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Seeing Suchomimus
While on his walk over the sandy desert dunes, Varrichio happened to gaze down and lay his eyes upon a large dinosaurian thumb claw. The amazing size and shape of the claw led Varrichio to call over Sereno and the rest of the team. Quickly they began to dig and after a few days of excavating the team had located an entire skeleton of an odd looking carnivorous dinosaur.
In November of 1998 Sereno, Varrichio, and his team named the amazing creature Suchomimus in a highly popular paper appearing in the journal Science. The following day Suchomimus made the front-page of the Chicago Tribune, was the subject of a major science story in the San Francisco Chronicle, and was highlighted in an Associated Press article appearing in thousands of newspapers countrywide. Although Sereno was noted for the discovery of two of the oldest dinosaurs, Eoraptor and Herrerasaurus, and a carnivore that may have been bigger than T. rex, Carchardontosaurus, Suchomimus was proving to be his most popular, and perhaps successful, discovery.
Just days after the initial description of Suchomimus Paul Sereno appeared on nearly every Chicago public television station, showing off casts of the bones to adoring dinosaur fans. But, his point was not to show, but to announce that he was going to display Suchomimus at the Chicago Children's Museum. Instead of displaying the creature in a world renowned natural history museum, such as the American Museum in New York, or the close Field Museum in Chicago, Sereno chose to display the ever scientifically important creature in the Children's Museum. "I want to introduce dinosaurs to the children," he told the news anchors. So, just weeks after his find was introduced, Suchomimus was mounted in the Chicago Children's Museum. This August Steve Brusatte of Dino Land had a chance to visit this museum, which is located in the Chicago tourist district of Navy Pier, right along the shores of Lake Michigan. When walking into Navy Pier the Children's Museum is almost immediately to your left, sharing an entrance with the ever popular McDonalds. You enter the museum through its gift shop, and pay when you reach the second story. From the second story you pass a large pirate ship like climbing device for children, and head up another flight of stairs. When you reach the top of these stairs a small sign says "Special Exhibit -»" You then follow the sign and walk to the right, until you notice a large sign that says "Amoco Presents Dinosaur Discovery!" Almost immediately you see the massive mounted Suchomimus skeleton (Figure 3) in all of its glory.
Along another wall of the room is a television, constantly running, which explains just how Suchomimus was excavated. Along the other wall is a large jeep, one similar to the one Sereno used, which is loaded with mock expedition supplies. Near it is a mock tent, like the one Sereno and crew used on the expedition. The Suchomimus exhibit is probably the most popular attraction in the entire Navy Pier. And, rightfully so. I only hope that the children visiting it realize just how important the fossil is to science. I hope they see beyond its captivating looks and realize what it took to bring it there. If you think Suchomimus is the last big dinosaur to hit the Chicago scene, you are wrong. Sereno is currently working on two giant sauropods and hopes to unveil them by the millennium. So, it looks like there are more dinosaurs in the future of the Children's Museum
Further Readings:
Illustrations:To view other wonderful pictures of this fish eating dinosaur, please go to www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Galaxy/8152/sucho.html
Suggested Websites:
A charter member of the Dino Land WebRing and a winner of Dino Data's site of the month award.
Dino Land Dinosaur Digsite
The Unofficial Jurassic Park Club
Paleobotany Club
Cool Crinoid Club
Chris' Dino Land Dinosaur Club
This article may not be copied, distributed or reprinted in any form without the author's permission. To contact the author, please use the e-mail address provided. If you are unable to contact the author, please contact the Canadian Rockhound. Authorized reprints must acknowledge the author, original source and the Canadian Rockhound, and include the website URL address of the Canadian Rockhound. The preceding article was first published in the September 1999 (Vol. 1, Issue 5) edition of the Dino Land Dinosaur Gazette, an electronic publication edited by Steve Brusatte, Ottawa, Illinois. Photographs courtesy of Dino Data, ©1999, www.dinodata.net.
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