National Geographic Reimagines and Brings Dinosaurs to Life Through AR Experience

This year has brought the world one catastrophe after another. Still, there are silver linings amidst all the challenges. One of them is the acceleration in the thrust towards the digital age. All sectors in all industries have had to boost their digital transformation efforts. This enables them to adapt to the changes and to continue delivering quality services to all consumers.

Aside from consumer goods and services, we have also seen innovative and creative ways to maximize the use of virtual platforms in the education and entertainment sector. One of these is the newly launched National Geographic’s Reimagining Dinosaurs AR experience.

National Geographic Unveils Reimagining Dinosaurs

In its October issue, National Geographic featured Reimagining Dinosaurs, which presented new discoveries about dinosaurs. It showed the reconstruction of these ancient creatures using modern technology. With more advanced tools today, the image of the dinosaur we learned in school years ago has almost completely changed.

To make the recent findings even more engaging, National Geographic leveraged augmented reality technology and the power of social media. These dinosaurs are brought to life through Instagram’s Spark augmented reality platform.

The Reimagining Dinosaurs AR experience, unveiled last week, features three different interactive experiences. Users can watch the winged Yi qi glide across their ceiling or through the yard. They can learn how the Deinonychus guards and hatches its blue eggs right in their living room. They can also marvel at the Spinosaurus swimming in the deep oceans and learn more about these magnificent animals. To enhance learning, pop-up texts and a voice-over guide users through the AR experience.

Users can also interact with these dinosaurs by using the selfie mode. In this mode, they face the dinosaurs directly and control their movements. The dinosaurs mimic the movements of the head and the mouth. Users can then record the video and share them on their Instagram stories.

Aside from allowing people to see what dinosaurs really look like based on new scientific findings, this interactive feature also makes learning more fun and entertaining.

To access the AR experience on Instagram, open the camera on the app, swipe right on the filters to Browse Effects, and search for Yi qi, Deinonychus, or Spinosaurus. If you are reading this on your smartphone, you can click here for Yi qi, here for Deinonychus, and here for Spinosaurus.

Expect More AR Experiences

This is the third AR experience launched by National Geographic on Instagram this year. It follows The World In 2070 and the Everest Climb. In the future, we can expect more such immersive and interactive experiences that make learning and discovering the world more fun.