World News

Newly Discovered Triceratops Skeleton Uncovered in Colorado

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Tony Maples Photography

 

While construction was getting underway for a new Public Safety Facility in Thornton, Colorado, crews discovered something unusual in the sandy soil. KXAN reports that the construction crew uncovered a 66-million-year-old skeleton belonging to a Triceratops.

This is an incredibly unusual and amazing find as the skull is surprisingly intact. Joe Sertich, the dinosaur curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, told the news, “A lot of times these will be plowed up and they won’t be recognized. We’re really lucky in this case that it was recognized as fossils and we got the call.”

The Chicago Tribune states that the Triceratops skeleton will continue to be slowly uncovered, but so far, its horns and shoulder bones have been exposed. When crews first saw the bones, they knew they had to keep quiet about the discovery just in case someone would travel to the job site and vandalize it or try to retrieve pieces of bone. Security is now patrolling the thrilling find around-the-clock.

Sertich says due to the way that the bones are situated, the Triceratops probably died and laid on its side while it disintegrated. During this time, creatures like the T-rex could have come along and grabbed a bite of the dinosaur, meaning that the dig could uncover T-rex teeth, as well.