Chew on this: Airport to display T. rex skeleton
His massive rack of pointy teeth might have alarmed security guards, but he's a little too old to do much harm.
T. rex, a life-sized model of a 65-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex, has taken up residence at Pittsburgh International Airport. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History donated the skeleton cast to call attention to the museum's fossil collection and to promote the region as a destination for dinosaur fans.
"This is our newest airport ambassador," said Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey at a news conference Thursday for the unveiling. "We are telling people that you have reached a place that has great culture."
The dinosaur skeleton model is more than 30 feet long and stands 15 feet high. It is on permanent exhibit in the airside terminal, between escalators and within eyesight of the people-mover trains.
A cast of a fossil discovered in 1995 in the badlands of Montana, it is the first of a series of art and museum displays the county Airport Authority plans to bring to the airport through its art and exhibit committee.
Traveler Heidi Kammer, of Morgantown, W.Va., leaned over the railing at the top of the airport's escalators yesterday to study the beast and said she was delighted to see it.
As a geologist who is married to a paleontologist — someone who studies ancient remains — Kammer approved of T. rex's lifelike pose. "It's hunched over, like a wild turkey," she said.
Besides having the world's third-largest collection of dinosaur fossils, the Museum of Natural History boasts ownership of the first Tyrannosaurus rex fossil discovered by humans. It also is home to an extensive mineral and gem collection. But many people in Pittsburgh and elsewhere do not realize the quality of the collections, museum officials said.
The unveiling of the dinosaur model yesterday heralds the 100th birthday of the discovery of the first T. rex in 1902. There will be a "birthday party" for the sinister-looking reptile on Saturday at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. Admission costs $8 for adults, $5 for senior citizens, children ages 3 to 18 and full-time students. Admission is free to children under age 3 and to museum members.
Museum director Bill DeWalt said the facility is raising money to build a new dinosaur wing that would showcase more of its fossils. To build interest in the project, his staff will be placing models of dinosaurs, decorated by artists, on visible outdoor spots throughout the city. Most will be displayed next summer.
"Dinosaurs will be popping up all over Pittsburgh for the first time in 65 million years," DeWalt said.
Officials hope to obtain public funds and private donations for the expansion project and aim to wrap up fund-raising by about 2007.
