For the first time, Minnetrista Cultural Center is welcoming a T. rex named SUE through its doors.
Since 2000, the replica of the Tyrannosaurus Rex has traveled across the country, from The Field Museum in Chicago, to allow spectators to admire the largest dinosaur ever found.
"This is the first time in quite a while that we have had this large of exhibit travel to Muncie," Jessica Thornburgh, Minnetrista communications specialist, said.
Terry Wentz, a member of the excavation team that was part of the team that discovered SUE said, "SUE allows us to bring people into science."
SUE, who is sponsored by the McDonald's Corporation, will be in Muncie from June 28 to Sept. 21. Minnetrista will hold a variety of attractions to help visitors understand the history of dinosaurs.
Some of the attractions include searching for fossils in a fossil pit and making a fossil cast to take home, according to a Minnetrista press release.
"Visitors will be able to experience prehistoric Indiana through a variety of programs," Thornburgh said.
One of the events that will take a look into Indiana's history is "Elephant Ancestors in Indiana, Can You Dig It?" This event will be Aug. 21 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. and will offer a glimpse into paleontology in Indiana.
Throughout the time SUE is at Minnetrista, numerous mini-trips will be offered that take visitors all over Indiana to learn more about dinosaurs and Indiana.
The trips offer travel to the Indiana State Museum, the Foelinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory in Fort Wayne, the Falls of Ohio in Clarksville and to Ball State laboratories.
SUE was named after its founder, fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson.
Hendrickson, along with Wentz and three others, spent six weeks in a ranch near Faith, S. D., searching for duck-billed dinosaurs.
On Aug. 12, 1990, their last day at the site, Hendrickson came across thousands of bones that turned out to be the buried remains of SUE.
SUE stands at 45 feet and is 42 feet long, but she was buried in an area only 20 by 22 feet, Wentz said.
Wentz believes the dinosaur died fast because her bones were intact when they found her, although the dinosaur is approximately 67 million years old.
When SUE was discovered, Wentz never thought she would gather this much attention, but today he has seen it travel around the world.
"I saw a children's book about SUE from the Czech Republic," Wentz said. "They have also run a TV show in Japan on Sue Hendrickson's life."
Before SUE was found, the most complete T. rex found was only 45 percent complete. SUE breaks that record by being 90 percent complete, Wentz said.
SUE is also the largest T. rex found, weighing an estimated seven tons, according to display information.
Although SUE has a female name, the sex of the dinosaur remains undetermined. Paleontologists are led to believe it is a female, Wentz said.
"If it is a female, then the largest meat-eating animal ever was a girl," Wentz said.
Exhibit Hours:
Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Admission: $4 child/student; $6 senior; $7 adult.
www.mccoak.org
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