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After ten years of court battles, ownership disputes, government interference, preparation, and study, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil ever discovered has finally be unveiled at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. She is known as Sue, and the information that she is telling paleontologists is unbelievably amazing. I have had the great fortune to follow Sue's preparation since 1998, visiting the Field Museum each year and photographing and researching the work the prep team had accomplished. As part of Dino Land's tribute to Sue, I present Sue: A Cretaceous Photo Gallery. Click on each photo for a larger image.
From top to bottom: Sue's unprepared skull on display at the Field's fossil prep lab; Bob Masek preparing Sue's leg bones; Bob Masek preparing from another angle; Bob Masek preparing from yet another angle; Sue's hip bones, bones which may give insight into gender.
From top to bottom: Dr. Chris Brochu, lead researcher on the Sue team; the official emblem of Sue at the Field Museum; Susan Hendrickson, the discoverer of Sue; Matt Groves, field preparator, casting the bones of Sue.
From left to right: The mounted skeleton of Sue with a group of admiring dinosaur fans; the cast mounted skull of Sue from the left; the cast mounted skull of Sue from the right.
From left to right: The original skull of the Sue, on display at the museum balcony; the odd pathologies on Sue's lower jaw; a cast of these odd jaw pathologies, which have proven not to be bite marks.
From left to right: The furcula (wish bone) of Sue from a distance, in between the shoulder blades; the furcula up close (this bone 'replaces' the collar bone in tyrannosaurs and is a clue to bird origins); the stomach gastralia of Sue, or better known as the enigmatic bones that possibly aided in breathing (they were directly under the ribs).
From left to right: The head and stomach portion of the Sue mount; the pathologic tail vertebra of Sue, showing rare muscle imprints; a view of the Sue mount from the museum balcony.
From left to right: The mount of Sue, as viewed from the back; the original teeth of Sue, which lie in the original skull on the museum balcony; the large and three toed foot of Sue.
Read this article on the unveiling of Sue in Chicago.
© 1997 brusatte@theramp.net
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