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(Photo courtesy Science Museum of Virginia)
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(Photo courtesy Science Museum of Virginia)
The family’s in town. But you won’t have to take them to see Richmond’s cultural gems, such as the Science Museum of Virginia, because they’re already there. “Tyrannosaurs: Meet the Family,” imported from Australia, is the first exhibition of the newly revised tyrannosaur family tree in the world. Yes, the Tyrannosaurus rex had cousins, uncles and aunts, who share some traits and unusual monikers. A 2016 study by paleontologists Stephen Brusatte and Thomas Carr added to the tyrannosaur family tree, updating gaps in time and addressing new fossil discoveries, such as the boxy-skulled Xiongguanlong and the fun-sized Timurlengia tyrannosaurs.
Tyrannosaurs are predatory dinosaurs from the late Jurassic Period, which was about 150 million years ago, to the late Cretaceous Period, about 65 million years ago. The star of the “family” is Scotty, a female T. rex reconstructed by researchers who included 65% of her bones. Her name comes from a bottle of Scotch whisky purchased to celebrate her discovery. She’s the oldest and heaviest T. rex on record, weighing in at 19,000 pounds in her prime and surviving into her early 30s.
“There’s no expiration on curiosity and you don’t have to grow out of dinosaurs — I never did,” Timshel Purdum, the museum’s director of education, says. “Adults will surely learn things that are different than what they were taught about dinosaurs when they were in school, or are completely new because they are based on what scientists have discovered recently.”
There’s a lot to look at and learn at the exhibition. On display are tyrannosaur teeth and fossilized eggs, as well as the simulated roars and footsteps of tyrannosaurs, which may sound familiar, since the T. rex is part of popular culture, despite being extinct for about 65 million years. If you’re curious about what tyrannosaur poop looked like, the exhibit has a model of that, too.
At 20 feet tall, Scotty is the star of the show. However, the exhibit is called “Meet the Family” for a reason. Other tyrannosaurs, including the feathery, flightless Guanlong wucaii; the Albertosaurus sarcophagus, known for its long-distance running at a speed of up to 28 mph; and the long-armed Velociraptor mongoliensis also make an appearance at this reunion.
“Tyrannosaurs: Meet the Family” provides educational engagement with challenges, such as testing tyrannosaur spotting skills, and games for kids and playful adults, such as “Wipe Out,” where you jump and land on a platform to try and launch a simulated meteor to Earth.
The exhibit balances flashy technology with nostalgia through CGI screens and primordial dinosaur film posters, including “The Lost World” (1960) and “The Lost Continent” (1968). Three massive screens display animations of dinosaurs, one of which mirrors so exhibitgoers can watch themselves be “surrounded” by a number of tyrannosaurs, while the other two depict dinosaurs roaming around the front of the museum and in Carytown, with “Jurassic Park” splashed across the marquee of The Byrd Theatre. Unlike that film, this exhibition doesn’t feature jump scares or narrow escapes and comes to a resolution without threats of a sequel.
“Tyrannosaurs: Meet the Family” continues at the Science Museum of Virginia until Oct. 3. $10 to $20.50.
