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...for the Field Museum in Chicago is an impressively large completely cast model of a huge titanosaur. You may remember seeing the David Attenborough BBC documentary back in 2016 called David Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur (allusions to James and the Giant Peach?) The special covers the discovery, reconstruction and display of a new species named Patagotitan mayorum, a 37 meter long beast (not surprisingly) from the Patagonia region of Argentina. Bones from several individuals were found at the site and it seems that the Field Museum must have purchased a few actual bones to be displayed alongside of the cast model. The cast was made by the same company that created one for the American Museum of Natural History in New York. There, the giant titanosaur is apparently a bit too big for its home in the AMNH and had to be carefully configured to fit into the available space. The main central area with in the Field Museum, known as Stanley Field Hall, has plenty of space for this new cast to stretch out into without feeling cramped. This 122 foot long cast at the Field Museum has been named "Máximo" in reference to it's Argentinian heritage.

 

This space was previously occupied by Sue the (in)famous Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton which was the talk of the town when it finally debuted back in 2000 (10 years after its initial discovery).  Sue is moving to her own room up on the upper floor of the museum in an exhibit to open sometime in 2019. They will be making some anatomical changes and modifying the mount to show Sue in a less crouching pose. Unlike Sue (which was a relatively complete skeleton), Máximo is 100% cast. Due to the weight restrictions limiting mounting options, Sue's head was removed (ouch!) and replaced with a properly inflated head cast on the mount that was mostly otherwise composed of actual bones. Sue's head a bit crushed on one side was originally presented in a separate display where visitors could get a closer look at the actual bones. Since this titanosaur will not feature any actual precious bones, the museum is looking at making the cast more accessible (i.e. "touchable") with a ground level display rather than a raised and cordoned-off display stand. This will inevitably lead to a rash of titano-selfies in the coming months.

 

When we visited, the mount had just been completed and whatever stand will go with the completed display had not yet been added. The few actual bones were on a simple display showing approximate placements that was tucked into a forlorn looking corner next to the full cast model. As this work had just recently been completed the new additions did not have the informational displays that will likely accompany this new exhibit in the coming months as the dust settles on this dinosaurian swap-out.

 

The way they mounted the next of this huge titanosaur has it peering into the second floor balcony some 28 feet above. This was intentionally done to give people a close-up look at Máximo tooth-studded "smiling" face. I'm sure people will be hanging over the balcony edge for selfies from this angle. They've already tried to head this off by putting warnings on the ledge at this point cautioning against sitting, standing or leaning out over the ledge but I'm sure it is only a matter of time before someone puts themselves in the running for a Darwin Award for their selfie attempt.

 

I have mixed feelings about this recent Sue-swap which was done this year to coincide with the museum's 125th anniversary. Maybe I'm a purist but I tend to like dinosaur mounts that are (at least partially) composed of actual bones. Understandably, it tends not to be possible to have 100% real fossil bone displays (even from a composite of multiple individuals) but the fact that Máximo is simply the second in a (limited) series of entirely cast bones makes me have to appreciate the display as an (expensive) model rather than as a rare well-preserved actual fossils. The fact that Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk could (conceivably) commission additional copies for their closest friends as ostentatious Christmas gifts this year somehow puts Máximo in a different class in my mind from Sue--maybe it's just me. The non-unique and reproducible nature of Máximo's cast does however allow people to interact more personally with this new huge dinosaur in a way different from the more isolated reverence of Sue's exhibit. I just hope people take away more than just silly selfies from their interaction with Máximo.

 

Here are a few photos of Máximo in his new home. You can see how the mount was staged to allow the perspective from the upper level balcony. You might recognize someone in the second photo who was told that he needed to pose for a selfie with Máximo's left front leg. ;) I've also included photos of the few actual bones which will hopefully receive some interest as well once they are more properly displayed.

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

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Sue must have been a disobedient dinosaur as she's been sent to her room. ;)

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

 

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I feel a bit sad that Sue has been moved 'upstairs'. 

But this new exhibit is, well,  new, and will attract new visitors and people who've been before, so that's good. 

Cast it may be, but it's still hugely impressive, quite, quite awesome. 

Get 'em in and they might learn something, in between the selfies, and they'll surely go and see poor Sue as well. :)

Thanks for posting. 

Life's Good!

Tortoise Friend.

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I'm with you...I want to see the real fossils rather than casts whenever possible. That being said, the average "Joe Tourist", the people who keep the museum afloat in $$ don't see the difference and don't really care. Us fossil nerds will keep Sue company in her new room.

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They are following a well-worn path. Courtesy of Andrew Carnegie, plaster replicas of Dippy the Diplodocus stand in the national museums of Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Russia, Spain, Argentina, and Mexico. The awe of their imposing size suffers not a bit at being casts, and millions more people can experience that.

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

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I have always been disappointed that the Field Museum follows a "one dinosaur in the main hall" policy- first the Gorgosaurus, then Brachiosaurus, then Sue, and now Maximo, but never more than one at a time. I love the way the main hall in Berlin Museum für Naturkunde looks, with all those mighty sauropods together, and the hall in the Field Museum is definitely big enough- it would give a great sense of scale to have them side by side (although I suppose it risks making Sue look small!).

 

I'm still excited to see the new mount though, and any changes they make to Sue. Was your visit after they had repainted the titanosaur? 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-ent-maximo-field-repainted-0601-story.html

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