For Immediate Release November 8, 1999 Contact: Pat Kremer (312) 665-7100 Sue Timeline SUE OVER TIME Late Cretaceous Period   67 million years ago Sue, a Tyrannosaurus rex, is born, lives, and dies.   1990   August 12 Sue’s fossilized skeleton is discovered near Faith, South Dakota.   1997   June Field Museum representatives travel to New York, assess the quality of the fossil, and decide to try to purchase Sue.   July McDonald’s® Corporation and Walt Disney World Resort® are contacted as potential contributors for the purchase. They respond enthusiastically.   October 4 The Field Museum acquires Sue for the winning auction bid of $7.6 million. The commission paid to Sotheby’s brings the total price to nearly $8.4 million.   October 20 Sue arrives at her new home in Chicago.   November 17 Representatives of The Field Museum, McDonald’s Corporation, and Walt Disney World Resort hold a press conference to describe plans for the T. rex, including the first Sue exhibition, Sue Uncrated.   November 18 Sue Uncrated opens, displaying several of the fossil’s bones in various stages of preparation. The exhibition runs through January 11, 1998.   1998   June 10 The McDonald’s Fossil Preparation Laboratory, a permanent public facility, opens at The Field Museum. An additional lab, staffed by Museum preparators, opens in DinoLand U.S.A. in Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort.   August 21 Some of Sue’s bones, previously thought to be missing, are found when Field Museum staff open mislabeled plaster casts containing parts of the skeleton. The discovery brings the completeness of the fossil to a remarkable 90 percent.   August - September Sue’s skull is packed in a special protective crate and shipped to California, where it is CT scanned at a Boeing Company’s Rocketdyne aerospace facility. More than 500 hours of CT scanning produces a series of x-ray "slices" from which scientists can reconstruct the anatomy of the skull.   1999   March 18 The interactive "Sue Cam" goes on-line, allowing fans all over the world to watch the preparation of Sue’s bones, live from the McDonald’s Fossil Preparation Laboratory in The Field Museum.   April Museum scientists begin making molds of Sue’s prepared bones. The molds will be used in forming cast models of the dinosaur.   May 29 Sue: The Inside Story opens at The Field Museum. The exhibition features discoveries about the T. rex based on new research and CT scanning.   2000   May 17 The entire skeleton—the real, fossilized bones of Sue—will be unveiled for exhibit at The Field Museum.   June One life-sized cast of Sue goes on display at DinoLand U.S.A. in Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida. The McDonald’s traveling exhibition kicks off at the Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The tour, part of McDonald’s Millennium celebration, will bring two full-size casts of Sue to markets nationwide.