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Monday, October 9, 2000

By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
"Gastralia," a riblike support system for the T. rex
belly, is not included in the "Sue" exhibit.

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"Publicity about the skeleton emphasize the fact that it is the most complete T. rex skeleton ever found. (But) pictures of it in the local press show that the 'gastralia,' riblike bones that helped support the animal's belly, are not included. I presume that this is because they are 'floaters' unattached to the main skeleton, thus presenting difficulties in mounting."

Trigg went on to wonder if this omission was explained in the exhibit signage. The short answer, no.

Bishop Museum vice-president Allen Allison, a walking font of T. rex trivia, says that gastralia aren't too common, and were primarily found in predator theropods, or hunting dinosaurs like T. rex, Allosaurus, the flying pterosaurs and the swimming plesiosaurs. They exist today only in creatures like crocodiles, which haven't changed much in the last hundred-million years.

Gastralia are actually very interesting to the amateur osteologist, forming a kind of mirror to the ribs, and providing support and protection for the predator's stomach. It shows that T. rex's belly was actually armored to some degree.

On the other hand, most of the "Sue" exhibit was prepared by the Field Museum in Chicago, and Bishop Museum staff were under orders not to monkey with it. The Field didn't exhibit the gastralia either.

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