The Denver Museum of Nature and Science announced on Monday that two young brothers and their cousin accidentally discovered the rare Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil, according to ABC News.
The discovery was made during a hike near Marmarth, North Dakota, a known fossil hotspot within the Hell Creek Formation, where some of the most famous T. rex fossils have been found, including Sue at Chicago’s Field Museum and Wirex at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. according to To ABC News.
Nine-year-old Cayden Madsen and his cousins Liam and Jessin Fisher, then 7 and 10, were exploring land owned by the Bureau of Land Management when they spotted something unusual protruding from the ground. At first, they mistook it for a rock or a fragment of a little-known dinosaur that Liam called a “Chunk-osaurus,” and the group didn’t realize the significance of their find.
Three boys discovered a T-Rex fossil in North Dakota, and now a Denver museum is working to fully display it. https://t.co/9i2EBon0tB
— Fox 18 KLJB (@YourFox18) June 3, 2024
The children’s father, Sam Fisher, took a photo of the bone and showed it to Tyler Lyson, associate curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and a family friend. Lyson initially suspected it was a duckbill dinosaur, according to the museum, but decided to investigate further. Instead of just a bone, the team unearthed a T. rex mandible, complete with several distinctive teeth. (Related: Paleontologists discover new dinosaur species)
LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS – OCTOBER 17, 2016: Full view of the skull, jaw, thorax and teeth of a female T-Rex trix on display at Naturalis (natural history museum) in Leiden, Netherlands. The Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton was excavated by the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Montana, USA in 2013. (Photo by Dean Moutalopoulos/Getty Images)
The discovery was filmed by a Giant Screen Films documentary crew and narrated by “Jurassic Park” actor Sam Neill. According to ABC News, the crew’s presence helped liven up the unveiling of the fossils, which children have dubbed “The Brothers.” Based on the size of the tibia, experts estimate the dinosaur was between 13 and 15 years old at the time of death and weighed about 3,500 pounds, which is significantly smaller than a fully grown adult T-Rex. The find includes a leg, hip, pelvis, part of a tail and a significant portion of the skull.
The fossil was transported to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for preparation and display in a special exhibit, “The Discovery of T. Rex,” which is scheduled to open on June 21 to coincide with the release of the film about the discovery, according to ABC News. The museum plans to hold a public event to prepare the fossil, allowing visitors to watch as rock is carefully removed from the bone, a process that is expected to take about a year.
