Dinosaurs roaming Edinburgh ahead of exhibition

Images of prehistoric beasts running amok in the Capital have been released ahead of a major exhibition coming to the National Museums of Scotland.

Tyrannosaurs are coming to Edinburgh in January with a major new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland (23 January to 4 May).

Tyrannosaurs including the mighty T rex, the three-fingered Guanlong and powerful Daspletosaurus torosus can be seen at iconic locations around the Capital such as Edinburgh Castle, St Giles’ Cathedral and the Scottish Parliament in the pictures.

Dr Stig Walsh, of National Museums Scotland, said: “On one level, these images are a bit of fun but actually they invite you to engage with what these animals might actually have looked like and their scale.

“The other thing the images do, which is what the exhibition is really all about, is show that ‘tyrannosaurs’ means more than the famous T rex.

“It’s a whole family grouping whose time on Earth lasted over 100 million years.

“We’ll show 25 species in the exhibition, from Dilong, one of the earliest tyrannosaurs only discovered quite recently in China, through to Scotty, the biggest T rex ever found.

The story even continues past the extinction of the tyrannosaurs through to their cousins who survive to this day, the birds.”

The exhibition will make its only European appearance at Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland from 23 January 2020 and visitors will be able to come and wonder at the dinosaurs until 4 May 2020.

The exhibition will feature rare fossil specimens, cast skeletons including one of Scotty, one of the largest and most complete T rex skeletons in the world, and models of feathered dinosaurs.

The exhibition allows visitors to investigate the tyrannosaur family in detail. Presenting specimens, casts, models and interactives, it explores the evolution of tyrannosaurs, revealing how natural selection, continental drift and climate change facilitated their transformation from carnivores little bigger than humans to the massive predators they had become.

It has been created by the Australian Museum and has already been shown in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA.

Director and CEO of the Australian Museum Kim McKay said: “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 inquiry and discovery from the latest breakthroughs and research programmes.”

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 or 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.”

Several species of tyrannosaur have been discovered in the past decade alone and 
the exhibiton will detail two of the most recent species discovered in China – Dilong and Guanlong – which date to nearly 100 million years before T rex.