Government Shutdown Stops a T. Rex in its Tracks

The shutdown of the US federal government has stopped a Tyrannosaurus rex dead in its tracks.

The highly anticipated arrival of a rare, nearly complete T. Rex skeleton at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History has been delayed for several months, yet another victim of government furlough.

A planned Oct. 11 send-off of the skeleton from its home in Bozeman, Mont. to the Washington D.C. museum has been canceled, along with a Smithsonian program for hundreds of school children who were to be inducted as "junior paleontologists" at a welcome ceremony for the T. Rex at the nation's capital, according to The New York Times.

Kirk Johnson, the director of the Museum of Natural History, said that concerns over winter weather will keep the T. Rex in Montana until spring, even if the federal government restarts in the coming weeks.

"We'd prefer not to move him out of Bozeman in the snow," he said. "It's a complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, and there aren't that many of those around. You don't want to ding him up."

Moving the rare skeleton required coordination of a number of federal entities, including the National Parks Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns the skeleton.

The National Museum of Natural History secured the rights to display the T. Rex -- one of its most significant acquisitions ever -- in a 50-year loan agreement with the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University. A new dinosaur exhibition hall is being planned at the Smithsonian and the T. Rex is to be the centerpiece.

The skeleton, which is packed away in 16 shipping containers, was expected to arrive in Washington on Oct. 16, just in time for National Fossil Day.

Now, the T. Rex will remain in those packing containers over winter and make its way to Washington in the spring.