Giant animatronic dinosaur falls into burning ring of fire, comes out even creepier - CNET

Enlarge Image

Maybe you thought it was a meteorite that destroyed the dinosaurs. Or a deadly disease, or a finicky climate. Or "Seinfeld's" Newman on "Jurassic Park," stealing their embryos.

Apparently, for one 90-foot-long Argentinosaurus, the biggest animatronic dinosaur in the world, smoking does indeed kill.

A welder, who will remain anonymous in case the dino's children seek revenge, was finishing up work on Thursday at an exhibition called "Field Station: Dinosaurs" in Overpeck County Park in Leonia, New Jersey. A spark from his torch bued the dinosaur down to its Terminator-esque metal skeleton, while 33 other dinos just stood around and watched.

The dinosaur will be rebuilt in time for the exhibit to open Memorial Day weekend, the Record newspaper reports.

Even the Leonia police department couldn't resist poking fun in a series of tweets.

"Report of a dinosaur on fire today," the department tweeted. "That was definitely a first for us. Sadly the dinosaur did not survive."

And with a tweeted photo of two of the remaining figures, the police joked, "These dinosaurs survived, however they refused to give a witness statement." Snitches get stitches back in the Jurassic.