By Karen Stephen

AMID a hot, sweaty and prehistoric jungle the roar of a Utahraptor fills the air.

The massive beast turns to look at me before ripping the head off another "rival" dinosaur.

The smell of the swamp hangs in the humid air as a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning rages overhead.

I am, of course, trekking round the magnificent Dinosaur exhibition at The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester which will not only supply you with a wealth of prehistoric information, but allow you to see the creatures in all their terrifying glory.

Set in a prehistoric jungle, complete with thunder, lightning and swamp "smells", the massive dinosaur models are brought to life by stunning animatronics.

The exhibition features full-size and scaled down versions of some of the most terrifying creatures ever to walk the earth - albeit 65 million years ago.

A life-size Tyrannosaurus Rex, an Allosaurus, Parasaurolophus and Pachycephalosaurus are all in residence and, with their life-like roars, grunts and groans, it's enough to make even the bravest caveman quiver!

But pupils from Markland Hill Primary School in Bolton descended on the exhibition like seasoned explorers as they excitedly ran from one dino to another.

Year Three class teacher, Paula Ash said: "The children have really looked forward to coming here today - we have some very avid dinosaur fans among them - and they'll be following up their visit with some drawings back in the classroom."

One young man who certainly knew his Triceratops from his Utahraptor was seven-year-old Theo Schenk.

"This is brilliant," he grinned, "I thought they were just skeletons but it's not, it's the real thing.

"I think this one," he said, pointing to the Triceratops, "was a really big one but I'm not sure just how big.

"I've got a dinosaur book at home - I'll look it up in that." Press Officer for the museum, Rachel Kerslake said: "The exhibition is a huge success. In fact, on the first weekend we had over 6,000 people visit in just two days - that's the busiest weekend ever, outside school holidays."

The majority of the dino's are housed in the humid "jungle" but the Tyrannosaurus rex was simply too big to get through the doors - he's 13 metres long and six metres high - so he has pride of place in another part of the museum.

"We had to knock down a wall to get him in," laughs Rachel.

But it was worth it because this monster certainly impresses the visitors.

"Wow, he's amazing," gasps Thomas Scott, seven, "his eyes are orange, like they're on fire. He must be feeling angry."

The models are truly magnificent. They're unbelievably life-like - each claw, eye and muscle moves menacingly. And they roar and growl with terrifying ferocity.

"This one's hungry," squeals eight-year-old Jennifer Lomax, pointing excitedly at a roaring Utahraptor, "I can tell because he's ripped off the head of another one."

Erm, told you it was realistic.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.