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Tyrannical Thoughts from the Pokémon Fossil Museum

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The exterior of the Field Museum in Chicago, with images of Pokemon on it for the Pokemon Fossil Museum: Archeops, Aurorus, and Pikachu in an excavation outfit.

The Field Museum in Chicago currently has a Pokémon-themed exhibition in which they showcase fossil Pokémon alongside their real-world counterparts. I was able to visit on a recent trip to the Windy City, and I really enjoyed the experience.

An information sign for the Anomalocaris.
An information sign for Anorith and Armaldo.
A physical replica of Anorith.

They really went above and beyond for it, and I enjoyed the hell out of it overall. I also learned that Anorith is based on one of the original apex predators (the Anomalocaris), and I got to pray to Lord Helix in all its glory.

A physical replica of the Helix Fossil used to get Omanyte.

(Praise Helix!)

It got me thinking about how Pokémon and other creative works reflect what we think we know about prehistoric life, and one of the more fascinating things was comparing Tyrunt and Tyrantrum to the ongoing research on what the Tyrannosaurus Rex actually looked like.

A replica Tyrantrum fossil.
The fossile known as Sue the T-Rex. The ribcage is notably farther to the front of the spine compared to Tyrantrum and previous depictions of T-Rexes.

The theorized arrangement of the lizard king’s bones has changed tremendously over the years, and as the home of the most intact T-Rex skeleton in the world, the Field Museum has led in this regard. Whereas once they were portrayed standing upright with tail on the ground (like in Dino-Riders), they were later found to actually be more horizontal and with the tail off the ground. Then scientists found evidence that dinosaurs may have had feathers, and more recently, they discovered that the rib cage was much farther from the spine than originally thought. The current “Sue the T-Rex” on display somewhat resembles a hunched over chicken.

The official image of Tyrantrum: A T-rex Pokemon with feathered tufts on its chin and collar but scales otherwise.
An info display on the T-Rex.

What’s funny is that Tyrunt and Tyrantrum are clearly reflections of their time. The two hold their tails high, and they have feathers, but they don’t have the low rib cage. On top of that, the amount of feathers is rather modest, which I believe reflects the way people worried that the proposed bird look would detract from the visual majesty of dinosaurs in popular imagination. They’re renditions of the T-Rex that could only have come out around 2010, when Black and White released.

If ever we see a regional form or another evolution, I wonder if we’ll see a Tyrantrum that more closely resembles Sue. I also wonder if the fandom will argue that the dinosaur Pokémon has lost its “aura.”