Special Exhibition
DINOSAURS!
Age of the Giant Lizards
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A Journey Through Time into the World of Dinosaurs – and of T. rex Tristan Otto
The special exhibition presents original fossils, current research, and new perspectives on dinosaurs. The “giant lizards” in the gallery demonstrate how our understanding continues to change through scientific discoveries.
At a respectful distance, a small chick observes its ancestor: Tyrannosaurus rex Tristan Otto. And indeed – if you have encountered a Berlin sparrow today, you have looked into the eyes of a true descendant of dinosaurs.
In the special exhibition DINOSAURS! – Age of the Giant Lizards at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, you will encounter the giants of prehistory – from the earliest Plateosaurus to the world-famous Tyrannosaurus rex Tristan Otto. The exhibition shows how dinosaurs adapted to their environment over millions of years and shaped entire geological eras.
Dinosaurs were one of the most successful groups of animals in Earth’s history. They lived for more than 160 million years, dominated the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods, and survived one of the largest mass extinctions. In the exhibition, you travel through these three geological periods – and encounter species that would never have met in the wild.
Tristan Otto: the approximately twelve-meter-long T. rex from the Hell Creek Formation in Montana is among the best-preserved specimens worldwide.
Photo: Verena Brüning
Slab with the skeleton of Plateosaurus engelhardti from Halberstadt: the early dinosaur from the Triassic shows how people interpreted finds long before it was understood what dinosaurs are.
Photo: Verena Brüning
3D print of a Triceratops skull: the “three-horned face,” with its frill and horns, vividly demonstrates its adaptations – likely also used for combat among members of the same species.
Photo: Verena Brüning
Extinction, Survival, Responsibility
Tyrannosaurus rex was one of the last dinosaurs – together with Triceratops. While the special exhibition features almost exclusively original fossils, you can admire the skull of the latter giant as a lifelike 3D print. Their era ended with an asteroid impact that destroyed forests and many habitats. Drill cores from the resulting Chicxulub crater can be found in the adjacent gallery System Earth.
But not all dinosaurs became extinct: the ancestors of today’s birds survived – and with them, a part of the dinosaurs lives on to this day.
Research on original fossils, such as isotope analyses of teeth, helps our scientists reconstruct prehistoric ecosystems and trace developments up to the present. While dinosaurs and their ancestors could not influence their fate, our future lies in our hands. Through decisive action, we can help ensure that the Anthropocene – the age of humans – does not become the shortest in Earth’s history.
Shaping Together – Rethinking Knowledge Transfer
A historic staircase is also part of the special exhibition DINOSAURS!. Here, you will not only encounter the almost completely preserved skull of Tristan Otto, but also the moving boxes familiar from the exhibition tour.
At this point, they refer to the Knowledge Transfer subproject of our future plan. They offer insight into how we are shaping our Museum Evolution not only structurally, but also conceptually: openly, dialogically, and together with society.
The boxes symbolically represent everything that is in motion – collection objects, knowledge, perspectives. We invite you to help shape these changes. In the special exhibition ZUGvögel – A Collection in Motion, for example, the ideas and questions of more than 350 people have been incorporated. Also presented in moving boxes, you can look into the eyes of the descendants of dinosaurs.
Skull of Allosaurus jimmadseni from Wyoming: the predatory dinosaur from the Jurassic demonstrates an effective hunting strategy with its sharp teeth and wide-opening jaws, long before T. rex.
Photo: Verena Brüning
Skull of Tristan Otto: one of the best-preserved T. rex skulls worldwide – with exceptionally well-preserved inner surfaces of the teeth.
Photo: Verena Brüning
Moving boxes in the staircase stand for knowledge in motion: they point to open, dialogical knowledge transfer on the way to a 21st-century natural history museum.
Photo: Thomas Rosenthal
Dinosaurs and Private Ownership
Fossils tell the story of life on Earth and are valuable sources for research. They help reconstruct past ecosystems and better understand changes in climate and biodiversity.
In recent years, however, fossils have also become sought-after collectibles and investment objects. At auctions, dinosaur skeletons can fetch millions – a Gorgosaurus was sold in 2022 for 6.1 million US dollars, and a Tyrannosaurus rex for more than 30 million. This development is legal but raises questions: when significant finds enter private ownership, they may become inaccessible to research and the public. Many researchers view this trend critically.
The example of Tristan Otto shows a different approach. The Norwegian collector Niels Nielsen acquired the exceptionally well-preserved T. rex skeleton in 2014 together with Jens Peter Jensen and made it available for research and the public from the outset. Today, Tristan Otto is on display at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin on loan.
The special exhibition DINOSAURS! is also largely based on loans from private collectors. It shows that private engagement and public research can complement one another – if knowledge remains shared and accessible.
“The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin would like to express its sincere thanks to Mr Fjeldsoe-Nielsen for these generous loans. This enables us to inspire visitors for nature while continuing our research.” – Prof. Johannes Vogel, Director General of the Museum