Sue (dinosaur)

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Sue
Catalog no.FMNH PR 2081
Common nameSue
SpeciesTyrannosaurus rex
Age67–65.5 million years[1]
Place discoveredCheyenne River Indian Reservation, South Dakota
Date discoveredAugust 12, 1990
Discovered bySusan Hendrickson
Interesting view from above

"Sue" is the nickname given to FMNH PR 2081, one of the largest, most complete and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex fossil ever found.[2]

Sue was discovered in the summer of 1990 by Sue Hendrickson, a paleontologist, and was named after her. She contacted the Black Hills Institute, whose staff retrieved and prepared the bones.

First, ownership disputes were settled in court. There was a long dispute between the owners of the land, the Sioux tribe, the United States Department of the Interior, and the Black Hills Institute, whose staff had done the work.

The fossil was then auctioned in October 1997 for US$8.36 million, the highest amount ever paid for a dinosaur fossil.[3]

After preparation, the skeleton became a permanent feature at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. The money had been raised by public subscription.[4]

Gout[change | change source]

Some researchers think the skeleton shows evidence that Sue suffered from the painful condition known as gout.[5]

Distorted roar[change | change source]

Sue's roars were created with input from Sue using various animal sounds which were altered. Some of the roars were reused for Godzilla thirty years later in the short film Mega-Godzilla: King of the Universe. Several roars were reused for Alex the Lion thirty-one years later in the animated recap The Ultimate "Madagascar" Recap Cartoon.

References[change | change source]

  1. Field Museum of Natural History homepage: All about Sue Archived 2007-05-15 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. Relf, Pat. A dinosaur named Sue: The story of the colossal fossil. 2000.
  3. Steve Fiffer (2000). Tyrannosaurus Sue. Freeman, New York. ISBN 0-7167-4017-6. Chapter 12 "Everything changed that day".
  4. "Sue at The Field Museum". Archived from the original on 2011-02-20. Retrieved 2011-03-17.
  5. Rothschild, Bruce M.; Tanke, Darren; Carpenter, Ken (1997). "Tyrannosaurs suffered from gout". Nature. 387 (6631): 357. Bibcode:1997Natur.387..357R. doi:10.1038/387357a0. PMID 9163417. S2CID 1360596.