[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 17, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        WELCOME TO CHICAGO, SUE

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                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 17, 2000

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to recognize and 
congratulate the Field Museum in Chicago on its unveiling of Sue, the 
67 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton.
  Sue's journey to the Field Museum began in South Dakota in 1990. Sue 
Hendrickson, a fossil hunter, discovered the bones while walking on a 
Cheyenne River Reservation. It took 12 scientists 30,000 hours to 
remove the fossilized bone from rock. She was then transported in 130 
crates and boxes to a glass laboratory at the Field Museum where 
scientists began to meticulously reassemble her.
  Paleontologists could not have known then what a magnificent 
scientific treasure they were uncovering. While the majority of the 22 
partial T-rex skeletons in the world are only 40 to 50 percent 
complete, Sue is about 90 percent complete, making her by far the most 
complete skeleton ever recovered.
  It is believed that when Sue roamed this earth, she would have 
weighed in at 7 tons, measured 50 feet in length, had a stride that 
measured about 10 to 12 feet and would have traveled at about 6.25 
miles per hour.
  I applaud the scientists, researchers, paleontologists, and craftsmen 
who went to painstaking efforts to recreate an accurate, finished 
skeleton for all Chicagoans and admirers around the country and world 
to enjoy. I also want to congratulate the Field Museum on its effort, 
and for continuing its extraordinary commitment to bringing the wonders 
of science to a broader community.

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