World's Largest Triceratops Fossil BIG JOHN is moving into Tampa's Glazer Children's Museum

Go nose to nose with Big John, the World’s Largest Triceratops, in an immersive & playful exhibit coming soon to the Glazer Children’s Museum in Downtown Tampa.

Big John is coming to Tampa's Glazer Children’s Museum, and its huge news for the museum, especially as Big John himself is huge, to give you an idea of how big he is, he's the size of an RV, the largest documented triceratops skeleton ever discovered!

Discovered in South Dakota's Hell Creek geological formation, Big John is nearly 26 feet long and 10 feet high. He roamed the planet during the Late Cretaceous more than 66 million years ago and is estimated to be 5-10% larger than any other known triceratops.

Big John holds the Guinness World Record for the largest documented skeleton of a triceratops.

Tampa businessman Sidd Pagidipati and his wife Ami bought Big John for nearly $8 million, and are now allowing the Glazer Children’s Museum to put him on display as part of a new interactive exhibit.

A press conference was held at Glazer Children’s Museum to announce Big John's big move to Tampa.

“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.

“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.

Sarah Cole, President & CEO of Glazer Children's Museum said "We are so thankful to the Pagidipati family for their generous loan, which will spark an interest in dinosaurs and science with young learners and the entire Tampa Bay community."

The new 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, and now that Big John has found a home in Tampa, the Paleontologist Walter Stein who found him in South Dakota is happy.

He commented, “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."

The Glazer Children’s Museum will expand its public area to include its third floor, which will house Big John and a new education center for dinosaur-themed camps and field trips.

The Big John exhibit opens May 26 at the Glazer Children’s Museum and will be included with museum admission. Timed reservations will be used to ensure guests can visit Big John with minimal crowds.

Plus, for the first time, the Glazer Children’s Museum will open its doors to guests of every age, with or without children, to ensure everyone has access to this colossal experience.

The exhibit featuring Big John opens at the Glazer Children’s Museum Memorial Day weekend.