The Tate Museum at Casper College is looking a little more prehistoric.

A 15-foot tall, 28-foot long, 5,000 pound bronze statue of a Tyrannosaurus Rex has arrived on campus and will be placed on a pedestal just north of the museum.

Chris Navarro of Casper is the sculptor and the project is called "Essence of Rex."

He says the project was proposed and funded by Marialyce Tobin of Casper College.

He adds that the T-Rex will have about 1,500 LED lights to illuminate the piece from within, which is why it's missing part of its body.

"She wanted me to a dinosaur, and she wanted light to radiate from the inside out, so really this idea is Marialyce Tobin's for the dinosaur for the light to come out of it. This is my concept of what it was, so if I was going to do a dinosaur, I wanted to do a T-Rex, because the Rex was probably the most ferocious predator that has ever roamed the earth."

Some work still needs to be done on the pedestal, before the T-Rex can be placed on it.

College officials say work crews should be able to get everything put together, not long after the 4th of July.

This is Navarro's 26th sculpture that he has completed and #27 is in the works for the University of Wyoming.

Among his other pieces of work include the Mustang statue at the Natrona County High School football field, and the 20-percent chance of flurries statue, located in downtown Casper, on the corner of Center and 'A' Streets.

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