- Special exhibition at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
- DB Schenker responsible for 20 ton shipment
The world’s most famous T. rex comes to Santa Barbara, California: Dino sensation Sue will be on display in the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History from May 28 until September 11. The special exhibition is called “A T. Rex named Sue” – she can’t wait to meet you.
“We are very excited and happy to offer Sue a temporary home,” says Sherri Frazer, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, “No dinosaur in the world compares to her. We’re talking about the largest, most complete and best preserved T. rex ever found.” Sue’s size certainly is impressive: 42 feet (12,80 m) long and 12 feet (3,66m) high at the hips.
A fully articulated cast of the 67 million-year-old fossil will arrive from display in Halifax, carefully transported in 40 crates by the Canadian branch of the German logistics company DB Schenker. It takes three trucks and 7 days to move the T. rex back to the United States. “Schenker Canada is proud of being part of the modern Sue story, it’s not every day you get to move a 20 ton or 42,181 lbs dinosaur exhibit,” says Eric Dewey, President and CEO of Schenker Canada Ltd. “There is a lot of careful planning involved to make sure Sue can be put back together as one impressive skeleton.”
Sue has 250 fully replicated bones and her rib cage alone weighs over 360 kg (800 lbs). While the rib cage travels in crate number “T-rex 1” in truck 1, the cast skull (260 kg/573 lbs) of the meat-eating species is packed in crate number “Trex 34” in another truck. Sue’s “passport” consists of very specific cross-border paperwork for the three trucks.
The legendary Tyrannosaurus Rex was uncovered in South Dakota in 1990 by paleontologist Sue Hendrickson. Seven years later, the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois purchased Sue at auction for $8.4 million US-Dollars. Since the year 2000 a fully articulated replicated skeleton of Sue has travelled to 70 different locations around the world. “She inspires as much awe today as she probably did 67 million years ago,” says Lindsay Washburn, Traveling Exhibitions Manager at the Field Museum, “I´m sure, Sue should prove to be an absolute thrill for children of all ages in Santa Barbara as well.”
This exhibit was created by the Field Museum, Chicago, and made possible through the generosity of McDonald’s Corporation.
