Ben the Plateosaurus is a genuine skeleton from Frick, in Switzerland. He was named after Ben Pabst, the palaeontologist who discovered him. The Plateoteam (made up of palaeontologists and technicians from the Museum of Natural Sciences) worked for 18 months to dig out his bones and reconstruct his skeleton. Since December 2017 he is on permanent display in the Dinosaur Gallery.

Plateosaurus lived around 210 million years ago. Measuring 6.4m long, they were some of the biggest dinosaurs from the Triassic period (their predecessors were less than 1.5m long). Most importantly, they were also some of the first “long necked” dinosaurs. They belonged to the prosauropod family, the precursors of sauropods like Diplodocus. They had long tails and necks that were already quite lengthy compared to other dinosaurs. Their enormous size enabled them to eat a large variety of vegetation (but they probably ate just about everything that came their way, including insects and small animals). They were bipeds. They lived in groups and could defend themselves with powerful claws on their back feet.

Watch the Making-of Plateosaurus Ben.

The specimen shown in our room is a replica of Stan, the largest and most complete male Tyrannosaurus rex known today (12.2m long and 3.7m high). He was discovered in the Hell Creek Formation in South-Dakota (USA).

His skeleton bears the marks of many an injury: broken and healed ribs; cervical vertebrae that are fused or have become rigid owing to excess bone growth; and a hole in the back of his skull is a perfect match for… the tooth of a T. rex! Most of these injuries could have been inflicted by other tyrannosaurs, but Stan survived all of it. When he died, all of his wounds had healed already or were on the mend.

Do not miss the two interviews about the T. rex about its growth, its anatomy and its way of life.