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player ready...They’ll be partying in the halls when the Field throws a four-day 5th birthday bash for Sue, the museum’s renowned Tyrannosaurus rex. But that’s not her real age. She was a dino oldster of 28 when she died 67 million years ago. Tuesday marks the fifth anniversary of Sue’s coming-out party after paleontologists and lab experts put all of her bones, recovered from a South Dakota dig, back together so that everyone could see what a real T-rex looks like.
Indeed, as the world’s largest (42-feet-long) and most complete specimen of her kind, Sue is still a draw five years after her unveiling, museum officials say. “She’s sort of the Rosetta Stone of this species. She is the best example there is. People come to study her all the time,” says Bill Simpson, collections manager of fossil vertebrates and a Sue lecturer.
Sue’s T-rex sized birthday bash stretches Saturday through Tuesday with events planned for each day:
Saturday-Sunday: Face painting, balloon sculptor, create a birthday hat, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Saturday-Tuesday: Learn more about Sue on two large screen videos and do fossil rubbings, masks and other hands-on activities, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Catch a “dino-mite” performance of the Foundation Theatre Group, 11 a.m.; Join 10-foot-tall friendly dinosaur puppets as they roam the halls, 12:30-2 p.m.
Tuesday: Free public admission, free Sue kite to first 50 young visitors age 3-11, vote for favorite cake design baked by local pastry chefs, then serenade Sue and eat free cake at 11 a.m.