The site where a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton was found in North Dakota.Credit…Denver Museum of Science and Nature

The New York Times has a story about the discovery of a Tyrannosaurs rex skeleton.  The fossil was found in the summer of 2022 by two boys hiking with their father and a cousin.  They saw bones poking out of a rock and sent a photo to a paleontologist friend to get an identification.  The animal is now referred to as “Teen Rex”.  It was about a 10 foot tall dinosaur that weighted about 3,500 pounds.  The find was announced by the Denver Museum of Nature & Science on June 3rd, 2024.

The friend of the father who identified the fossil, Tyler Lyson, who is the museum’s curator of paleontology, said in a statement that the boys had made an “incredible dinosaur discovery that advances science and deepens our understanding of the natural world.”

After identifying the fossil — found in the Hell Creek Formation, a rocky area south of Marmarth, N.D., that dates back more than 65 million years — Dr. Lyson led an 11-day excavation that involved removing the overlying rock with a 70-pound jackhammer, picks and shovels. The bones were then carefully excavated, photographed and encased in protective plaster so that they could be safely transported back to the museum. Paleontologists plan to return to the site this year to keep looking for bones, the museum said.