Chicago rolled out the red carpet Monday for its newest celebrity resident: the Field Museum’s newly announced Chicago Archaeopteryx.
The fossil — of the oldest bird dinosaur known to science, often dubbed the “missing link” between the two organisms — is only the 13th Archaeopteryx specimen ever announced. Just two of these are found in museums outside of Europe and of those two, the Field’s is the only one owned by a public natural history museum.
Because so many of the other Archaeopteryx specimens are held by private collectors or are unavailable to researchers, the Field Museum’s acquisition unlocks a huge potential for scientific discovery.
“I am blown away by how much new information the Chicago Archaeopteryx has revealed in just the few months I’ve been able to study it,” Jingmai O'Connor, associate curator of fossil reptiles at the Field, said at the unveiling ceremony.
While O’Connor is uniquely positioned to take advantage of having an Archaeopteryx specimen at her disposal — her specialty is the evolution of fossil birds — the Field, with its 1.1 million annual visitors, is similarly well suited to increasing awareness of an iconic species that's not nearly as well known as, say, T. Rex or triceratops.
“We are not only an active research institution, but we are an institution that prioritizes and takes joy in public education,” said O’Connor.
The Chicago Archaeopteryx was unveiled Monday at the Field Museum. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
The Field’s temporary Archaeopteryx exhibit, and the fossil’s permanent gallery-sized home set to debut in the fall, will help connect the dots between familiar, long-extinct members of the dinosaur family and the branch of the dinosaur tree that survives today: birds.
Greater understanding of that relationship isn’t just about reconstructing the past, said Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker.
“Answering questions about natural history is helping us drive advances in modern environmental sciences,” Pritzker said.
To that end, Chicago can now claim bragging rights as a global center for paleontology. It’s right there in the name of the Chicago Archaeopteryx.
“I think it’s just so cool that the names of the specimens honor the cities where they reside,” O’Connor said.
Connie Van Beek, left, and Akiko Shinya celebrated the reveal of the Chicago Archaeopteryx. The two spent a collective 1,200 preparing the fossil, revealing intricate detail formerly hidden in rock. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 | [email protected]
