People of the Attractions: Don Digs Dinosaurs

Like most youngsters, Don Lessem loved dinosaurs. However, he took his adoration to another level. At around age 5, Lessem went to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City every weekend. He soon became so familiar with the dinosaur exhibits that he began giving impromptu tours to other guests.

“Even then I was a loudmouth,” says Lessem with a laugh. Thus began a lifelong infatuation with the extinct creatures. “They were still alive when I was a kid,” the 70-something jokes.

As a science reporter for the Boston Globe, Lessem was assigned a story about dinosaurs. As he tells it, he went on a dig and “pretty much never came back.” Lessem immersed himself in the subject and wrote both scholarly tomes as well as children’s books about dinosaurs.

That led him to the PBS science program, “NOVA,” as well as the Discovery Channel, or which he wrote and hosted shows. Lessem became so renowned in the field, the sauropodomorph dinosaur, Lessemsaurus, is named after him.

His notoriety caught the attention of “Jurassic Park” author Michael Chrichton, with whom Lessem consulted. In turn, Steven Spielberg sought Lessem’s counsel when he directed the movie. Actual theme parks then came calling; both Universal and Disney turned to the prehistoric pro to help create Universal’s Jurassic Park attractions and DinoLand U.S.A., found at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World.

While in China for a dig, Lessem discovered that factories in the town in which he was staying created many of world’s robotic dinosaurs. He visited one on a whim and learned that they custom made each figure by hand, forgoing molds.

It was an “aha!” moment. Long disturbed by the subpar representations of the majestic animals, Lessem realized he could bring his expertise to life. “With a little better design and engineering, along with a lot better scientific input, we could make very realistic robots,” he says.

So, he did. In 2017, at 67, Lessem founded Dino Don, Inc., and with characteristic New York chutzpah went to the Bronx Zoo and sold them a collection of animatronic dinosaurs. Based on that success, his figures have been on display at more than 50 zoos around the world. To get a sense of the (literal) lengths to which Lessem and his team go to present dinosaurs more accurately, the company crafted a 120-foot-long, 6-ton Argentinosaurus for the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago.

Now, Lessem’s creatures can be found at theme parks. In 2023, Six Flags New England debuted Dino Off Road Adventure, which features Dino Don’s animatronics, to great acclaim.

“I love this more than anything else I’ve done—more than books, articles, movies, and TV,” Lessem says about the attractions he’s making. “It’s great watching people enjoy them.”