CHICAGO—Expressing their elation at the rare specimen’s successful mating, Field Museum officials announced the long-awaited pregnancy of Sue, the museum’s beloved T-rex, in a press conference Friday. “When we first acquired Sue, we were somewhat worried because she just hung around her exhibit all day and seemed to show no interest in mating, but now we’re thrilled to announce that the Field Museum has a baby Tyrannosaurus rex on the way,” said exhibitions developer Monisa Ahmed, recounting how the museum struggled to breed the dinosaur for several years before introducing Sue to Scott, the world’s largest T-rex, who was flown in from Saskatchewan for the project. “Since the T-rex is completely extinct in the wild, Sue’s pregnancy was a crucial issue for us. We were worried about closing the main hall for two weeks and letting Scott and Sue have the run of the place—and, frankly, the wear and tear was considerable—but it couldn’t have worked out better. Because we want to share the excitement with all of our guests, we’re holding a contest to name the baby T-rex—currently, ‘Little Ditka’ is the frontrunner, followed by ‘T-rex Grossman’—and as soon as the little one is ready for prime time, we’ll have a streaming ‘wee T-rex-cam’ so people watch the little dino grow up. We’re just thrilled for Sue.” Field Museum officials admitted that they were unsure of the due date because of the almost total absence of reliable T-rex gestational records.

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