Tyrannosaurus Sue: The Extraordinary Saga of Largest, Most Fought Over T. Rex Ever Found PDF
Preview Tyrannosaurus Sue: The Extraordinary Saga of Largest, Most Fought Over T. Rex Ever Found
"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 w%& 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 .cjc 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 Formyfamity
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