceworks on 15 April.

The interactive exhibition was developed by Museum Victoria’s expert exhibition, paleontological and education staff, and demonstrates the ways in which fossil evidence is used to learn how dinosaurs lived; from how fast they ran, to what colour they were and even how they cared for their young.

To send the dinosaurs on their way, Scienceworks is running an online competition where people can vote for which of six dinosaurs they think is the ‘most awesome’ of all time.

Those who vote go in the draw to win one of three Big4 Holiday Park gift vouchers each valued at $1,000, as well as weekly prizes including Museum Victoria household memberships, passes to the Explore-a-saurus and Scienceworks and IMAX Melbourne Museum passes.

To place your vote for the most awesome dinosaur of all time, visit Scienceworks on Facebook and select the Awesome-a-saurus link: http://www.facebook.com/scienceworks

“Dinosaurs are a perennial favourite among children, and we’ve found that Explore-a-saurus has been no exception,” said Genevieve Fahey, Manager of Scienceworks.

“It’s not just the moving, roaring animatronic dinosaurs that make this exhibition so captivating – it’s also the way in which it encourages children to look at the scientific method behind what we know about dinosaurs.

“So much of what we do at Scienceworks is about sharing with the people of Victoria a love of science, and showing that it isn’t all about lab coats and chemistry, but about being inquisitive and creative.

“What better example of this than the science of dinosaurs? There’s still so much we don’t know about these incredible creatures who once ruled our planet.”

Explore-a-saurus will tour to Perth, Western Australia where it will go on display at SciTech, making room for Scienceworks next major exhibition Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention.

Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention opens on May 19 and runs until November.