Yorkshire Wildlife Park: TV's Helen Skelton opens spectacular new dinosaur attraction

And the Countryfile presenter was amazed by the numerous giant animatronics which almost bring to life 35 of the largest species to ever walk the planet.

The residents of the new reserve, Pangea - Discovery of Dinosaurs, which opens on May 27 won’t be adding to the food bill though.

They have all been installed in what would have been their natural habitats, by experts at the Doncaster based park.

The TV star said: "The attraction is simply amazing, The dinosaurs are so realistic and life size.

"It makes you glad that they’re not roaming around with us anymore! I learnt so much about all the different species and just had a brilliant visit.

“The fact that the dinosaurs are extinct really makes you think about all the conservation work Yorkshire Wildlife Park does to prevent other species dying out."

One of the larger dinosaurs, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, whose name means ‘ King of the Lizard tyrants' was one of the most ferocious to walk the earth with jaws that could have crushed a car.

At 40ft long (12m), 12 ft tall (3.6m) and weighing 5.5-8 tonnes, the T Rex was a tour de force not to be reckoned with.

“We never thought that we would be building a reserve for extinct animals” said John Minion, CEO of the Park.

“Pangea is a fascinating collection of the many dinosaur species from the largest Jurassic giants such as the Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus to the Velociraptor – which despite what the films say was actually the size of a turkey. The scale of these amazing dinosaurs is amazing and brought to life with animatronics will be an incredible experience for our guests.”

YWP, which puts conservation at the heart of all its actvities, offers visitors a unique walk through experience coming almost face to face with some of the world most rare and beautiful animals, including leopards, tigers, black rhinos and the country’s only polar bears. There are over 40,000 species threatened with extinction in a sweeping biodiversity crisis so the conservation work of YWP and the WildLife Foundation that is based at the Park is more important than ever.