Biggest dinosaur 'Maximo' on display at Chicago museum

CHICAGO: The cast of the biggest dinosaur ever discovered extends far beyond the area it is placed in, in the place of popular fossil of SUE the T. rex in the large Stanley Field Hall at the Field Museum.

SUE the T. rex will be moved to the Field Museum's permanent exhibition, The Griffin Halls of Evolving Planet and will be revealed in her new home in the Evolving Planet exhibition in early 2019.

The new dinosaur Maximo is made from the fossil bones of a long-necked Patagotitan mayorum from Argentina, part of a group of dinosaurs called titanosaurs.

"The installation took three days," said Bill Simpson, head of geological collections at the museum, as two workers finished the final phase of installation by connecting the dinosaur's head to its long neck on May 25.

The dinosaur is called Maximo, meaning "maximum" in Spanish. From head to tail, it stretches 122 feet. It is so tall that its head overlooks the second-floor balcony of the museum, where visitors can easily take a selfie with it.

Simpson said that the red-colored cast reflects the actual fossil color because the soil where the dinosaur was discovered is rich in iron.

"What's so special about Maximo is its size," Simpson said. "Stanley Field Hall is 300 feet long. People can really get a good sense of its scale."

"Different from SUE, the cast will allow visitors to walk under it and touch it," said Hillary Hansen, senior exhibitions project manager, the first-ever display to permit such access by visitors.

It is the second Patagotitan on display. The other cast is at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Simpson said that due to its size and the limitation of space, the head and tail of the Patagotitan in New York are in two different rooms.

The arrival of Maximo is part of the celebration of the Field Museum's 125th anniversary and was made possible by a $16.5 million gift from the Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund.

The dinosaur exhibit will open to the public on June 1. Five pieces of the dinosaur's real fossils also will be displayed by its side for two years.