Barbara and Peter, the first-ever female and male T.rex on show together, break all records


A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on this link.

  • Most successful dinosaur exhibit of all-time
  • More than 1.5 million visitors see Barbara and Peter – a world-first male & female T. rex pairing
  • Barbara is one of only three female T. rex specimens ever discovered
  • Auckland Museum breaks new ground by open access publication of scientific research of the specimens
  • Visitor numbers equivalent to a third of the population of New Zealand have seen the Barbara and Peter T. rex exhibit

AUCKLAND, New Zealand and LONDON, Dec. 04, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With just days left to run, the world’s first display of an adult male and female T.rex side by side is believed to be the most successful dinosaur exhibition of all time.

Already, 1.5 million people have visited Auckland Museum to see this spectacular exhibition, which has run for a year, and which will draw to a close on December 10, 2023. Given that New Zealand itself has a population of just 5.1 million inhabitants, the numbers who came to see the two T.rex dinosaurs, named Barbara and Peter, are unprecedented.

David Reeves, CEO of Auckland Museum, hailed the impact of the exhibition: “Not only have we seen visitor numbers equivalent to almost the whole of Auckland’s population of 1.6 million come through the doors, but Barbara and Peter have provided a once-in-a-lifetime, educational experience for many, many thousands of school children. It has been a joy to see people’s reactions as they encounter these magnificent specimens for the first time.”

Tyrannosaurus rex fossils are extremely rare, with only about 20 T. rex on display in museums worldwide. These were the first T. rex exhibits in the Southern Hemisphere. The world’s most famous dinosaur is so scarce that there is no T. rex on permanent exhibit in the Middle East, the whole of Asia, Africa or Latin America. There are only four T. rex on display in Europe.

Female T. rex specimens are rarer still, with Barbara representing only the third ever pregnant Tyrannosaurus rex dinosaur skeleton to be discovered. Barbara is 44.7 per cent complete, making her the 8th most complete T. rex in the world. She measures an impressive 11.7 metres long and 3.4m high.

Close viewing of the T.rex reveals some of the incredible anatomical features of one of the largest land predators of all time and offers the ability to inspect injuries that pathological findings revealed, specifically an injury to Barbara’s leg, likely to have been caused by another T.rex. It is remarkable that a massive animal like Barbara, which relied on walking or running on two legs as the primary method of locomotion, could survive such an injury. She lived for a long period after the injury, as can be seen by the evidence of a healed metatarsal.

Dr Andre Lujan, President of the Association of Applied Paleontological Sciences, said: “The Auckland Museum should be congratulated on this ground-breaking world first exhibit of a male and female T.rex together. Visitor numbers show that a huge percentage of New Zealand’s children got to see these magnificent specimens, which is a wonderful inspiration for the next generation of paleontologists.”

Alongside the exhibiting of Barbara and Peter, Auckland Museum has made public the preliminary scientific research on the specimens, undertaken by expert academics. According to David Reeves: “The publication of this research, made available to the museum and its visitors, is a novel and hugely important concept, designed to bridge the gap for the lay observer between the learned, peer-reviewed academic reports and the very limited data typically supplied to visitors by museums in support of such exhibits. This has truly ignited the imagination of young scientists in New Zealand.”

These preliminary reports have been prepared by two of the world’s top theropod paleontologists, Dr David Burnham (University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum) and Dr John Nudds (Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester), who studied both Barbara and Peter in their university laboratories for many months.

Dr Nudds commented: “These reports are designed to encourage children and young people to learn about the extraordinary world of theropods, a subject that has fascinated me for my entire professional life.”

Dr Burnham added: “Barbara and Peter each represents an individual animal that was a living and breathing organism. Studying and reporting publicly about each individual specimen means it becomes part of the entire body of knowledge about Tyrannosaurus rex. Therefore, every documented specimen counts enormously, not least because there are so very few.”

This unique display, together with published research, has afforded the public to gain a deeper understanding of the history and mysteries of the T.rex, providing insights into their origins, lives, and the remarkable process of finding and mounting fossil specimens.

The exhibition will close soon, but already 1.5 million people have been thrilled by the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stand face-to-face with two real T. rex, brought together for the first time in 66 million years.

For further information

Seven Dials City

Simon Kelner
simon@sevendialspr.com
+44 7775 788898

James Devas
james@sevendialscity.com
+44 7885 813 114

ABOUT AUCKLAND WAR MEMORIAL MUSEUM

Auckland War Memorial Museum is one of New Zealand's first museums. The Museum tells the story of New Zealand, its place in the Pacific and its people. The Museum is a war memorial for the province of Auckland and holds one of New Zealand's top three heritage libraries. It has pre-eminent Māori and Pacific collections, significant natural history resources and major social and military history collections, as well as decorative arts and pictorial collections.


Barbara and Peter, the first-ever female and male T.rex on show together, break all records

THỦ THUẬT HAY

3 tùy chỉnh trên Windows giúp chiến game mượt mà hơn

Nếu tình trạng giật, lag liên quan đến chất lượng mạng thì việc tăng tối đa băng thông trên Windows 10 sẽ giúp ích rất nhiều.

Học vẽ đơn giản bằng thực tế tăng cường thông qua chiếc smartphone

Ý tưởng cũng khá đơn giản: trước tiên bạn vẽ một vài dấu cộng ( + ) hoặc hình tròn lên giấy, tường hoặc... mặt của đứa nào dám ngủ khi bạn còn thức và chĩa camera thẳng vào đó.

Cách tạo ảnh trang Facebook trong suốt trên smartphone

Gần đây, phong trào tạo ảnh với trang facebook trong suốt đang được chia sẻ rất nhiều trong cộng đồng mạng. Bài viết hôm nay, chúng tôi sẽ hướng dẫn các bạn thực hiện rất đơn giản trên smartphone.

Hướng dẫn kiểm tra màn hình iPhone chính xác nhất

Bất kể là điện thoại cũ hay mới, điện thoại bạn chưa sử dụng bao giờ hay điện thoại bạn đang sử dụng thì điện thoại của bạn vẫn không may gặp phải những lỗi không đáng có. Một trong số đó là lỗi màn hình điện thoại, cụ

20 ứng dụng iOS trị giá 45 USD đang được miễn phí

Tiếp tục cập nhật danh sách 'Free App' hằng ngày dành cho iDevices, TECHRUM đã tổng hợp thêm khá nhiều ứng dụng và game trả phí đang được miễn phí trong thời gian ngắn. Nếu bạn quan tâm hãy nhanh tay tải về trước khi

ĐÁNH GIÁ NHANH

Đánh giá pin Xperia XA Ultra: Ấn tượng viên pin 2.700 mAh

Xperia XA Ultra là một trong những mẫu di động mới nhất của Sony có màn hình kích thước lên tới 6 inch. Tuy nhiên với việc được trang bị viên pin...

Đánh giá camera Redmi Note 4: Có cải thiện nhưng chưa đủ

Chưa bao giờ cơn sốt Xiaomi bước chân vào Việt Nam lại hot đến vậy, điển hình là bài Redmi Note 4 của mình nhận được nhiều sự quan tâm của người...

Đánh giá chi tiết camera iPhone 7: ấn tượng với chụp thiếu sáng và đèn Flash

Liệu camera iPhone 7 có vượt trội so với iPhone 6s và chất lượng của nó có xứng đáng để chúng ta nâng cấp? Mời bạn đến với bài đánh giá chi tiết camera iPhone 7