SUE

[pjanke@maroon.tc.umn.edu]

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
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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.