Seattle just get a new famous fogey : a 2500 - poundTyrannosaurus rexskull . Paleontologists dig up one of the most over dinosaur skulls ever discovered this summer , transporting it back to the University of Washington’sBurke Museum .
investigator from the museum and the University of Washington ( UW ) working in the fossil - plenteous Hell Creek Formation in Montana found theT. rexwhen a pair of volunteers make out bones sticking out from the hillside . In the excavation process , they had to remove about 20 tons of rock and roll from the hill , but the skull has now been successfully shift to the Pacific Northwest .
Named the Tufts - Love Rex after its discoverer , the dinosaur specimen is roughly 66.3 million years old and was about 15 years former when it die ( T. rexoften experience to 25 or 30 years one-time ) . There have been only 14 somewhat completeT. rexskulls discovered around the world before now , according to the university , making this a jolly exciting discovery . The skull itself is about 4 metrical foot long and still has some teeth .
In total , the finger cymbals regain so far comprise about 20 percent of theT. rex . Researchers excavated vertebra and bones from the pelvis , lower jaw , and ribs of the creature . There may still be more bones yet to be found at the land site , including the difference of the skull off-white that are still missing from the fossil .
Excavating all the bones is slow work , and the researchers will reelect to Montana to form on it next summer . clean the skull for museum display might take up toa year , but it ’s on display ( though covered in plaster ) until October 2 .
ThisT. rex“is definitely one of the most significant specimens yet find , and because of its size , is sure to relent significant information about the growing and possible feeding substance abuse of these splendid animal , ” paleontologistJack Horner , who establish the Hell Creek Project that bring out the specimen , explain in a UW press outlet . Now head by UW vertebrate paleontologist Greg Wilson , the undertaking has discovered 11T. rexfossils so far .
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