TAMPA, Fla. — Big John is the size of an RV.
It’s the largest documented triceratops skeleton ever discovered.
Paleontologist Walter Stein found him in South Dakota.
“When I first saw it, the horn was absolutely massive. You could tell that Big John was big. This was an alpha big puppy. We knew from the debris field it had to be pretty complete too," said Stein.
Tampa businessman Sidd Pagidipati and his wife Ami bought Big John for nearly $8 million.
Sidd was fascinated by dinosaurs from an early age and is allowing the Glazer Children’s Museum to put him on display as part of an interactive exhibit.
“I’d like to be able to share that back with the community and bring dinosaurs to be here because not everyone can travel and now people can here to the children’s museum and get a full interactive, immersive experience with the largest triceratops in the world by Guinness Book of World Records," said Pagidipati.
“To be in a children’s museum here is phenomenal. This is hopefully going to inspire hundreds and thousands of kids to get into the sciences to become interested in paleontology and geology and ancient life," said Stein.
The exhibit will have tunnels with clear domes so kids and pop up right under Big John’s skeleton from underneath to get an even closer look.
“I haven’t seen Big John built yet. We’ve only seen pictures and we’ve shown our kids the pictures. So we are so excited to be able to see Big John put together. And we probably won’t be able to sleep a few nights before it happens," said Pagidipati.
The exhibit featuring Big John opens at the Glazer Memorial Day weekend.
