| On This Day in American History |
|
|
|
On August 12, 1990, fossil collector Susan Hendrickson finds the skeleton of the largest Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered. After spotting three huge bones jutting out from a cliff in South Dakota, a further excavation yielded a 90 percent intact skeleton of the 65 million year-old dinosaur. After some legal wrangling, the skeleton went on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The T. rex, nicknamed Sue, is 42 feet long from head to toe, and visitors get a close-up view of the five foot-long, 2,000-pound skull, which contains 58 teeth, some of which are as long as a human forearm. Sue has given scientists unprecedented information on how carnivorous beast lived, including discovering its strong sense of smell and its relationship to modern day birds. |
|
|
