12 Fun Facts About ‘Sue: The T.rex Encounter’ at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science

No, it’s not A Boy named Sue like Johnny Cash’s famous song but rather, a dinosaur that is making waves in Denver! 

SUE the T. rex is the most complete, best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex ever discovered and SUE is currently on display at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The traveling exhibition SUE: The T. rex Experience features the latest scientific discoveries about this incredible fossil. 

Do you want to learn even more about dinosaurs? Don’t miss 10 Dinosaur Destinations in Denver for Dino-loving Kids and be sure to check-out some fun dinosaur toys below! 

SUE: The T. rex Experience 

SUE’s fossils are on permanent display at the Field Museum in Chicago, so the traveling exhibition gives you a chance to experience SUE through:

• An exact cast of SUE’s skeleton, measuring in at 40 feet from snout to tail and 13 feet tall at the hip.
• A full size, fleshed-out replica of a T. rex preying on the duck-billed herbivore, Edmontosaurus.
•  Floor-to-ceiling animations of SUE tromping through their world, encountering other
  animals and occasionally letting loose an intimidating growl.
• Touchable bronze casts of SUE’s bones.
• A multimedia light show that highlights the details of SUE’s skeleton.

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 features all the latest scientific updates, including new “belly ribs” called gastralia that stretched across T. rex’s
abdomen and helped it breathe. They make SUE look bigger and more ferocious than ever before.

Colorado Discoveries Featured

“Most of the metro area is situated on top of rocks deposited during SUE’s time, so not only are we excited for SUE to visit Colorado, but we also have some incredible recent discoveries closer to home that guests will get to explore as part of the exhibition,” Museum Curator of Dinosaurs Joe Sertich adds.

Guests who experience the exhibition in Denver will also get to see more than 20 specimens from the collections of the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, including:

• The femur and a vertebra of the only T. rex skeleton ever found in Colorado.
• Part of the Triceratops that was found at a construction site in Highlands Ranch, Colo., in 2019.
• The jaw from the Torosaurus that was found in Thornton, Colo., in 2017.
• The jaw of a mystery horned dinosaur collected from Leyden, Colo. in 1975.
•  Rare skulls of armored and dome-headed dinosaurs never before displayed in the Museum.
• Crocodile, turtle and mammal specimens discovered outside of Colorado Springs, Colo., from 2017-2019.

Please note that a timed ticket for Museum entry and a separate timed ticket for entry into SUE: The T. rex Experience is required. The exhibit run now through April 25, 2021. For more information and ticketing, visit dmns.org.

FUN GIFT IDEAS FOR DINOSAUR LOVERS

How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? This was one of my kids’ favorite books when they were little as they loved hearing about dinosaur shenanigans at bedtime! 

DINO Projection. This seriously awesome creative LED projector projects realistic Triceratops Pterosaur, T-Rex and more designs on your child’s ceiling and wall. The LED night light comes with 16 fun color combinations. 

Dig a Dozen Dino Eggs Dig Kit. With Easter around the corner, hide these 12 dinosaur eggs and let your kids dig to find these unique eggs  with fun surprises. Each kit comes with 2 Dino Eggs (with a unique toy dinosaur in each), 12 Chisel/Brushes, 12 Instruction Guides, and 12 full-colored beautiful learning cards – one for each dino.

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