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Field Museum
SUE the T-Rex: The 2017 Experience
During our visit, SUE (the most complete T-Rex ever found) was the first thing we saw upon entering the museum. Standing 13 feet tall at the hip, SUE had occupied that grand, sun-drenched hall since May 2000.
The skull on the skeleton was actually a lightweight cast, while the real 600-pound skull was kept in a glass case on the second-floor balcony. This was done so researchers could easily access the real bone for study without dismantling the whole dinosaur!
Meteors: A Glimpse into the Deep Past
Grainger Hall of Meteorites exhibit is a fan favorite because it allows you to get incredibly close to objects older than the Earth itself. We saw the fragment of the The Chelyabinsk Meteor that famously exploded over Russia in 2013. The Field Museum is one of the few places in the world where you can see "fossil" meteorites, ancient space rocks that fell 466 million years ago and were found in a Swedish limestone quarry. There is something deeply grounding about putting your hand on a chunk of iron and nickel that traveled billions of miles through the vacuum of space before landing in the Midwest!
What has changed since our visit?
If we return today, the museum will feel both familiar and brand-new. In 2018, SUE was moved from the main hall into a private, high-tech suite inside the Evolving Planet exhibit. The new space is much more atmospheric, featuring a narrated light show that points out SUE’s various injuries and "battle scars." When SUE was moved, scientists added a set of bones called gastralia (belly ribs) that weren't included in the 2017 mount. This makes SUE look much bulkier and more scientifically accurate, less like a sleek movie monster and more like a "tank" of a predator. SUE’s old spot in the main hall is now occupied by Máximo, a touchable cast of a long-necked titanosaur. He is so big (122 feet long) that his head actually peeks over the second-floor balcony to say hello to visitors!
