Look Who’s Reporting for Santa Duty. Field Museum Takes a Dino-mite New Approach to the Holidays

Patty Wetli | December 6, 2024, 3:27 pm

Máximo the titanosaur gets into the holiday spirit at the Field Museum. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Expecting a visit from old St. Nick this Christmas? You might need a bigger chimney.

In a first for the Field Museum, the exhibits staff has outfitted four of its dinosaur replicas (OK, three dinosaurs and one pterosaur) in Santa hats to celebrate the festive season.

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The “hatting” took place Friday, with a distinctive red-and-white cap even perched atop “Sue in the Flesh.” This lifelike model of the Field’s famous T. rex has been traveling the world, on loan to other museums, but made it home just in time for the holidays.

“We do all kinds of serious work here, it’s nice to have a little fun,” said Gedi Jakovickas, exhibition production supervisor, who oversaw hat placement.

If dinos could talk, we think Sue in the Flesh would be saying, “Don’t mess up my hair,” as staff at the Field Museum fit the T. Rex model with a Santa hat. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

The hat for Sue in the Flesh is by far the biggest, measuring 144 inches in circumference, he said.

For comparison, the hat for Máximo the titanosaur — aka the world’s largest dinosaur — measured 52 inches. Santa hats sold to top those 12-foot Halloween skeletons are typically 44 inches.

Jakovickas found a company that specializes in making extra, extra large Santa hats, and said his unusual order didn’t phase them a bit.

The museum has, in the past, opted against involving its dinos in holiday shenanigans, given the scientific importance of the Field’s collection. No actual fossils were included in the Christmas display, staff emphasized.

Visitors will instead spot the cheerful caps on models of Sue in the Flesh; Sobek the spinosaurus and Máximo the titanosaur, both towering over Stanley Hall; and Quetzalcoatlus, the pterosaur, which has a holiday throne installed nearby for photo shoots.

The dinos will stay decked for the holidays through the new year. Sue in the Flesh will go back on tour Jan. 16.

Sobek the spinosaurus looks ready to take Rudolph’s job. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)