I experienced a moment of deja vu involving dinosaurs.
As part of my gig at Northstate Public Radio, I read public-service announcements of upcoming events. One of the ongoing events is for the “A T-Rex Named Sue” exhibit at the Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding.
Since it’s fairly hard for people and other unique objects to be in two places at the same time, I wanted to learn more.
Apparently, the dino on display in Redding is a replica of the original Sue.
The true blue Sue has been on display at the Field Museum since 2000. The museum has a couple of replicas floating around the world. One of them is up in Redding until September.
I actually had a chance to visit Sue in person at the Field last summer. I took a couple of photos because she’s very impressive. She loomed over the hundreds of convention-goers gathered for a party, much like the partiers loomed over the buffet tables.
Checking the Field’s Web site, the Sue on display in Chicago is the real deal — all of the bones are real, except for the skull. Even the real skull is on display elsewhere in the musuem.
I may journey up to Redding to see the Repli-Sue to learn more.
Image: Sue in her native habitat at Chicago’s Field Museum in July 2008.
