3 boys discovered a T. rex fossil in North Dakota. Here’s what happened
Three boys under the age of 10 discovered something while hiking in the North Dakota Badlands that had them “completely speechless.” What they found was a T. rex bone.
Brothers Liam Fisher, then 7, and Jessin Fisher, 10, with their cousin Kaiden Madsen, 9, made the find and shared their experience in the summer of 2022 and sent the photos to a paleontologist contact of the Fisher boys’ father. The paleontologist confirmed “they’d made a staggering discovery: They’d stumbled upon a rare juvenile skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex,” The New York Times reported.
“You just never know what you are going to find out there. You see all kinds of cool rocks and plants and wildlife,” Liam and Jessin’s father, Sam Fisher, told The Associated Press.
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science T. rex exhibit
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science announced that their finding “turned into a signifiant moment for science as only a handful of juvenile T. rex skeletons have ever been found.” It’s believed the fossil is part of the ancient dino’s tibia, or shin bone.
The museum is prepping to display the fossil at its temporary exhibition “Discovering Teen Rex,” which opens to the public June 21. Their story will also be featured in the documentary the museum will be screening starting the same date titled, “T. REX,” per a release.
“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 museum’s curator of paleontology, Tyler Lyson, said, per a release. “I’m excited for Museum guests to dig into the ‘Teen Rex Discovery’ experience, which I think will inspire the imagination and wonder, not only our community, but around the world!”
Excavating the fossil site for the T. rex fossil
Lyson had attended school with Fisher and was the paleontologist friend who identified the fossil from the original photos. He began excavating the fossil site and included the three boys and their 14-year-old sister, Emalynn Fisher, with his team to extract the fossil from the site. They also found other fossils, including a T. rex tooth, according to Live Science.
“Scientists can really only speculate on how ‘Teen rex’ might have lived and behaved, so discoveries like this one have the potential to provide important new information about those earlier life stages, when (the) fastest growth likely occurred,” Thomas Holtz, “T. REX” lead adviser and vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Maryland, told Live Science in a statement.
