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American Morning

65-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Displayed at the Smithsonian

Aired May 24, 2001 - 09:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Back here in the U.S., this is a new day for an ancient giant. A 65-million-year-old dinosaur is showing off a new face-lift and new form at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History.

Our science correspondent Ann Kellan joining us live from the Washington debut of this old lady.

And, Ann, I say that about the dinosaur as a term of endearment.

ANN KELLAN, CNN SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT: You should. And it's a sweet little thing, isn't it? It's a triceratops. It's like 22 feet long, it's about six tons and it was kind of a gentle creature, they say. It didn't eat meat. And it was just unveiled, and it has a new look. I mean it has a bigger head.

Basically, what went into designing this new look was a lot of advanced scanning and computer technologies. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's one of the strangest heads I've ever seen.

KELLAN (voice-over): For triceratops' makeover, scientists used detailed scans of bones to make a 3-D virtual replica. Then they used that to create a life-sized version. This is what the Smithsonian's triceratops looked like before and now. The head alone weighs about 700 pounds and is 15 percent bigger than the old version.

RALPH CHAPMAN, SMITHSONIAN PALEONTOLOGIST: It was small because the original head they used was the prettiest one and it just happened to be a little too small for the skeleton.

KELLAN: The bones that make up this triceratops come from different animals. But computer software helps scientists work out more realistic proportions for the new animal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A triceratops is something that fights a T- rex.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow.

KELLAN: Michael (ph), how does he do that? MICHAEL: With his horns.

KELLAN: Scientists plan to use this technology to study the animal's muscles, even its brain, to determine the senses it relied on most when it walked the earth 65 million years ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KELLAN: Now, you're looking at T-rex. He's at the exhibit, and he probably went after this critter. And guess what his name is? What is the name of the new guy triceratops? Do we know? His name is Hatcher. And a little boy named him Hatcher for all of the bones that J.B. Hatcher found back in the 1890s that helped put this triceratops together again -- back to you, Daryn.

KAGAN: Ann, as I understand, as they put him back together -- him or her, I don't know which one it is. I didn't mean to call...

KELLAN: It's hard to say.

KAGAN: OK. Didn't mean to call her an old lady if he's a guy. No offense taken. But that -- but when he -- the way it was assembled before was in a different position and it's a -- scientists have now come to discover that it wasn't the correct position and the correct posture.

KELLAN: Well, the posture, they say, was little -- at some exhibits were -- was more upright. And now, as you can see, he's more crouched. And they say he wasn't a fast runner. He probably ran about six miles an hour because when you have horns like that, who needs to run, right? So he stood his ground.

KAGAN: That's my kind of guy, a slow runner. Slow but steady.

KELLAN: That's right.

KAGAN: Very good. Ann Kellan joining us from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington this morning. Thank you, Ann.

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