A T. rex named Sue

It took a lot of work and a little bit of luck for Sue to get to Anniston.

For about 67 million years, Sue's bones were hidden in South Dakota sandstone until Sue Hendrickson found the bones in 1990, according to the Field Museum in Chicago.

After the bones were dug out of the ground, paleontologists discovered that Hendrickson had discovered the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found. The skeleton was named after Hendrickson.

Then things got complicated, when it came to deciding exactly who Sue belonged to.

The spot where Sue was found was on a Sioux Indian reservation, on land owned by a private rancher. The matter eventually had to be decided in a five-year court battle, where a federal judge ruled that the rancher could sell Sue in a public auction where the Field Museum of Chicago bought her for $8.4 million.

The Field Museum then made a cast replica of Sue's bones and turned the replica into a traveling exhibit.

Though the replica does not contain actual bones, the casts are so highly detailed that some paleontologists study the replicas if they can't get the real bones. Museum visitors in Anniston should be awed, according to museum staff.

The Sue skeleton stands 13 feet high at the hips and is 42 feet long from head to tail, consisting of more than 200 pieces.

The T. rex cast skeleton is on loan to the Anniston Museum of Natural History from the Field Museum through Jan. 6, 2008.