In order to prevent brain damage, a woodpecker’s tongue wraps around its entire skull, and a squid is able to double the length of its tentacles in 1/50^th of a second. Learn more astonishing animal facts at “Nature’s Amazing Machines,” an exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science until Jan. 1, 2018. Utilizing scientific models, real objects and interactive media, visitors can learn all about the myriad leg, wing and fin shapes propelling the planet’s creatures across surfaces and through water and air. The exhibition is divided into displays focusing on Legs and Springs; Wings and Fins; Jaws and Claws; Structures and Materials; Pumps and Pipes; and Insulators and Radiators.

“Ultimate Dinosaurs” opens later this year, Oct. 6–Jan. 15, 2018. If you’ve ever secretly longed to release a show-stopping Tyrannosaurus Rex at a boring meeting, this new exhibition will give you plenty of bigger options to consider, including the colossal Gigantosaurus. The exhibition reveals the latest fossil discoveries from Africa, South America and Madagascar. Huge fossils and life-size casts in lifelike settings include activities appropriate to a range of ages and interests, and explore how changing environments and continental conditions shaped the evolution of dinosaurs around the globe.