The skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex discovered by Montana rancher Kathy Wankel is on its way from The Museum of the Rockies to one of the the most prestigious museums in the world.

 

"The corps and the Smithsonian's' National Museum of Natural History reached an agreement where this Montana T-Rex is going to represent Montana in the Smithsonian's new dinosaur hall," said Executive Director of The Museum of the Rockies, Shelly McKkamey. "It will be on loan so it will be coming back to Montana. It's on loan for 50 years though. Each year more then 7,000,000 people are going to see the specimen at the Smithsonian."

Mckamey says nearly 20 percent of America will get a chance to see the skeleton, which has earned itself a special place in modern paleontology.

"This is one of the most studied T-Rexs. People have researched it for a number of years," said McKamey. "We have had a cast of it in a national tour on whether dinosaurs were predators or scavengers. It is a beautiful specimen, and why wouldn't Montana send the very best it has to represent Montana."

The new Smithsonian dinosaur hall is scheduled to open in 2019. In the meantime, The Museum of the Rockies has received permission from the US Army Corps of Engineers to use the bones of another T-Rex as port of a complete standing skeleton.

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