From the Director Changing beliefs

trail

tyrannosaurs that looked nothing like that tyrannosaur we all know and love, T. rex. This ‘breaking story’ was gathering speed just as the Australian Museum was looking at ideas for an exciting new dinosaur exhibition. As a vertebrate palaeontologist with a longstanding connection to the Museum, I have been involved with Tyrannosaurs: meet the family since its inception several years back. We realised that no major museum had yet put the tyrannosaur story together, since there were so many recent game-changing discoveries, and the Museum decided that the tyrannosaur story was the right exhibition at the right time. Little did I know how much I would learn about this incredible group of ancient reptiles, or what a personal journey it would be.

ON THE TRAIL

Planning for the exhibition began in earnest in 2010. I had plans to go overseas in 2011 and 2013, and it seemed like a great idea to include some key tyrannosaur sites in my itinerary. In 2011, I visited Montana in the United States (where many T. rex fossils have been found), the People’s Republic of China (home to several new, early tyrannosaurs), and Mongolia (where Asian tyrannosaurs like the huge Tarbosaurus and long-snouted Alioramus lived alongside an amazing array of other dinosaurs). Earlier this year, during the northern summer of 2013, I visited the United Kingdom where some of the oldest tyrannosaur species have been found. I also had the opportunity to meet several tyrannosaur experts – an experience in itself! Montana is ‘big sky country’: endless panoramas of mountains, wilderness and, well, sky. Bozeman, Montana is home to the Museum of the Rockies, which features the mighty T. rex (numerous fossils have been found in Montana and are the subject of much research at the University of Montana neighbouring the museum). The highlight of the museum was the sheer number of real T. rex specimens – young, old and at least one female (the bones of an animal with preserved medullary tissue showing it to be female). Also featured was the massive and equally stunning Triceratops, adversary and prey of T. rex. The specimen of T. rex featuring in the Tyrannosaurs exhibition, nicknamed ‘Scotty’, comes from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan north of Montana. Another spectacular tyrannosaur, Albertosaurus, is from the neighbouring province of Alberta.

CHINA

My trip to China was hosted by the Beijing Museum of Natural History (BMNH), whose staff took me touring around Liaoning Province where several