On October 16 this year, once of the most incredible cargo will arrive at the National History Museum, one of the most visited museums in the entire world, employees will unload the freight which carries the fossils of the iconic prehistoric figure, the 66-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex.
The R-rex named Wankel Rex, is a little over 38 feet long and weighs around 7 tons, stayed at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana. It will then stay at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for the next 50 years, providing millions of museum visitors a chance to appreciate its magnificence and complete volume.
Kirk Johnson, a paleontologist and museum director for Sant, talked about the awesome experience of standing next to a real skull of a T-rex. It is only then that you realize how splendid the specimen is: about four feet long and with teeth as big as bananas, it is without a doubt, the most frightening carnivore that has ever walked on the planet. And it would make you think what life was like if these creatures were still around in the Northern American regions.
After decades of loan attempts, the museum finally acquired one of the 12 or so somewhat complete T-rex fossil that is known around the world. Officially designated as MOR 555, it is more frequently known as Wenkel’s Rex, named after its discoverer, Kathy Wankel, an amateur fossil hunter from Montana.
Wankel Rex is almost 85 percent complete, and although it has been surpassed but other recent findings, it remains one of the most complete T-rex fossils to be found. Johnson adds that the specimen has a disarticulated skull, which means that the bones forming the skull got separated before it fossilized. They are not attached to each other, but all parts are present.
The original skeleton will be open to public viewing until 2019, with the museum planning to add series of displays over the years that will feature parts of the fossil.
