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A few of Bischoff’s early taxidermy pieces are still on display, including a dog, which looks more like a cross between a wolf and a baboon, dating to the 1920s.

“They were showing Ridley the baboon because it was an interesting anatomical structure,” Bakowski recalls.

“It sounds like a baboon getting his nose hairs ripped out.”

That would mean they had more neurons than baboons, with perhaps even enough intelligence to use tools — the T. rex's notoriously tiny arms notwithstanding.

"The possibility that T. rex might have been as intelligent as a baboon is fascinating and terrifying, with the potential to reinvent our view of the past," concluded Dr Darren Naish.