Field Museum Acquires World's Largest Dinosaur

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago Field Museum acquired a new dinosaur Wednesday. Maximo the Titanosaurus is the world's largest dinosaur, standing at 122 feet from head to tail.

As CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez reports, it made quite the grand entrance, traveling through time and continents to its new home.

The dinosaur's journey started in Argentina, went west from the sea to a truck, and then lifted by a crane before moving inside the Field Museum.

Maximo the Titanosaurus will be put together piece by piece.

"It's amazing to see," said Bob Simpson, a Paleontologist at the Field Museum. "But like a lot of moving days, it did not go off without a hitch."

Simpson says he was hoping that all of the pieces of Max would fit in the freight elevator, however the biggest part did not, missing by two inches.

"We were just lucky enough to get the crane in time," said Simpson.

Maximo is three times as long as Sue the T-Rex.

"It is huge! I didn't realize it was so massive," said a Field Museum attendee.

An artist's sketch shows how Maximo will fill half of Stanley Field Hall.

"Did you say the tail was going to that balcony and the head was going to go into that one? Oh my!," claimed Alexandra Hunstad after learning about how much space the dinosaur will take up.

At 100 million years old, Maximo has Sue beat by 34 million years. Unlike Sue, he's a replica, not the real thing.

Simpson said, "Since it's a cast people can come up and touch it and interact with it in a more intimate way then you could Sue."

While Maximo is a cast, real Titanosaurus bones discovered in Argentina will be part of the display. Because paleontologist found bones from six different dinosaurs, they were able to recreate this dinosaur. Maximo should be in one piece by Friday.