There is an astounding dinosaur fossil featured in the Chicago Field Museum: Tyrannosaurus rex named Sue.
Found in 1990 in South Dakota, this is the most complete and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex specimen ever found.
The bones were 90% intact.
The skeleton of this T. rex is 67 million years old; and is 40 feet long (12.3m) and 13 feet tall (4m). The dinosaur weighed more than seven tons and was 28 years old at the time of death, the oldest known T.rex.
Below is a drawing of Sue. Courtesy the Chicago Field Museum,
Sue’s life (named after the Chicagoan paleontologist who found the first bones) has been thoroughly traced by scientists studying the bones and cellular structure.
By way of fossils found with Sue from the late Cretaceous period, it was learned that 67 million years ago South Dakota was warm, lush, and seasonally damp…not at all like it is today.
The dinosaur’s range covered Alberta, Canada, and the western U.S. states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and both Dakotas.
Along with forests and floodplains back then, huge rivers emptied into a sea that stretched from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
Conifer, palm, and fern fossils accompanied Sue, along with bones of freshwater rays, sharks, lizards, and amphibians.
More info: SUE the T. rex from the Chicago Field Museum
The first bone was found by Sue Hendrickson, while working with a paleontology team in South Dakota. They had just discovered a flat tire on their truck. While her colleagues went into town to repair the tire, she explored parts of the cliffs that her team had not checked, and found a small bone, then another bigger one.
As the grand importance of this skeleton literally surfaced, ownership became an issue. There were lawsuits, which eventually settled. It was determined that the man who owned the property, owned the skeleton. He chose to sell it at auction.
There was concern that the T. rex would be purchased by an individual and never shared. So the Field Museum, who wanted to share it with the world, teamed up with many other organizations and private citizens, secured funding, and purchased it for $8.36 million.
What a wonderful world it is that we have people devoting their lives to these studies; we have tools, education and organizations invested in learning more, and sharing.
Written by Jet Eliot.
Photos by Athena Alexander except where noted
Jet Eliot 