Tyrannosaurus rex coming to Shellharbour - if you dare get close

That’s what the science will tell you next week when a life-size Tyrannosaurus rex sets up shop in the Stockland shopping centre at Shellharbour.

It won’t be going anywhere, of course, in particularly because it is dead. As dead as a dead replica can be. And it’s lying down.

But the replica looks T-rexy enough to come with a warning that it’s meant for kids aged 8 and over.

It’s a full-size, 11m long, anatomically correct model, built by National Geographic in collaboration with a team of palaeontologists and scientists for the documentary T. rex Autopsy.

With filming done, it was then donated to the Australian Museum.

Now T. rex is doing a tour of the kind of shopping centres the fearsome predator would terrorise if given half a chance.

It will be unveiled next Wednesday in Shellharbour and T. rex is ready to bust some dinosaur myths.

First up is the myth dinosaurs are extinct – actually ‘the vast majority of scientists now believe birds are dinosaurs”, the Australian Museum says. Birds can be called “avian dinosaurs” but today’s specimens can still be called birds.

This could cause some trouble for parents who have told their kids all the dinosaurs are extinct.

And the “Flintstones fallacy” will come under attack – it being the idea that humans and dinosaurs co-existed. Actually there is a 63 million year gap between the extinction of dinosaurs and the appearance of humans. This does not include the avian dinosaurs, however, as we learned in myth no.1.

Stockland Shellharbour centre manager Pamela Simpson said the opportunity for dinosaur fans would be unique.

“We are excited to work with the Australian Museum to bring this phenomenal model to Stockland Shellharbour which offers customers a chance to get truly up close and personal with a life-size T. rex, without the need for a time machine,” she said.

National Geographic footage from the original documentary will also be shown as part of T. rex on Tour, and there will be several dinosaur activities held at the shopping centre over the school holidays.

These include a dinosaur dance party, an egg excavation activity, virtual reality experience, and construction activities.