Scientific, technological, and educational practices can render the absent present through the construction of representations of aspects of the world that are not directly accessible to observation. Tyrannosaurus rex, for example, despite having been absent for 66 million years, persists as a spectre haunting the present through representations that circulate in films, video games, popular magazines, toys, social media content, and the scientific literature. It is probably the most familiar extinct animal to millions of people since the beginning of the twentieth century. Yet the strength of this familiarity produces a particular effect: little attention is paid to what may be read in representations of Tyrannosaurus rex beyond the obvious.

This question accompanied me as I revisited an object from childhood. In 1993, Nestlé launched in Brazil the Surpresa: Dinossauros line, consisting of cards featuring graphic-pictorial representations accompanied by palaeontological information. Released amid the dinomania fuelled by Jurassic Park, the line was remarkable for the persuasive quality of its images, which were produced manually by Brasílio Matsumoto and Rodrigo Leão. Decades later, the cards remain present in the memories of many people and are frequently mentioned in trajectories connected to biology, geology, and palaeontology. YouTube channels with thousands of followers, such as Eu Coleciono Dinossauros (203,000), Zoomundo (223,000), and Pirulla (1.2 million), have recently revisited the line, highlighting the enduring nature of its influence and its value as a scientific, technological, and educational artefact.

Many of these readings focus on evaluating which aspects of the representations remain correct or incorrect in light of contemporary palaeontology. In the article “Tyrannosaurus rex within an Interval in Which Deconstruction Takes Place”, I develop a different reading. The focus falls on the resources mobilised in the construction of the Tyrannosaurus rex representation featured in the line. Paradoxically, the attempt to observe how something is constructed reveals that deconstruction is already taking place from the very moment construction begins. This reading draws inspiration from the philosophy of Jacques Derrida.