Pursuits
The Lucrative Business of Fake, Life-Size Dinosaurs
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Last month, Guy Gsell had one of the happiest experiences of his life. From the 86th-floor observation deck of the Empire State Building, he dropped 50¢ into the coin-operated binoculars; trained them west toward Snake Hill, a 200-million-year-old volcanic outcrop in Secaucus, N.J.; and saw the world’s largest animatronic dinosaur.
“This guy is so big, he just filled the binoculars,” says Gsell, referring to the 90-foot-long, yellow-skinned herbivore called Argentinosaurus. “Even if I didn’t own the dinosaur, I would think it was the coolest thing I ever saw.”