The Perot Museum in Dallas debuted its new “T. rex: The Ultimate Predator” exhibit on Monday, offering visitors further insight into the popular dinosaur and other related species.
The new exhibit features several models of the dinosaur in various periods of its life cycle, complete with information about its supposed behaviors, diet, and evolution as a species.
Guests can also view an interactive wall with “super-sized” video projections of the animals in their habitats, and there are also interactive activities for children.
The exhibit will run through September 22, 2024, according to the museum’s webpage.
“The Museum strives to find unique ways of empowering and exciting students about STEM through cutting-edge exhibits like T. rex: The Ultimate Predator,“ said Linda Silver, the Eugene McDermott CEO of the Perot Museum, according to a press release.
“With its dynamic blend of skeletons, life-like models, and digital experiences, T. rex rekindles a childlike awe for the ferocious hunter thundering through our imagination millions of years after tyrannosaurs became extinct,” she said.
Ron Tykoski, vice president of science and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Perot Museum, told The Dallas Express that the exhibit exemplifies the museum’s efforts in paleontology and “active research.”
“We have parts of one exhibit upstairs, actual bones from Big Bend National Park, but also pieces from Alaska and elsewhere around the world where we conduct real research so that we help contribute to the storylines that you see around you in this exhibit,” said Tykoski.
Fossils revealed that the T-Rex was indeed a hunter in its time and did not just scavenge animal carcasses. Moreover, Tykoski said the DFW area had its own resident tyrannosaur species that lived about 96 million years ago.
Tykoski described one of the life-size replicas of the T-Rex as the prehistoric animal’s “awkward teenager phase.” He also said the exhibit stands out as it provides a “comprehensive” view of the species from hatchling to its adult phase.
He went on to reference another exhibit in the museum that only offers a snapshot of the animal’s time on Earth some 67 million years ago, a fossil display showing a T-Rex attacking another dinosaur.
“We find the bones of both animals there together, and that’s neat, and we can tell a story about that one moment in time, that one scene, but that’s about all we can tell,” said Tykoski. “This [new] exhibit flushes out a full story about these animals.”
Tykoski said the museum is working with the National Park Service to visit a previous site where it had salvaged Tyrannosaur fossils a decade ago and is working on other deposits found near Grapevine Lake, where one of its volunteers discovered a new species of dinosaur, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Tickets for the exhibit cost $8 for adults and $7 for children ages 2+. For additional information to help plan your visit, click here.
