EDINBURGH.- The most comprehensive exhibition ever mounted on tyrannosaurs is on view at the National Museum of Scotland. Tyrannosaurs explores the most feared and revered of all dinosaurs, bringing the latest palaeontological discoveries to life and challenging preconceptions about these ferocious predators.

While the most famous of the species is the mighty T. rex, tyrannosaurs came in all shapes and sizes, and their history extends over 100 million years.

The exhibition features extremely rare fossil specimens, cast skeletons including one of ‘Scotty’, one of the largest and most complete T. rex skeletons in the world- and incredible models of feathered dinosaurs.

Visitors are able to explore the diversity of tyrannosaur skulls and find out what variations in structure can tell us about different hunting and feeding strategies. Tyrannosaurs uses cutting-edge technology, includes hands-on and multimedia experiences that engage and excite children and adults alike. These include digital screens featuring computer animated creatures and layered content, a large scale, multi-touch and multiplayer family tree gaming table and an interactive augmented reality experience where visitors can play with life-sized dinosaurs in the gallery.

This is first UK outing for the exhibition, developed by the Australian Museum and toured internationally by Flying Fish. It has already been shown in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. Before touring internationally, the exhibition was brought up to date with exciting recent tyrannosaur discoveries including the oldest feathery relatives of T. rex.

Despite their final demise during one of Earth’s biggest mass extinction events, tyrannosaurs live on both in popular imagination and even through to their present-day bird cousins.

Tyrannosaur research is one of the hottest areas in palaeontology - several species have been described in just the past decade - and exciting new discoveries are regularly re-drawing the family tree. Discover how tyrannosaurs fit into the dinosaur family tree and explore the key features that define a tyrannosaur – features that make them different from other dinosaur groups.

Dr Nick Fraser, Keeper of Natural Science at National Museums Scotland said: “For any of us who are fascinated by dinosaurs, T. rex is surely the most recognisable, whether in popular culture on on the front of your first dinosaur book or poster as a kid. I think there is a real sense of wonder that such a seemingly fantastic animal actually walked the earth. Tyrannosaurs will show visitors not only the mighty scale of T. rex, but also their fascinating family tree, including early Asian feathered tyrannosaurs which are some of the most exciting recent discoveries in dinosaur palaeontology,.

Director and CEO, Australian Museum, Kim McKay, AO, said that the public’s fascination with dinosaurs has never waned and the fossils in the exhibition are the building blocks of everything we know about these awe-inspiring creatures.

“The Tyrannosaurs exhibition will not only take visitors on a remarkable journey to our earth’s ancient past, but will also provide a real sense of scientific enquiry and discovery from the latest breakthroughs and research programs,” Ms McKay said.

The exhibition runs until 4 May 2020.