A private gala marked the 66-million-year-old skeleton’s completion on Friday, with a public exhibition scheduled for May 26.Fossil restorer Andrea Iurin of Trieste, Italy, left, hands a fossilized rib bone to fossil restorer Tomas Stark of Sezana, Slovenia, while working to assemble the fossilized remains of triceratops Big John at the Glazer Children’s Museum in Tampa on Wednesday.

There were a lot of high-profile personalities at the Glazer Children’s Museum annual gala over the weekend, but none as famous as the newly completed skeleton of Big John, the largest triceratops ever uncovered.

The 26-foot-long dinosaur made history when it was first discovered in South Dakota in 2014. And it made history again in 2021 when it fetched a record $7.7 million at an auction in Paris, the most ever paid for ancient bones that weren’t a T. rex. The winning bid came from Tampa entrepreneur Sidd Pagidipati, chairperson of Ayon Capitol and Better Health Group. He is lending Big John to the museum for the next three years.

The auction made international news because of the stunning sight of the triceratops once it had been excavated from the rock and because missing parts were filled in with 3D printing. The 10-foot-tall dino the size of a moving van is one of the most complete sets of fossil remains ever unearthed, roughly 60% whole.

In Tampa, fossil restorers put Big John back together again in less than a week, and the skeleton was complete in time for Friday’s gala.

Now the museum will work for the next three months constructing the immersive dinosaur exhibit designed to take both children and adults into Big John’s world. The exhibit will feature tunnels with clear domes, where curious kids can pop up and see the skeleton from underneath.

Once the exhibit opens Memorial Day weekend, the museum will waive its rule that currently prevents adults without kids from entering the children’s museum, said spokeswoman Kate White. The dinosaur will be included with admission, but registration will be required because they will be doing timed entries, White said.

Triceratops is an unusual dinosaur, the Smithsonian noted in a recent article. It looks intimidating, but it was an herbivore. Its three horns allowed triceratops to lock horns with each other.

Big John’s skeleton is helping historians piece together more information on how the animals lived. A recent analysis by the scientific journal Nature found that an unexpected hole in the frill of Big John indicates that the opening is a combat wound, perhaps caused by a slipped horn during a fight. It also found evidence of healing at the wound, so he might not have died from the wound, but possibly from an infection from it, the journal found.

Tampa Bay Times photographer Douglas Clifford closely followed the journey of the dinosaur bones to Tampa and the work it took to assemble the skeleton for display.

Workers relocate a crate containing the fossilized bones of the triceratops nicknamed Big John moments after the bones arrived at the Glazer Children’s Museum in Tampa. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]Paleontologist Walter Stein of Belle Fourche, S.D., shares stories of his discovery near a crate containing the remains of Big John. Stein discovered the triceratops in 2014 at South Dakota’s Hell Creek geological formation. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]A paleoartist and two fossil restorers work on the bones of Big John in late January. The dinosaur will go on display in a new exhibit opening Memorial Day weekend. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]The goal in fossil restoration is to fill the gaps in a specimen that is either unstable or not present using a combination of resins, adhesives, putties and acrylic paints. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]Paleoartist Elia Smaniotto creates a mix of acrylic paints while working on the fossilized bones of Big John. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]Fossil restorer Andrea Iurin restores a fossilized femur of Big John at the Glazer Children’s Museum. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]Fossil restorer Andrea Iurin of Italy works on the bones of Big John at the Glazer Children’s Museum in Tampa. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]A fossilized front foot belonging to Big John lies on the workroom floor where fossil restoration was taking place at the Glazer Children’s Museum in Tampa. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]A large section of vertebrae belonging to Big John lies on the workroom floor at the Tampa museum. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]The fossilized mandible of Big John gets worked on in late January at the Glazer Children’s Museum in Tampa. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]Sidd Pagidipati helps his son Aren, 4, touch the fossilized skull of Big John during the skull’s unboxing. Pagidipati paid a record $7.7 million for the skeleton and is lending it to Glazer Children’s Museum. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]Ami Pagidipati, holding son Aren, 4, and Tampa businessman Sidd Pagidipati stand near the fossilized skull of Big John at the museum. It was the first time Pagidipati got to see the skeleton in person. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]Fossil restorer Andrea Iurin of Trieste, Italy, sorts the dinosaur bones while assembling the remains of Big John. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]Fossil restorer Tomas Stark of Slovenia mounts the fossilized remains of triceratops Big John onto a steel frame. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times ]Fossil restorer Tomas Stark and paleoartist Elia Smaniotto mount rib bones onto a steel frame while assembling the remains of Big John. [ DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD |

source :www.tampabay.com