World's Largest T-Rex Skeleton Gets a New Look
In the early 1990s, paleontologist Sue Hendrickson discovered the world's largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. It was found in the American state of South Dakota. The skeleton is known as Sue, in honor of Hendrickson.
Visitors to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago have been able to see Sue since 2000. However, for most of 2018, Sue was not on display. Instead, experts spent 10 months working on and adding to the world-famous skeleton.
Jaap Hoogstraten, the Field Museum's director of exhibitions, says museum workers have learned new things about the skeleton's shape. "Since 2000, we've made discoveries about the pose. We've added the [lower] ribs, which changes the outline of Sue quite a bit…"
The ribs themselves are not a new discovery. They were found at the same time as the rest of Sue. But scientists recently learned how they fit onto the skeleton.
"I didn't really realize that Sue weighed nine tons in real life," says museum project manager Hilary Hansen. She says adding the ribs gives a better idea of the shape of the T-Rex and how formidable the animal was.
The Field Museum usually welcomes over one million visitors a year. But Hansen expects that number to increase because of the new Sue exhibit.
