One for the books! An astonishing discovery by Denver Museum of Nature & Science Scientist
It is scorching hot in the middle of July 2016, temperatures surpassing the 3-digit mark. Location: Southwestern North Dakota, aka middle of nowhere. Sweat is dripping from every pore of Denver Museum of Nature & Science Scientist Tyler Lyson and Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History Kirk Johnson. They were the only two brave souls in this part of the Hell Creek badlands roasting under the summer sun, hiking along the outcrop in search of amazing plant and animal fossils... and [hopefully] new discoveries.
“When we’re out prospecting, it's incredibly exciting because anything is possible. We could find amazing fossils like a completely articulated T. rex skeleton, mummified dinosaurs or even a new species of animal. These possibilities make it all worth it, regardless of what mother nature throws at us — extreme temperature, rattlesnakes, scorpions and the unknown,” said Lyson.
For Lyson and Johnson, mother nature was not a limiting factor that year, though. In fact, all the sweating and hundreds of miles of hiking and non-stop digging turned out to be quite the opposite: a truly remarkable discovery. One that wouldn’t be known to the public until now.
