Sue in Reno

 

Sue exhibit in Reno's Discovery Museum

Sue is in town—in Midtown, inside the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum. It will stay until January 15, 2018 [1]. I am writing it, since we do not know, if Sue, a Tyrannosaurus rex, was a she or a he. Until now—according to information given on an exhibition panel—scientists haven't found a reliable way to tell males from females:

Sue is technically an “it.”

The fossils that became Sue were discovered by American paleontologist Sue Hendrickson (and her dog Gypsy) in summer 1990 in South Dakota—while waiting for a flat tire to be fixed. She found bones at a cliff base and, looking up, saw three dinosaur backbones protruding from a cliff wall [2]. A long dispute about the fossil ownership followed, but eventually The Field Museum of Chicago bought Sue (the fossils) for nearly $8.4 million. 

The life-sized skeleton is a cast of Sue's real skeleton. You can walk around it in the museum exhibit and will also find digital and hands-on interactive devices to explore Sue's anatomy and speculated way of living.

Sue drawn at the museum wall with sponsor names in each bone

References and more to explore:
[1] The Discovery: A T. rex Named Sue [nvdm.org/exhibitions-and-events/a-t-rex-named-sue/].
[2]  Sue Hendrickson: Biography [www.sue-hendrickson.info/biography.asp].


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