A DAY AT THE FIELD MUSEUM.

3/28/2019 

A DAY AT THE FIELD MUSEUM. 

After a great breakfast at the Gold Lounge we headed out walking to the Field Museum. Along the way we passed by Buckingham Fountain and got to see a Red Wing Black Bird and a Cardinal. These were the highlights of our morning Urban Birding. 

The Field Museum’s Collection started during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and has not stopped growing since then, It was then granted it’s permanent home via a $1 million dollar gift from Marshal Field, hence the name “Field Museum”.  

We spent over 6 Hours covering every current exhibit and many old favorites. For me it was fun to reminisce about many places I have been, from Tibet, to Tanzania, South Africa, Egypt, South America, Hawaii, and more. 

To me, some classic exhibits are a must, the Lions of Tsavo, Bushman and Sue the T-Rex. 

BUSHMAN- He was raised by missionaries during his early years in Cameroon were he wandered out of the jungle. He was  later offered to the Lincoln Park Zoo where he lived for the rest of his life. During WWII, he was a symbol of strength for the troops and actually received a tire from Adolf Hitlers car to use as a play toy. 

Bushman was the first gorilla to live a long life in captivity, and his care became a model for zoos around the world. He became a fixture of Chicago and he won the hearts of the people of Chicago. When he passed in 1951, he was placed on exhibit at the Field Museum. 

Sue the Cookie 

Sue the T-Rex. While the sex of Sue is unknown it should be noted she gets her name from Sue Hendrickson who discovered Sue in South Dakota. This was a commercial excavation and Sue was actually auctioned off for 8.4 Million Dollars. The Field Museum won the auction with the help of the Walt Disney Company, McDonalds, and private donors. 

Sue is the most complete T-Rex specimen ever recovered at 90% complete. Sue has been the subject of many examinations to further our understanding of the dinosaurs. 

We did see a 3D movie telling the story of Sue, very informative as to how she was discovered and preserved. 

TSAVO Lions. 

March 1898, the British started building a railway bridge over the Tsavo River in Kenya. The project took a deadly turn when, over the next nine months, two maneless male lions mysteriously developed a taste for humans and went on a killing spree.  

The lions’ reign of terror ended when Colonel Patterson shot and killed them in late 1898, and the railroad was completed a few months later.

Patterson told the story of the lions, and the hunt that eventually took them down, in his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo and Other East African Adventures. Patterson reported that the lions’ feeding frenzy took the lives of 135 railway workers and native Africans, later revised to 356  deaths. 

One thing that struck me was the school field trips, and brought back memories. The one memory which really came back was bringing a lunch, storing them in big buckets and eating in the lunch room in the basement. 

Even though it was spring break the school crowds were not overwhelming. 

We left the Museum and walked back through Grant Park. We then cut over to Wabash and walked north to Al’s Beef. There we finished out quest for the Holy Trinity of Chicago Food, The Italian Beef. 

We walked back to our hotel as people were leaving work. We will go to the Lounge for a bit of dessert later this evening. 

Simply stated, the Field Museum is amazing in so many ways. The depth of the collections is mind-boggling. So when in Chicago, make sure you spend a great deal of time exploring this amazing place. 

World Wildlife Photography Awards- Amazing works were on display. What was interesting was some photos had been taken with drones as well as camera traps.