Tyrannosaurus Sue: The Extraordinary Saga of Largest, Most Fought Over T. Rex Ever Found

280 Pages·2001·13.046 MB·English

by  Steve Fiffer

"FIFFER SHOWS US HOW THIS MAGICAL SCIENCE REALLY WORKS"
FROM THE FOREWORD BY ROBERT T. BAKKER, Ph.D., AUTHOR OF THE DINOSAUR HERiSIES
T E V E F E R
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TYRANNOSAURUS SUE
THE EXTRAO
MOST FOUGHT OVER T. REX EVER FOUND
SCIENCE $24.95
TYRANNOSAURUS SUE
The Extraordinary Saga of the Largest,
Most Fought Over T.rex Ever Found
STEVE FIFFER
Over 65 million years ago in what is now
Cheyenne River Sioux territory in South
Dakota, a battle-scarred Tyrannosaurus rex
matriarch—perhaps mortally wounded in a
ferociousfight-fellintotheriverbedanddied.
In 1990herskeletonwasfound,virtuallycom-
plete, in what many call the most spectacular
dinosaurfossildiscoveryto date.
Andthenanotherbattlebegan—a"survival
of the fittest" free-for-all involving commer-
cial dinosaurhunters, gun-toting lawofficers,
an ambitious federal prosecutor, a Native
American tribe, jealous academics, an enter-
prising auction house, major museums, and
corporategiants, allmakingtheirclaimforthe
dinosaurnamedSue (afterthefieldpaleontol-
ogist who first spotted her bones). At stake:
notjust Sue's wealth of scientific riches, but
her grant-drawing power and vast commercial
potentialaswell.
Before it was over, there would be claims
and counterclaims; charges ofcheckbook-pol-
luted science, criminal larceny, and vengeful
prosecutions; and devastating prison terms.
Andthegavelwouldcomedownonthelargest-
ever($8.36million) auctionpricetagforafos-
sil, paidbyChicago's Field Museum, withhelp
fromDisneyandMcDonald's.
Sueispoisedtobenotonlyascientificphe-
nomenon but a main attraction at Disney's
Animal Kingdom and (fitting enough for the
world'sgreatestmeateater)amarketingsuper-
starforMcDonald's.Meanwhile,themanwhose
team actually unearthed Sue—professional
dinosaurhunter PeterLarson—remains haunt-
ingly, touchingly obsessed with the 41-foot-
long, dead-for-millions-of-yearsT. rex.
Sue is not just another dinosaur, and
TyrannosaurusSueisnotjustanotherdinosaur
(continuedonbackflap)

SUE
YRANNOSAURUS

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SUE
TYRANNOSAURUS
HE EXTRAORDINARY SAGA OF THE LARGEST,
MOST FOUGHT OVER REX EVER FOUND
T.
STEVE FIFFER
WEWORD BYROBERT BAKKER
T.
W. H. Freeman and Company
New York
—
1
mnSq. B ~vy
DEC 2000
TextdesignbyNancySingerOlaguera
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-Publication Data
Fiffer,Steve.
Tyrannosaurus Sue : theextraordinarysagaofthelargest,mostfoughtover
T.rexeverfound/SteveFiffer;forewordbyRobertT.Bakker.
p. cm.
Includesindex
ISBN0-7167-4017-6
— —
1. Tyrannosaurus rex South Dakota. 2. Paleontology South Dakota
—
History 20thcentury.3.Larson,Peter.I.Title.
QE862.S3 F542000
567.912'9'09783—dc2 00-021596
© 2000bySteveFiffer.Allrightsreserved.
No partofthisbookmaybe reproducedbyanymechanical,photographic,or
electronicprocess, or inthe form ofaphonographic recording,normayitbe
storedinaretrievalsystem,transmitted,orotherwisecopiedforpublicorpri-
vateuse,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
ThirdPrinting,2000
CD BR
W.H.FreemanandCompany
4Ho1uMnaddmiilslosn,ABvaesniuneg5,stNokeew,YRoGr2k,1N6eXSw,YEonrgk&la10n0d1 2Fu3054030
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