The T. rex is one of the world’s best-known dinosaurs, but many do not know that it is just one type of tyrannosaur. At the Saint Louis Science Center’s upcoming exhibition, Tyrannosaurs: Meet the Family, guests can explore the more than 25 dinosaurs in the tyrannosaur’s family tree. Guests will also see a dramatic array of fossils and casts of tyrannosaur specimens, run for their lives in a virtual experience, hatch a dinosaur egg and much more in the special exhibition running through Jan. 24, 2022.
“Dinosaurs are one of the most popular topics in science, and we are still learning and making new discoveries about them,” said Andrea Durham, chief officer for science and education for the Science Center. “The Science Center’s mission is ‘to ignite and sustain lifelong science and technology learning’ and one of the ways we get people excited about STEAM [science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics] is to take topics they are passionate about and share them in a new light. While everyone knows about the T. rex, this special exhibition demonstrates that there is always something new to learn.”
The special exhibition features Scotty, a life-sized replica of a T. rex skeleton discovered in 1991. She is the heaviest and oldest T. rex currently on record. When she was alive, she was almost 20 feet tall, nearly 40 feet long and tipped the scales at more than 19,000 pounds. Additionally, guests will learn about traits specific to tyrannosaurs, such as fused nasal bones, D-shaped teeth in cross section, a special type of hip bone and longer hind limbs. But, just like human family trees, there is incredible variety among tyrannosaurs: some were huge, some small; some lived 168 million years ago, some lived 68 million years ago; and some lived on Asia, while others lived in North America.
Tyrannosaurs: Meet the Family is an exhibition created by the Australian Museum and toured internationally by Flying Fish.
