DENVER — A pair of young siblings and their cousin were exploring a fossil-rich area of the North Dakota badlands when they stumbled upon a find that left them utterly astounded: a T. rex bone protruding from the earth.
The young explorers revealed their extraordinary discovery to the public on Monday during a Zoom press conference. Meanwhile, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science is gearing up to start extracting the fossil from its rocky encasement in a special exhibit named Unearthing Teen Rex. The exhibit is set to open on June 21, coinciding with the premiere of the film “T.REX,” which chronicles the July 2022 discovery.
The adventure began when Kaiden Madsen, aged 9 at the time, accompanied his cousins, Liam and Jessin Fisher, then aged 7 and 10 respectively, on a hike through a tract of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management near Marmarth, North Dakota. The boys’ father, Sam Fisher, is an avid hiker.
“The outdoors is full of surprises. You can come across all sorts of fascinating rocks, plants, and wildlife,” he remarked.
Liam Fisher recollected that he and his father, who was with the group, were the first to spot the bone of the juvenile carnivore. The dinosaur died approximately 67 million years ago and was buried in the Hell Creek Formation, a renowned paleontological hotspot that spans Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. This formation has produced some of the most pristine T. rex fossils ever discovered, including Sue, a crowd-pleaser at the Field Museum in Chicago, and Wyrex, a highlight at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
However, at the time, none of them realized the significance of their find. Liam initially thought the bone jutting out from the rock was what he whimsically termed a “chunk-osaurus” — a playful name for fossil fragments too tiny to be identifiable.
Regardless, Sam Fisher took a photo and sent it to a family friend, Tyler Lyson, the associate curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Lyson initially thought it was a fairly common duckbill dinosaur. However, he arranged an excavation that commenced last summer, with the boys and their sister, Emalynn Fisher, now 14, joining the team.
It didn’t take long to realize they had unearthed something extraordinary. Lyson remembered starting to dig with Jessin in an area where he expected to find a neck bone.
“Instead of finding a cervical vertebrae, we discovered the lower jaw with several teeth protruding from it,” Lyson said. “There’s nothing more definitive than seeing these massive tyrannosaurus teeth staring back at you.”
A film crew from Giant Screen Films was on hand to document the momentous discovery.
“The atmosphere was electrifying. It gave you goosebumps,” recalled Dave Clark, a member of the crew filming the documentary, which was later narrated by “Jurassic Park” actor Sir Sam Neill.
Liam said his friends were skeptical. “They didn’t believe me at all,” he admitted.
He, Jessin, and Kaiden — who the brothers regard as another sibling — affectionately named the fossil “The Brothers.”
Based on the size of the tibia, experts estimate the dinosaur was between 13 and 15 years old when it died and probably weighed around 3,500 pounds — roughly two-thirds the size of a fully grown adult.
In the end, a Black Hawk helicopter airlifted the plaster-encased mass to a waiting truck, which transported it to the Denver museum.
Lyson noted that over 100 individual T. rex fossils have been discovered, but many are fragmentary. The completeness of this particular fossil is still uncertain. So far, they have identified a leg, hip, pelvis, a few tailbones, and a significant portion of the skull, Lyson said.
The public will have the opportunity to watch crews painstakingly remove the rock, a process the museum estimates will take about a year.
“We wanted to share the process of preparing this fossil with the public because it’s an incredible experience,” Lyson said.
Jessin, a “Jurassic Park” enthusiast and budding paleontologist, continues his fossil hunting endeavors, having recently found a turtle shell.
His advice to other children is simple: “Put down your electronics and go out hiking.”
Agree – This is such an amazing discovery and it’s great to see efforts being made to fully uncover the T. rex fossil. Can’t wait to learn more about this incredible find!
Great news! Love seeing museums dedicated to preserving and showcasing amazing finds like this T. rex fossil.
This is an incredible discovery that deserves to be fully explored and showcased for everyone to appreciate. #TrexDiscovery
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