Milwaukee Public Museum's newest exhibit dives into the T. rex and its dinosaur family

MIWLAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Go back in time, where the dinosaurs roam. The Milwaukee Public Museum has a new exhibit where you can meet the Tyrannosaurs rex and the whole ferocious bunch.

"The Tyrannosaurus family has a deep history. The relatives that started in the Jurassic were a little different than what you're used to seeing, not quite as dramatic as Scottie behind me," Patricia Coorough Burke, Manegold Curator of Geology Collections said.

Many in the species were small, and some were even feathered.

They're cousins to birds in the modern era.

Burke said most of the fossils are relatively new discoveries.

"We're used to North American fossils...which were the giant tyrannosaurs. Many of the newer fossils have come out of China and are the small, feathered ones," she explained.

You can get up close with more than 10 life-size dinosaurs, see new specimens from China and get interactive -- through virtual reality.

Aside from the fun, this entire exhibit is about education.

Learning not just how these dinosaurs lived but how they became extinct.

"Which is always good to understand, environmental change happens. Sometimes it happens super fast like for the dinosaurs and sometimes it happens slowly, for instance with glacial changes," Burke said.

Tyrannosaurs: Meet the Family opens Friday, Feb. 18 and runs through May 18.

Masks are required and COVID precautions are in place.

For more information, click here.