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Hear Sue's roar, smell her breath at Cranbrook

Kaitlynn Luckoff
Special to The Detroit News

I​​f you have ever wondered what a dinosaur's breath smelled like, look no further.

Though these creatures are extinct, attendees will have the opportunity to explore the fossils of the most well-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex fossils. The immersive traveling exhibit, "SUE: The T. rex Experience," is set to open at the Cranbrook Institute of Science on Saturday. 

The 90% complete T. rex skeleton will be on display through April 30, 2023, bringing Sue to life. Attendees will explore the world through Sue’s eyes with the chance to feel the texture of dinosaur's skin, listen to its roar and smell its breath. 

The name Sue pays homage to the American explorer and fossil collector, Sue Hendrickson, who discovered the dinosaur in 1990. Dr. Andrew Gangidine, curator of Earth and Space at the Cranbrook Institute of Science, said the finding, similar to most paleontological discoveries, happened entirely by chance. When a crew of paleontologists went into town to fix a flat tire, Sue Hendrickson stayed back and looked around, leading to Sue’s discovery.

The 90% complete T. rex skeleton will be on display through April 30 at the Cranbrook Institute of Science.

“(She) was near a cliff and noticed a couple of bones sticking out of it… the team came back and they thought what they might have discovered was a Tyrannosaurus rex,” Gangidine said. “So they kept digging and digging, and sure enough, that's what it was.

“What they ended up pulling out was the largest and most complete T. rex that's ever been discovered to this day.”

The exhibit was organized by the Field Museum in Chicago, who acquired the fossil in 1997. The museum obtained Sue at an auction after disputes regarding what to do with the magnificent finding, said Mike Stafford, director of the Cranbrook Institute of Science. 

The 500,000 square foot show is one of the highest profile exhibits they have ever presented, he said.

“We've hosted a couple exhibits from the Field (Museum) before… they're known for producing really high-quality traveling shows that are a great blend of science, hands on, and design and a really well-honed eye towards the visitor experience” Stafford said.

"SUE: The T. rex Experience" opens Saturday at the Cranbrook Institute of Science.

Although the original fossil remains at the Field Museum, Stafford said the mold used for the exhibit is a cast of the original fossil and extremely high-quality. 

“It's (the cast) almost indistinguishable from the original,” he said. “We'll have a full mount of Sue. There'll be a fleshed out version also showing what (the dinosaur) would look like in real life. There are all kinds of components about the environment that Sue lived in, the time that Sue lived in, the process of discovery, how Sue was excavated.”

Hoping to see 100,000 guests over the next few months, Stafford said Sue is one of the greatest paleontological finds of the last 100 years.

“They were able to date the age of the fossils, not just in terms of how old but how old the animal itself would have been when it died,” he said. “It appears that Sue would have been about 28 years old. She's from 67 million years ago, which is right in the heart of the dinosaur era.

“We're just really excited to share it with Metro Detroit and with people from all over Michigan and beyond. It ought to be a great destination blockbuster show.”

The family show is intended for all ages, Gangidine said, adding this is the first time the exhibit will be in the state of Michigan, and he encourages children and adults to engage with the hands-on components of the show. 

“Dinosaurs in general are exciting to people, much less, we have the largest and most well-preserved T. rex of all time,” Gangidine said. “We're excited to bring that to people… it's aimed at all audiences and it really is fascinating from the from the standpoint of hearing what the T. rex sound is like, there's other dinosaurs that are going to be there as well like a triceratops, one of the parts is you can smell the breath of what a T. rex might have smelled like.”

"SUE: The T. rex Experience"

Saturday-April 30, 2023 at the Cranbrook Institute of Science

39221 Woodward, Bloomfield hills

Tickets for the experience are $10 in addition to the museum admission fee. The experience is available during regular museum hours.