[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index][Subject Index][Author Index]
SUE
Since we have alot of new subscribers, I thought I'd repost this.
IMHO, this is the greatest find in the history of paleontology.
It's mind-boggling that the authorities have seized and locked
this specimen up under the guise of acting in the public interest.
-Paul
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fossil: "SUE" - A Tyrannosaurus rex
Discoverer: The Black Hills Institute for Geologic Research, Inc.
(Sue Hendrickson - 1990)
Excavator/
preparator: The Black Hills Institute for Geologic Research, Inc.
(Pete Larson, Neal Larson, Bob Farrar, Terry Wentz and staff)
Geologic
occurance: Hell Creek Formation - sedimentary silt and sandstone
of the late Cretaceous(Maastrichtian).
General
description: - Largest, most complete(>90%) and best preserved T.rex known.
- Would have stood 20 feet tall.
- 41 feet from nose to tip of tail.
- Judged to be female(robust).
- The tooth of another mature T.rex was found embedded in a
healed bone in SUE's neck.
- One of SUE's hind legs had been broken and rehealed.
- SUE is thought to have died at about 100 years of age.
- The left side of SUE's face was ripped away in an attack
which may have caused her death.
Skeletal : - Femur 54 inches in length.
- A complete pelvis.
- A nearly complete torso.
- The first nearly complete tail ever recovered.
(20 feet long - 30 caudal vertebrae, 46 tail vertebrae).
- The first complete T.rex shoulder girdle ever found.
- Radius, ulna, and handbones of the front arms.
- Complete rear legs.
- Beautifully preserved and articulated 5 foot long skull.
with lower jaw.
- Many serrated 12 inch dagger-like teeth.
- Two functional fingers on two powerful forearms which could
lift 1200 lbs each.
Associated
fossils: - Other Tyrannosauri; a half-grown male and a baby, possibly
indicates a family unit.
- A duckbilled dinosaur (Edmontosaurus annectens). Etching by
stomach acids indicates that it had been consumed by SUE.
- A slightly disarticulated turtle skull.
- Crocodile remains.
- Lizard remains.
- Fish remains.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: SUE
- From: "Julia S. Close" <close@nas.nasa.gov>