Current:Home > ScamsThree boys found a T. rex fossil in North Dakota. Now a Denver museum works to fully reveal it-DB Wealth Institute B2 Reviews & Ratings
Three boys found a T. rex fossil in North Dakota. Now a Denver museum works to fully reveal it
lotradecoin volume View Date:2024-12-26 05:33:26
Two young brothers and their cousin were wandering through a fossil-rich stretch of the North Dakota badlands when they made a discovery that left them “completely speechless”: a T. rex bone poking out of the ground.
The trio announced their discovery publicly Monday at a Zoom news conference as workers at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science prepare to begin chipping the fossil out of its rock cast at a special exhibit called the Teen Rex Prep Lab. The exhibit’s opening on June 21 will coincide with the debut of the film “T.REX,” about the July 2022 find.
It all started when Kaiden Madsen, then 9, joined his cousins, Liam and Jessin Fisher, then 7 and 10, on a hike through a stretch of land owned by the Bureau of Land Management around Marmarth, North Dakota. Hiking is a favorite pastime of the brothers’ father, Sam Fisher.
“You just never know what you are going to find out there. You see all kinds of cool rocks and plants and wildlife,” he said.
Liam Fisher recalled that he and his dad, who accompanied the trio, first spotted the bone of the young carnivore. After its death around 67 million years ago, it was entombed in the Hell Creek Formation, a popular paleontology playground that spans Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas. The formation has yielded some of the most well-preserved T. rex fossils ever. Among them is Sue, a popular attraction at the Field Museum in Chicago, and Wyrex, a star at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
But none of them knew that then. Liam said he thought the bone sticking out of the rock was something he described as “chunk-osaurus” — a made-up name for fragments of fossil too small to be identifiable.
Still, Sam Fisher snapped a picture and shared it with a family friend, Tyler Lyson, the associate curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Initially, Lyson suspected it was a relatively common duckbill dinosaur. But he organized an excavation that began last summer, adding the boys and a sister, Emalynn Fisher, now 14, to the team.
It didn’t take long to determine they had found something more special. Lyson recalled that he started digging with Jessin where he thought he might find a neck bone.
“Instead of finding a cervical vertebrae, we found the lower jaw with several teeth sticking out of it,” Lyson said. “And it doesn’t get any more diagnostic than that, seeing these giant tyrannosaurus teeth starring back at you.”
A documentary crew with Giant Screen Films was there to capture the discovery.
“It was electric. You got goosebumps,” recalled Dave Clark, who was part of the crew filming the documentary that later was narrated by Jurassic Park actor Sir Sam Neill.
Liam said his friends were dubious. “They did not believe me at all,” he said.
He, Jessin and Kaiden — who the brothers consider to be another sibling — affectionately dubbed the fossil “The Brothers.”
Based on the size of the tibia, experts estimate the dino was 13 to 15 years old when it died and likely weighed around 3,500 pounds (1,587.57 kilograms) — about two-thirds of the size of a full-grown adult.
Ultimately, a Black Hawk helicopter airlifted the plaster-clad mass to a waiting truck to drive it to the Denver museum.
Lyson said more than 100 individual T. rex fossils have been unearthed, but many are fragmentary. It is unclear yet how complete this fossil is. So far, they know they have found a leg, hip, pelvis, a couple of tailbones and a good chunk of the skull, Lyson said.
The public will get to watch crews chip away the rock, which the museum estimates will take about a year.
“We wanted to share the preparation of this fossil with the public because it is a remarkable feeling,” Lyson said.
Jessin, a fan of the Jurassic Park movies and an aspiring paleontologist, has continued looking for fossils, finding a turtle shell just a couple days ago.
For other kids, he had this advice: “Just to put down their electronics and go out hiking.”
veryGood! (273)
Related
- 51 Must-Try Stress Relief & Self-Care Products for National Relaxation Day (& National Wellness Month)
- NYC man accused of damaging license plates on Secret Service vehicles guarding VP’s stepdaughter
- Christina Hall Reacts to Possibility of Replacing Ex Josh Hall With Ant Anstead on The Flip Off
- Olympian Mary Lou Retton's Daughter Skyla Welcomes First Baby
- Usher concert postponed hours before tour opener in Atlanta
- Utah congressional candidate contests election results in state Supreme Court as recount begins
- Toilet paper and flat tires — the strange ways that Californians ignite wildfires
- 2024 Olympics: Tennis' Danielle Collins Has Tense Interaction With Iga Swiatek After Retiring From Match
- Traveling? Here Are the Best Life-Saving Travel Accessories You Need To Pack, Starting at Just $7
- Lawmaker posts rare win for injured workers — and pushes for more
Ranking
- Kaley Cuoco and Tom Pelphrey announce engagement with new photos
- Maya Rudolph sets 'SNL' return as Kamala Harris for 2024 election
- Olympian Mary Lou Retton's Daughter Skyla Welcomes First Baby
- Stock market today: Asian benchmarks are mixed as Tokyo sips on strong yen
- Efforts to return remains, artifacts to US tribes get $3 million in funding
- Judge hears NFL’s motion in ‘Sunday Ticket’ case, says jury did not follow instructions on damages
- Simone Biles uses Instagram post to defend her teammates against MyKayla Skinner's shade
- Watch: Orioles' Jackson Holliday crushes grand slam for first MLB home run
Recommendation
-
TikToker Nicole Renard Warren Claps Back Over Viral Firework Display at Baby’s Sex Reveal
-
China's Pan Zhanle crushes his own world record in 100 freestyle
-
By the dozen, accusers tell of rampant sexual abuse at Pennsylvania juvenile detention facilities
-
Black and other minority farmers are getting $2 billion from USDA after years of discrimination
-
Austin Dillon loses automatic playoff berth for actions in crash-filled NASCAR win
-
You’ll Bend and Snap Over Ava Phillippe’s Brunette Hair Transformation
-
Donald Trump’s EPA Chief of Staff Says the Trump Administration Focused on Clean Air and Clean Water
-
Christina Applegate Details the Only Plastic Surgery She Had Done After Facing Criticism