July 14, 2024 at 12:26 pm

Three North Dakota Kids Found A “Teenager” T-Rex Fossil While Hiking

by Trisha Leigh

Source: YouTube

There are people who go out for walks every single day and never find anything cool.

Then there are the lucky, chosen few who stumble across finds of a lifetime while they’re just enjoying their day.

To be fair, if something like this happened to me as a teenager, I’d probably be afraid I’d peaked early.

Jessin and Liam Fisher were out for a hike with their dad Sam and their cousin, Kaiden Madsen in the badlands when the saw some bones.

Source: YouTube

The kids were all fossil enthusiasts and often went out looking for them, so they were immediately thrilled about the find.

Their father, who happened to go to school with the curator of paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, quickly sent pictures to his friend, Dr. Tyler Lyson.

It was a juvenile T. rex, and the following summer, the boys got to return to the site to help Dr. Lyson and his team excavate the fossils.

Source: YouTube

The fossil preserved about 30% of the skeleton and has a tibia with a length of 32 inches. An adult T. Rex would have a tibia length of around 44 inches, which is how they concluded it must be a younger version.

According to Dr. Lyson, only a few juvenile T. rex skeletons have ever been found.

“By going outside and embracing their passions and the thrill of discovery, these boys have made an incredible dinosaur discovery that advances science and deepens our understanding of the natural world.”

The fossilized remains are on display in Denver, in an experience called “Discovering Teen Rex.”

There will also be an accompanying film.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about the mysterious “pyramids” discovered in Antarctica. What are they?