Naturalis Museum of Natural History

She has been dubbed ‘Queen of the Cretaceous’ and ‘The Nightwatch of Natural History’, but for the people at Naturalis she is simply known as Trix. This five-tonne Queen of the Tyrant Lizards reached the respectable age of 30 years, which makes her the oldest T. rex on record. She is also considered one of the top three most- complete T. rex specimens ever found, with 80 per cent of her bone volume retrieved and in good condition. “All these stats are very impressive,” says Naturalis general manager Edwin van Huis. “But what’s even more impressive is how she’s caught the imagination of more than 230,000 visitors since she first came to Leiden six months ago.”