In a way, Thomas the Tyrannosaurous rex had been playing hide-and-seek for nearly 66 million years.

He was winning the game until 2003, when a group of researchers and scientists in southeastern Montana finally discovered his hiding place. First they unearthed Thomas' hip bone and, over the course of three summers, found more than 200 other bones — roughly 70 percent of Thomas' skeletal frame. It's one of the five most complete T. rex skeletons ever located.

Now comes the time-consuming task of studying, cleaning, photographing and cataloguing the bones and then, eventually, reassembling Thomas and putting him on display in the Dinosaur Hall at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

All of that work will be done in the museum's new Thomas the T. Rex Lab. Visitors can peer through the lab's glass walls and watch as a team of paleontologists tries to unravel the mysteries of Thomas' life and death.

What the scientists already know is that Thomas died young, probably around age 16. He was an 8,000-pound carnivore with 12-inch teeth who lived near the shores of a tropical sea that cut across North America. His neighbors included ancient crocodiles, turtles and other dinosaurs such as the triceratops.

Luis Chiappe, director of the National History Museum's Dinosaur Institute, helped lead the excavation that unearthed Thomas. When the museum's $84 million renovation of its Dinosaur Hall is complete in 2011, Thomas will be its centerpiece.

"Thomas lived at a time just before the largest mass extinction ever," Chiappe said.

As he discussed Thomas' life, Chiappe stood next to a drawing of swampland representing what the dinosaur's Montana home likely looked like some 66 million years ago. It's one of the many educational displays on view at the Thomas the T. Rex Lab.

The lab's interactive displays allow visitors to replicate the scientists' activities, from cleaning the bones to putting them together. You can even touch a real dinosaur fossil.

The glass-windowed lab was designed by Hodgetts + Fung Design and Architecture. Principal designer Craig Hodgetts said he created the environment as though he were a filmmaker and the scientists were the stars of a movie.

"We gave them state-of-the-art equipment and lighting," he said. The goal was to give the exhibit a hip, cool look in hopes of inspiring young people to become paleontologists.

The main goal of the lab, however, is unlocking more secrets about the lives and deaths of dinosaurs like Thomas.

Scientists in the lab believe Thomas may have died from a malignant brain tumor. That theory will be tested out in front of the public as the lab scientists continue their work.

By 2011, when Thomas arrives in his new home, thousands of people will have witnessed his transformation up close.

Thomas may have died young, but he'll be remembered for a long, long time.

— E-mail freelance columnist Jeff Favre at jjfavre@yahoo.com.