T-Rex fossil on display at DaVinci Academy

OAKWOOD - Tinker the Teenage T-Rex made its debut at the DaVinci Academy (DVA) at South Hall Middle School Thursday, with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle on hand for the unveiling.

DaVinci has the honor of hosting the first public appearance of the fossil in its new "Footprints in Time" exhibit, a collaboration of the school and Gainesville State College.

Tinker, a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, was found in the Hell's Creek formation of western South Dakota. The 70-million-year-old juvenile T-Rex was about 2/3 the size of an adult but only 1/4 of an adult's weight. Tinker's skeleton is 70% complete, making it one of the most complete T-Rex skeletons ever recovered.

Tinker was discovered in 1998 and is owned by Ron Frithiof, an Austin, Texas real estate developer turned dinosaur prospector. Frithiof and fellow excavators spent many hot summers in South Dakota, painstakingly unearthing the dinosaur. Tinker's name comes from Frithiof's nickname. "I don't know why my parents started calling me Tinker," says Frithiof. "Somehow, it stuck."

The idea for the exhibit originated with DVA 8th graders Ethan Price and Jacob Frier who sought permission from Cindy White, DVA's student museum director, to set up an area of the school for a natural history exhibit that would feature fossils. Price and Frier were soon joined by 7th graders Grant Key, Hayden Shedd, and Christopher Spradlin on the project.

The student team also sought help from DVA's visiting paleontology educator, Dr. Steve Nicklas, a professor at Gainesville State College. When Dr. Nicklas announced that he could arrange for a T-Rex to be part of the exhibit, the project took off.

The DVA museum class and 6th grade students along with parent volunteers worked to help create the "Footprints in Time" exhibit, which also includes Ice Age Mammoth bones and other fossils. The original five students are now known as "The Tinker Team."

"When we first came up with the idea to have a room for a fossil and a dinosaur exhibit, I never dreamed we'd be including a T-Rex!" Price said, "This is an exciting experience that only a school like DaVinci could offer."

Nicklas is also a dinosaur paleontologist and professional fossil hunter. He donates his time at DVA introducing paleontology to interested students. His relationship with the DaVinci Academy began when he needed space to house a fossil lab and offered teaching time in exchange.

Paula Stubbs, DVA principal, and White did not hesitate to accept.

"I am able to bring this opportunity to DaVinci Academy because Hall County Schools had the insight to see the value of offering unused space for the benefit of their students," Nicklas said.

"We value our relationship with the Hall County School System and the DaVinci Academy and see this collaboration as an example of how learning knows no barriers. No matter the age of the student or the level of knowledge, a desire to know more and to share information bridges those gaps," said Gainesville State College President Martha T. Nesbitt. "We look forward to future opportunities to advance learning at the K-12 level and to providing students with knowledge that will spark the desire to succeed academically."

"Support for the Tinker exhibit has been amazing. Parent volunteers have helped find sponsors to cover the cost of creating the Tinker Team's vision for the exhibit," White added. "We can't say enough about the generosity of Mr. Frithiof and Dr. Nicklas, who continues to donate his time inspiring a new generation of potential paleontologists."

Tinker will be displayed in a 30-by-8 foot Hell's Creek dig site setting created by Gainesville State students under the direction of Nicklas.

Because it takes years to place dinosaur bones onto a steel frame, visitors will see Tinker placed as if he were still in an actual dig site.

Only about 30 Tyrannosaurus rex fossils have been found, mostly in the western part of the United States. None of these fossils are complete, so no one knows exactly how many bones a T-Rex had, but estimates are about 200 bones, roughly the same number as found in human beings.

The most famous T-Rex, Sue, is a huge and almost complete T-Rex fossil that was found by Susan Hendrickson near Faith, South Dakota, in August 1990. The Field Museum in Chicago has T-Rex Sue on permanent exhibit.

For additional information about the exhibit, please contact Cindy White, DVA Museum Director, at [email protected] or Paula Stubbs, Principal South Hall Middle School, at [email protected].