Field Museum's Spinosaurus receives name after public vote
Spinosaurus exhibit debuts at Field Museum, featuring largest meat-eating dinosaur
The newest addition to the Field Museum on Chicago’s lakefront will give visitors a glimpse of the largest predatory dinosaur yet discovered via a 46-foot cast of a Spinosaurus skeleton suspended high above the museum’s main hall.
CHICAGO - The newest addition to the Chicago Field Museum's collection of prehistoric specimens now has a name after 31,000 votes were cast in an online poll.
Field Museum officials announced on Monday that the cast of a 46-foot Spinosaururs skeleton will be named Sobek, after an ancient Egyptian god with the head of a crocodile.
Museum fans cast more than 31,000 votes to give the prehistoric river monster a name, with 44 percent going to Sobek, museum officials announced in a statement. Another 42 percent of votes went to the second place suggestion, Sandy, while the name Sabah, an Arabic name meaning "swimmer", trailed behind with 14 percent.
Voters found the name Sobek was fitting for Spinosaurus, as the river-dwelling dinosaur had crocodile-like jaws and was first discovered in Egypt, according to museum officials.
Inflatable Sobek the Spinosaurus, and the Sobek fossil cast, at the Field Museum. (Field Museum)
Field Museum officials unveiled the Spinosaurus cast with its distinctive fin in June.
Scientists have long struggled to interpret Spinosaurus fossils to determine the animal’s behavior in life, uncertain whether it swam while hunting or simply waded into water in search of prey. Field Museum researcher Matteo Fabbri said the cast is about 60% of a skeleton, the most complete specimen of the species.
Spinosaurus (The Field Museum)
The only other cast of a Spinosaurus is on display in Japan.
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The Field Museum’s Spinosaurus cast joins a cast of the plant-eating Titanosaur in its main hall, dubbed "Máximo" and already a popular exhibit. That cast measures 122 feet across and stands 28 feet tall and represents the largest of all dinosaurs researchers have discovered.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.