FROM today visitors to the Discovery Science and Technology Centre will come face-to-face with their new team member.
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Standing at 2.5 metres tall and measuring seven metres long, an animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex will welcome people to the centre.
Discovery general manager Alissa van Soest said the centre gave the dinosaur a new home after it was part of a six-month exhibition at the Newcastle Museum in NSW.
"They were looking for a home for their dinosaur and a lot of centres wanted him but most couldn't fit him in the building," Ms van Soest said. "So they reached out to us and knew we had a lovely big space, we said we would be very happy to give him a new home.
"It's so great to know other science centres know about us, reach out to us and that we all collaborate and support each other."
Ms van Soest said the T-Rex was unnamed and that Discovery would hold a competition for schools to name the dinosaur. It is sure to be popular with dinosaurs always being a fascinating subject for people of all ages.
"When we have a dinosaur day it is always a massive hit and everyone is excited to get involved," she said. "We would love to bring more of that into the centre, we already have a Pteranodon flying in, whether we end up with a few more dinosaurs, who knows?
"They are fascinating because they are almost mythical. They're in the same category of dragons and unicorns but they're real. They are a combination of history, science and imagination coming to life."
Ms van Soest said the arrival was timely following scientists discovering the Tyrannosaurs were made up of three types of dinosaur - Tyrannosaurus Rex (meaning 'the king'), Tyrannosaurus Regina (the queen) and Tyrannosaurus Imperator (the emperor).
"It's exciting. They have renamed (tyrannosaurs) into three groups," she said. "So now we need to figure out which one this is. We'll have a job cut out for us.
"Some of the science communicators want to add a bit of pizzazz (to the T-Rex) because it is believed a lot of dinosaurs were actually feathered. So we're wondering if it needs a feather boa or something as well."
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