It started with a breakup followed by the inevitable adjustments to a new way of life.

The Science Museum’s new exhibition “Ultimate Dinosaurs” tells the story of the breakup of supercontinent Pangaea into the land masses we know today. Think of it as a lesson about the ways that continental drift affected dinosaur evolution during the Mesozoic Era. Lesson one: childhood favorites such as T-Rex and Triceratops have no role in this exhibition.

For a more technological breakdown, visitors to the exhibition can use a touchscreen to view the history of how the continents and plates moved, beginning 600 million years ago, through 20 million years ago and up to today. Just as fascinating are the future projections of continental movement. Our globes will look vastly different in 50 million years, not to mention 250 million years.

When Pangaea broke apart during the Jurassic Period, some dinosaurs were stranded in the northern hemisphere and others in the southern. Splitting up the dinosaur population meant there was no longer any gene flow between them. Those that were isolated in South America, Africa and Madagascar began evolving differently, becoming creatures distinctly different from their more well-known, North American relatives.

When an asteroid hit earth during the Cretaceous Period, many species of dinosaurs were wiped out. Among the survivors were the distant ancestors of humans and a single group of small, feathered dinosaurs, aka birds. During the late Cretaceous Period, the Sahara Desert was covered in rivers and lakes full of an array of fish species. One of the fish on display in the exhibit, the sawfish Onchopristis, was 26’ in length, which mattered not when large spinosaurs like Suchomimus used their crocodile-like jaws and conical teeth to capture and eat them. Presumably, it only took one sawfish to make a meal.

“Ultimate Dinosaurs” showcases dozens of fossil specimens along with 17 life-size skeletons made from fossil molds. For those who appreciate an authentic experience, getting up close and personal with actual dinosaur fossils like a Sauropod vertebra can be pretty cool. A table houses a user-friendly microscope that allows visitors to zoom in on the bone and vertebrae fossils to see details.

But to be truly awed, check out the cast leg bone of the Futalognkosaurus on display. The giant titanosaur sauropod lived 85 million years ago in what’s now Argentina and it measured over a 100’ long. The cast model makes clear that the column-like leg was supported by elephant-like feet and dwarfs both the humans ogling it and the backdrop behind it.

Lesson two of “Ultimate Dinosaurs” is that not all dinosaurs were enormous. Discovered in Madagascar, the blunt-nosed herbivore Simosuchus is considered a crocodilian despite being unlike any living crocodiles today. Its limbs were built for walking on land, but its short tail was unsuited to swimming. In the dinosaur realm, this skeleton looks more like a child’s toy “Let’s just say it was a smaller reptile,” says Miles McQuiggan, communications coordinator at the Science Museum of Virginia. “Like the size of a house cat.”

And speaking of small, the painted plaster model of an 80-million-year-old Titanosaur embryo looks like something from a Disney animated film. Yet even the biggest sauropods hatched from eggs about the size of a football. They couldn’t be larger, or oxygen couldn’t pass through, and the shell would have been too tough for the baby to crack. The model is based on recent discoveries of eggs and embryos found at a nesting ground in Argentina, where tens of thousands of large, unhatched dinosaur eggs have been discovered.

Yet a third lesson from the exhibition concerns what these Southern Hemisphere dinosaurs looked like. Forget boring brown and green scales, these dinosaurs were vibrant orange and red, sporting crests, frills, sails, feathers and other unique features not found in our childhood dinosaur books. Best of all, visitors can use augmented reality screens pointed at the skeletons to discover what the dinosaurs looked like originally, and, in some cases, what they might have sounded like.

There’s no missing the Giganotosaurus skeleton, the largest carnivorous dinosaur from Gondwana and perhaps the largest land-predator ever. Its teeth were shaped like steak knives, making them well-suited to stripping off flesh. That’s right, T-Rex might not have been king of the hill had Giganotosaurus not been separated by an ocean. Although they lived millions of years apart and on different hemispheres, the exhibition may cause visitors to wonder if Giganotosaurus would have the upper hand in a battle with the similarly matched Tyrannosaurus rex.

With its fascinating insight into continental drift and species evolution, this exhibition speaks to adults as well as younger dino-loving visitors. But, fair warning, there can be plenty of small visitors, as evidenced by one mom calling, “Slow down, kids, it’s not a race!” as her offspring sprinted past the introductory video screen.

Which brings us to our fourth and final lesson about “Ultimate Dinosaurs.” For those not bringing young dino lovers to the exhibition, consider a weekday visit around noon, when the small fry are taken home for lunch and naps and peace descends on the exhibition. You’ll likely have Malawisarus mostly to yourself.

“Ultimate Dinosaurs” through Sept. 1 at the Science Museum of Virginia, 2500 West Broad St. Learn more and purchase tickets at smv.org.