SUE: The T. rex Experience was organized by the Field Museum and is part of the Griffin Dinosaur Experience, made possible by the generous support of the Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund.
Sue: The T. rex Experience is presented by:
With additional support from:
Featuring a new, fully articulated SUE cast with added gastralia (“belly ribs”), a one-of-a-kind narrated show, and realistic computer animated scenes, SUE: The T. rex Experience is a journey through the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota, one of the most well-documented ecosystems from the age of dinosaurs. Touchable fossil replicas, scent stations, and a naturalistic soundscape create an immersive, multi-sensory experience.
SUE’s fossils are on permanent display at the Field Museum in Chicago, so the traveling exhibition gives people all over the world a chance to experience one of the biggest T. rex specimens ever found. This exhibition features an exact cast of SUE’s skeleton, measuring in at 40 feet from snout to tail and 13 feet tall at the hip. Visitors will be able to see a lot more than just SUE’s skeleton, though—new interactives and digital technologies will highlight the latest scientific discoveries and show people what SUE’s world was like.
To help visualize how SUE would have looked in life, there’s a full-size, fleshed-out replica of a T. rex battling one of its favorite prey: the duck-billed herbivore Edmontosaurus. Visitors will also be able to immerse themselves in SUE’s world. A giant floor-to-ceiling screen shows realistic animations of SUE interacting with other prehistoric animals, and interactive stations give visitors a chance to smell prehistoric plants and even scientists’ best guess of what’s SUE’s breath would have smelled like. The experience also includes a multimedia light show highlighting details of SUE’s skeleton, touchable bronze casts of some of SUE’s bones, and a station where visitors can hear and feel the deep, low rumbling of SUE’s growl.
In addition to the new technologies and interactives that make SUE’s world come alive, this exhibition highlights new scientific discoveries about T. rex in general and SUE in particular. While SUE was first found in 1990, scientists are learning new things about T. rex every day, due in large part to SUE’s incredibly well-preserved bones. In this new traveling exhibition, SUE’s skeleton includes all the latest scientific updates, including an extra set of bones that scientists weren’t quite sure how to position when SUE was first found. These bones, called gastralia, are “belly ribs” that stretched across T. rex’s abdomen and helped it breathe. They make SUE look bigger and more ferocious than ever before.
Changing Exhibit Hall (in addition to museum admission when applicable)
- Adults: $10
- All CIS Standard Members: $9
- Seniors 65+ & Children 2 - 12: $8
- CIS Enhanced Members and Children under 2: FREE