Uncovering the Hidden Drama Behind Sue the T. Rex: The Fierce Legal Fight That Shook the Fossil World
So here’s a wild tidbit for you — a fast-food giant helping a museum snag the most complete T. rex fossil ever found? Yep, McDonald’s stepped in with their wallet to help the Field Museum of Natural History shell out a staggering $8.4 million in 1997. Now, Sue isn’t just any dino; she’s the rockstar of fossils. But hold on — right after her discovery, a legal circus ensued, spinning questions about who really owned this ancient celebrity. Was Sue a piece of private property, or had she become part of the very land she’d been lying in for 67 million years? Oh, and did I mention federal agents stormed in with guns drawn? It’s a paleontological soap opera with more twists than a rollercoaster. And all thanks to a Big Mac, Sue got to star on the public stage, thrilling millions at the Field Museum. Intrigued? You’ll want to dive into this prehistoric drama that’s as juicy as a fast-food deal gone dinosaur-sized.
McDonald’s helped the Field Museum of Natural History purchase the most complete T. rex fossil ever discovered for a whopping $8.4 million in 1997.
Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex is one of the most famous fossils ever discovered. But few people know about the bizarre legal battle that followed the discovery of the dinosaur.
In August 1990, a fossil collector named Sue Hendrickson was working with the privately-owned Black Hills Institute of Geological Research near the town of Faith, South Dakota. As her team was preparing to leave the area, she spotted several bone fragments at the base of a rocky cliff. Upon further investigation, it became clear that the majority of a T. rex skeleton was lodged in the stone.
Field Museum of Natural HistorySue Hendrickson with the T. rex fossil before it was excavated.
After 17 days of excavation work, the Black Hills Institute team had uncovered 250 of the roughly 360 bones thought to compose a T. rex skeleton. However, many of the missing pieces were tiny bones. By volume, the fossil was 90 percent complete. The researchers dubbed the dinosaur “Sue” in honor of Hendrickson.
But as soon as Sue had been fully excavated, questions arose about who really owned the skeleton — resulting in one of the strangest legal battles in history.
Who Owns A Dinosaur?
The land upon which the Black Hills Institute team had been searching was, by their understanding, owned by a man named Maurice Williams, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. The researchers had struck an agreement with Williams for the use of his land and paid him $5,000 to excavate Sue.
However, after Sue was discovered, Williams disputed that the $5,000 payment entitled the Black Hills Institute to take the dinosaur. Instead, he suggested that the money simply covered access to the property and temporary possession of the skeleton rather than permanent ownership.
Making matters more complicated was the fact that the land was located within the Cheyenne River Reservation. While Williams was the beneficial owner of the property, the United States technically held the legal title to it in a trust. Thus, federal law limited Williams’ ability to sell interests connected with the land without approval from the Department of the Interior.
Connie Ma/Wikimedia CommonsSue on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois.
This raised a bizarre legal question: Legally speaking, what was Sue? Was the T. rex personal property being held — unknowingly — on Williams’ land? Or, after 67 million years, had Sue become part of the land itself?
In the midst of this debate, federal agents arrived at a warehouse where Black Hills Institute researchers were cleaning the bones and seized Sue. “I just couldn’t believe what was happening,” Peter Larson — the founder of the institute — told PBS in 1997. “There was FBI agents, sheriff’s officers running around with guns, and a police line all around the building… It was like a dream.”
This was just the first in a bizarre string of events that would lead Sue’s fossil to its final home.
The Battle For Sue’s Fossil
After a lengthy legal battle, a federal court ultimately ruled that Maurice Williams was the rightful owner of the fossil. In turn, Williams decided that he wanted to auction Sue off.
Officials from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago were worried that a private buyer would purchase the T. rex fossil and keep it from the public. They wanted to put Sue on display — but they also knew that bids could reach extraordinary heights. So, they hatched a plan.
Greg Goebel/Wikimedia CommonsA replica of Sue made for Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
The Field Museum solicited funding from a wide variety of supporters, from individual donors and public institutions like the California State University system to corporations like Disney and McDonald’s. Their strategy was successful, and the museum purchased Sue for $8.4 million, the highest amount ever paid for a fossil at the time.
McDonald’s further funded two research labs dedicated to preparing the bones for public viewing. As thanks, the Field Museum donated full-sized replicas of Sue to both McDonald’s and Disney. Disney displayed their copy at Animal Kingdom in Florida, while McDonald’s financed a traveling tour that sent their two replicas to museums across the United States.
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