While searching through an area filled with old bones in the North Dakota Badlands, two young brothers and their cousin were amazed to find a T. rex bone sticking out of the ground, leaving them speechless.
Discovering 'Teen Rex'
The three kids revealed their remarkable discovery as the Denver Museum of Nature & Science personnel gears up to carefully extract the fossil from its rocky encasement.
This effort is part of a special exhibit titled "Discovering Teen Rex," which will open on June 21. The exhibit will also feature the premiere of the film T.REX, which chronicles the discovery made in July 2022.
ABC News reported that the adventure began when 9-year-old Kaiden Madsen joined his cousins, 7-year-old Liam and 10-year-old Jessin Fisher, for a hike through a tract of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management near Marmarth, North Dakota.
Hiking was a favorite activity of the boys' father, Sam Fisher, who often marveled at the variety of rocks, plants, and wildlife they encountered on their excursions.
Liam remembered that he and his father were the first to spot the bone from the young T. rex, or colloquially T-rex. This fossil, which dates back around 67 million years, was found in the Hell Creek Formation, a famed paleontological site that covers parts of Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas.
The Hell Creek Formation is known for yielding exceptionally well-preserved T-rex fossils, such as Sue, displayed at the Field Museum in Chicago, and Wyrex, featured at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
A professional fossil hunter placed a baby Tyrannosaurus rex fossil (not pictured) on auction on eBay. The action disappointed paleontologists who believe the specimen should have been analyzed first before being put on exhibit. (Photo : Pixabay)
From 'Chunk-osaurus' to T. Rex Fossil Excavation
At the time, none of them realized the significance of their find. Liam initially thought the bone protruding from the rock was what he called "chunk-osaurus" - a term they used for unidentifiable fossil fragments. Sam took a photo and sent it to Tyler Lyson, a family friend and associate curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Lyson initially assumed it was a common duckbill dinosaur. He organized an excavation last summer, including the boys and their sister, Emalynn Fisher, now 14, in the team.
The excavation quickly revealed they had uncovered something far more significant. Lyson remembered starting to dig with Jessin in an area where he anticipated finding a neck bone.
Liam recounted how his friends were initially skeptical. The fossil was affectionately named "The Brothers" by Liam, Jessin, and Kaiden. Lyson explained that instead of finding a cervical vertebra, they stumbled upon the lower jaw adorned with several teeth, an unmistakable sign of a Tyrannosaurus rex.
A documentary crew from Giant Screen Films documented the discovery. Dave Clark, a member of the documentary crew later narrated by Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill, vividly recalled the moment's excitement.
Experts estimated the dinosaur's age to be between 13 to 15 years old, weighing around 3,500 pounds (1,587.57 kilograms). A Black Hawk helicopter airlifted the plaster-encased specimen to the Denver museum.
Lyson noted that over 100 individual T. rex fossils have been discovered, though many are incomplete. The museum will allow the public to witness the meticulous process of chipping away the rock. Due to its extraordinary nature, Lyson expressed the desire to involve the public in the preparation of the fossil.
