"A T. rex Named Sue"

Museums & Sights

An awesome dinosaur makes a pit stop at the Liberty Science Center.

"A T. rex Named Sue"

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She’s journeyed from the mountains of South Dakota to Chicago. Now she’s hanging out in New Jersey before she heads off to other parts of the U.S. For a long-dead reptile, Sue’s done an immense amount of traveling.

Excavated in 1990 by archeologist Sue Hendrickson (for whom the dino is named), Sue is the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton known to man, measuring 42 feet long and 12 feet high. Purchased by the Field Museum of Chicago for $8.4 billion in the late 1990s and then replicated via molding for exhibition, her bones are on display at the Liberty Science Center until March 14, when she’ll move on to dazzle kids elsewhere.

Sue resides in her own private gallery, a dark room with black walls. Offset by colored backlighting, it’s an ideal environment for showcasing the enormous skeleton. Surrounding her are small stations where tots can learn basic facts about dinosaur bone structure and eyesight, and fossil reconstruction. Snazzy interactive elements include a machine that allows visitors to feel how dinosaurs moved their limbs, and a peek at the world through the eyes of the extinct creatures.

There are many educational texts (in both English and Spanish), which may overwhelm or even bore younger children. But kids of all ages should be entertained by the “guess the smell” area (the challenge is to identify scents that Sue would have sniffed back in the day, like plants or a rhino), and enjoy touching replicas of bones and other objects. For the full Sue experience, catch the IMAX feature Dinosaurs 3D: Giants of Patagonia, a perfect supplement to the installation.—Thomas Sullivan

"A T. rex Named Sue" is on view at the Liberty Science Center through Mar 14. Dinosaurs 3D: Giants of Patagonia screens daily at 11:30am and 1:30pm, with an additional 3:30pm showing on weekends.

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