Skull of "Sue" the T. rex

In this story:

• Killed by another T. rex?
• Claw weighs 2 pounds
• Related stories and sites

CHICAGO (CNN) -- In a new, state-of-the-art glass laboratory at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, a Tyrannosaurus rex known as "Sue" is beginning to take shape. Again.

About 90 percent of the 65-million-year-old dinosaur's skeleton was discovered in 1990, making it by far the most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever recovered.

So prized was it that the skeleton sold at auction last October for $8.36 million.

"I think the real importance of the specimen is its completeness and the fact that it ended up in the public domain," says Olivier Rieppel, a paleontologist at the museum.

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The T. rex was discovered near the town of Faith, South Dakota, in 1990. A woman named Sue Hendrickson -- hence the dinosaur's name -- discovered the bones while walking on a Cheyenne River Reservation ranch owned by Maurice Williams.

The fossils were excavated by Peter Larson, who planned to make them the centerpiece of his own museum. But disputes over who was the rightful owner of the skeleton led the FBI to raid Larson's museum in 1992 and seize the bones.

The rights to the bones were eventually restored to Williams, who decided to sell them through an auction at Sotheby's in New York.

The bones arrived in New York last fall in 130 crates and boxes amid fears that a precious piece of science could disappear from public view into a private collection.

Restoration of the fossil is on view to the public

Sotheby's estimated that the fossil would sell for about $1 million, and opened the bidding at $500,000.

But in a matter of moments the bidding skyrocketed to the $8.36 million -- including a 10 percent commission for the auction house -- offered by The Field Museum.

The museum's partners in the bidding included McDonald's Ronald McDonald House Charities, Walt Disney World Resorts, the California State University system and private individuals.

McDonald's also contributed to the McDonald's Fossil Preparation Laboratory at the museum, where visitors can watch through a glass wall as workers continue the painstaking work of putting Sue back together.

Scientists say that in the process, they have learned a lot about her.

A tooth fragment from a rival T. rex was embedded in her rib, and scientists suspect that a gouge on the side of her skull may be the wound that caused her death.

They also found that her lower left jaw was crushed, and that she had a broken leg as well.

While most T. rex skeletons are only about 40 to 50 percent complete, Sue is 50 feet long and virtually whole. One toe claw weighs 2 pounds.

"Since it is so unique and important a specimen, we'll have to mount it in a way that the bones can be removed for scientific study," says Rieppel.

"Sue" is carefully cleaned by lab workers

Sue will command her own exhibit.

"We need an extraordinary gallery, about 40 feet in height and of great length," says Willard White, the museum's vice president. "And a whole exhibit interpreting Sue and her era."

It will be two years before museum workers have Sue back together again. And for those who can't make it to Chicago, McDonald's and Walt Disney World Resorts are each having replicas made.

One will go on display in Florida, and the other will go on a tour of the United States.

Correspondent Patty Davis contributed to this report.