Sue is one of the most famous Tyrannosaurus rex fossils ever found and is displayed at the Field Museum in Chicago. Discovered in South Dakota in 1990, Sue gives scientists an unusually complete look at the body of a large meat-eating dinosaur. The skeleton matters because it helps paleontologists study T. rex size, movement, growth, injury, and behavior from real fossil evidence.
Museum displays like Sue connect dramatic visual storytelling with careful scientific measurement.
Key Facts
- Sue was discovered in 1990 in the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota.
- Sue is about 12.3 m long and stood about 4 m tall at the hips.
- Sue's estimated mass was about 8000 kg to 9000 kg.
- The fossil is about 67 million years old, from the Late Cretaceous Period.
- Sue's skeleton is about 90 percent complete by bone count, making it one of the most complete T. rex specimens known.
- Speed can be estimated with v = d/t, but dinosaur running ability is inferred from anatomy, trackways, and biomechanical models.
Vocabulary
- Paleontology
- Paleontology is the scientific study of ancient life using fossils and other evidence preserved in rocks.
- Fossil
- A fossil is preserved evidence of past life, such as a bone, tooth, footprint, shell, or plant impression.
- Tyrannosaurus rex
- Tyrannosaurus rex was a large predatory dinosaur that lived in North America near the end of the Cretaceous Period.
- Hell Creek Formation
- The Hell Creek Formation is a rock unit in North America that preserves many fossils from the end of the dinosaur age.
- Specimen
- A specimen is an individual fossil or preserved organism used for scientific study and comparison.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Calling Sue a complete skeleton is inaccurate because some bones are missing or reconstructed, even though the specimen is exceptionally complete.
- Assuming every museum bone is original is wrong because displays often include casts, supports, and reconstructed pieces to protect fragile fossils.
- Treating T. rex speed estimates as exact values is misleading because scientists infer motion from body proportions, muscle models, and limited fossil evidence.
- Thinking one fossil proves every detail about a species is wrong because paleontologists compare many specimens to separate individual traits from species-wide patterns.
Practice Questions
- 1 Sue is about 12.3 m long. If a scale model is 41 cm long, what scale factor was used, expressed as model length to real length?
- 2 Sue's mass is estimated at 8500 kg. If a modern lion has a mass of 190 kg, about how many lion masses equal Sue's mass?
- 3 Sue has healed injuries and signs of disease preserved in the bones. Explain how these features help paleontologists learn about the life of an individual dinosaur rather than only the anatomy of the species.