I failed to notice this small historical moment Saturday.
On Aug 12, 1990, archaeologist Susan Hendrickson discovered the bones of a huge Tyrannosaurus Rex in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Later dubbed Sue, the T-Rex skeleton (90% of the bones were recovered) was the subject of an involved legal battle. Eventually, The Field Museum in Chicago wound up having to buy the skeleton through Sotheby's. Unable to come up with funds to buy Sue along, The Field Museum had corporate help from McDonald's, the California State Universities system, a few private citizens, and. . .Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Sue's final cost was nearly $8.4M. The preparatory work to remove the "matrix," or rocks & debris, from the bones began in earnest in 1997. One of the preparatory labs was in The Field Museum and the other was. . .wait for it. . .at the newly opened Animal Kingdom. Once Sue was cleaned and casts carefully made of her bones, one of the recipients of the casts was, again, the Animal Kingdom. Thus, when you enter DinoLand and head to the ride, Dinosaur, the T-Rex you see is actually the casting made of Sue.
That is all for your history lesson today, folks.