March 11, 2019 — August 9, 2020
Free for Members. Timed entry only. Gallery 3, third floor.
T. rex: The Ultimate Predator will introduce you to the entire tyrannosaur superfamily and reveal the amazing story of the most iconic dinosaur in the world through stunning life-sized models, fossils and casts, and engaging interactives. Visitors ages 12 and up can enjoy an immersive multiplayer virtual reality experience developed exclusively for this exhibition.
Warning: you may never think of T. rex the same way again.
[AMNH logo unfolds across an extreme close-up of Tyrannosaurus rex’s face.]
[MENACING, HEAVY BREATHING OVER OMINOUS DRONE]
MARK NORELL (Macauley Curator, Division of Paleontology): When people hear the word “Tyrannosaurus rex,” they think, like, big…
[Extreme close-up of T. rex teeth.]
NORELL: …vicious…
[Close up of large T. rex feet stomping by.]
NORELL: …apex predator.
[Animated T. rex with hair-like feathers walks in profile.]
NORELL: But I like to change people’s preconceptions.
[LILTING MUSIC PLAYS]
[A fluffy T. rex hatchling walks towards the viewer and turns its head inquisitively. Text reads “T. rex, the Ultimate Predator.”]
NORELL: Welcome to the family.
[Curator Mark Norell speaks in the Paleontology collection, in front of a T. rex skull]
NORELL: Tyrannosaurs first appear 150 million years or so ago.
[Animated adult T. rex walks.]
NORELL: T. rex was the most advanced, the most specialized and the biggest tyrannosaur of all. As a paleontologist, one of the big hard things to look at has always been growth.
[Norell speaks in the Paleontology collection. Text identifies him as Mark Norell, Curator, T. rex: The Ultimate Predator.]
NORELL: Because baby dinosaurs and young dinosaurs are just so incredibly rare. And largely that has to do with their bones are extraordinarily fragile.
[Various shots of the tiny bones of hatchling and juvenile dinosaur fossils.]
NORELL: So, it’s only been in the recent maybe 20 years when more and more juvenile and baby dinosaurs have sort of been found. Which we’re getting a window into what the early life histories of these animals was.
[Side angle view of Norell speaking in the Paleontology collection.]
NORELL: Whenever, like, we work on any fossil group…
[Camera pans across life-sized T. rex model in progress. An artist works on a ladder, shaping the animal.]
NORELL: …and we’re making models and that kind of thing, there is a good deal of speculation.
[An artist airbrush paints the mouth of the adult T. rex model, while referencing a photo of a crocodile’s open mouth. Other reference images of birds and reptiles are seen in the modelers’ workshop.]
NORELL: But it’s informed speculation from looking at closely related animals.
[Three artists sit in their studio space. Text la