VICTORIA, BC — SUE: The T.rex Experience officially opens today at the Royal BC Museum. SUE, is the most complete and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex ever found.
The exhibition, created by the Field Museum in Chicago, takes visitors on a journey through Hell Creek, South Dakota, one of the most well documented ecosystems from the age of dinosaurs and provides the opportunity to learn how SUE survived their challenging and dangerous world, living to old age despite the odds.
"We are so excited to share SUE's story through this immersive, multi-sensory experience,” said Jaap Hoogstraten, head of Exhibitions at the Field Museum. “Visitors will learn about SUE’s discovery and the things scientists have learned about SUE over the last few decades—to really encounter SUE as an individual. In addition to a new, fully articulated SUE cast, visitors will experience a one-of-a-kind narrated show and realistic computer-animated scenes. It's an incredible view into SUE's world."
Spread across 5,000 sq. ft. on the third floor of the Royal BC Museum, SUE: The T. rex Experience features a full-scale articulated cast replica of the formidable fossil, a Triceratops skeleton cast, a true-to-size replica of SUE vs Edmontonsaurus, and a cast of SUE’s skull.
“Tyrannosaurus rex is an iconic dinosaur and I’m thrilled that we get to share the story of this amazing fossil at the Royal BC Museum,” says Dr. Victoria Arbour, curator of Palaeontology at the Royal BC Museum.
“It’s been an exciting year for the museum’s palaeontology team with the opening of our home-grown exhibit Dinosaurs of BC,” continues Arbour. “My research in northern BC focuses on the same time period that SUE lived, but on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, so it’s wonderful to get to see some of the ‘next-door-neighbours’ that lived at the same time as BC’s Ferrisaurus.”
Discovered in 1990 by Sue Hendrickson, an American explorer and fossil collector, the namesake dinosaur has been on permanent display at the Field Museum since 2000. The fossil, found to be 90% intact, is considered to be the most complete T. rex skeleton ever found. SUE has gone on to find cult status as a witty, irreverent personality on Twitter and is lauded as a non-binary icon by followers of the account.
SUE: The T. rex Experience is on at the Royal BC Museum from June 16, 2023 until January 7, 2024.
Still can’t get enough T. rex? Catch the movie that made them famous at IMAX Victoria with a special limited screening of the 1993 classic, Jurassic Park, now in 3D. Check imaxvictoria.com for showtimes.
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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.
About the Royal BC Museum: The Royal BC Museum explores the province’s human history and natural history, advances new knowledge and understanding of BC, and provides a dynamic forum for discussion and a place for reflection. The museum and archives celebrate culture and history, telling the stories of BC in ways that enlighten, stimulate and inspire. Located in Victoria on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen (Songhees and Xwsepsum Nations), we are a hub of community connections in BC—on-site, off-site, and online—taking pride in our collective histories.
For tickets to IMAX® Victoria and the Royal BC Museum, including combo tickets for both attractions, visit: Tickets
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For information about visiting the Royal BC Museum, visit: Plan Your Visit
Media contact:
Amanda Richardson
Communications Specialist
250-208-8846
arichardson@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca
