World's largest dinosaur heads to Chicago's Field Museum

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Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History announced Wednesday that it will become home to the world's largest dinosaur. The museum plans to put it in the main hall next year, where the world famous dinosaur fossil nicknamed Sue now stands.

The 122-foot-long (37.2 meters) titanosaur will be unveiled early next year in celebration of the museum's 125th anniversary. Known by its scientific name of Patagotitan mayorum, the plant-eater, which lived 100 million years ago in Argentina, was one of the world's biggest land animals.

Paying for it is a 16.5-million-US-dollar gift from Chicago billionaire Kenneth Griffin, an act the Field Museum, calls "one of the largest private contributions ever to a Chicago museum," designed to help emphasize the museum's status as a first-rate dinosaur destination.

Photo via Chicagonow

"The titanosaur is huge, and it'll look right at home in Stanley Field Hall," said Senior Exhibitions Project Manager Hilary Hansen via official statement. "It's a big, majestic space which will be the perfect backdrop for the world's largest dinosaur."

According to the museum, the city's beloved Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex) fossil, Sue, will no longer reign in the main hall and the new dinosaur fossil will take her place. Sue the T-Rex debuted in Stanley Field Hall in 2000 and will be moved to a dedicated gallery space in the second floor for permanent evolution exhibit.

Named after the woman who discovered the fossil in South Dakota state in 1990, Sue is the world's largest and complete fossil for the extinct predator with a length of 40 and half feet (12.3 meters). The museum bought the fossil at auction for 8.4 million dollars in 1997.

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Source(s): Xinhua News Agency