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Why the Field Museum is moving Sue the T. rex

CHICAGO (AP) — The largest Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found is on the move.

Chicago's Field Museum began dismantling the skeleton named Sue on Monday. Crews are preparing to move the display to a new exhibit and bring in a cast of an even larger dinosaur.

Sue has been in the spacious Stanley Field Hall since 2000. Sue's handler, Bill Simpson, says that despite being the largest T. rex ever found, Sue looks puny beneath the 70-foot-high (21-meter-high) ceiling in the museum's main hall.

Simpson says Sue will appear in a new exhibition space in 2019, in a second-floor gallery, where it'll look better.

Sue is making way for a cast of a titanosaur, a plant-eating dinosaur that's three times the length of the T. rex. Its neck will stretch up to the second-floor balcony level.

In this Monday, Feb. 5, 2018, photo, Garth Dallman, left, and Bill Kouchie, both from the dinosaur restoration firm Research Casting International, Ltd., work at dismantling Sue, the Tyrannosaurus rex, on display at Chicago's Field Museum in preparation to move the towering display to a new exhibit and bring in a cast of an even larger dinosaur. Sue will appear in a new exhibition space in 2019, in a second-floor gallery. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
In this Monday, Feb. 5, 2018, photo, Garth Dallman, right, and Bill Kouchie, both from the dinosaur restoration firm Research Casting International, Ltd., begin the world of dismantling Sue, the Tyrannosaurus rex, on display at Chicago's Field Museum in preparation to move the towering display to a new exhibit and bring in a cast of an even larger dinosaur. Sue will appear in a new exhibition space in 2019, in a second-floor gallery. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
In this Monday, Feb. 5, 2018, photo, Garth Dallman, an employee of dinosaur restoration firm Research Casting International, Ltd, tags a piece removed from the Tyrannosaurus rex Sue at Chicago's Field Museum. Sue is being dismantled and moved from Stanley Field Hall where it's been located since 2000. She'll reappear in a second-floor gallery. Sue is making way for a cast of a titanosaur, a plant-eating dinosaur that's three times the length of the T. rex. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
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