Dinosaur geeks are heading to downtown Denver, CO to check out the recent Triceratops find. The Denver Museum of Nature & Science has an exciting new addition to their Prehistoric Journey exhibition. Paleontologists are hard at work examining a second Triceratops horn as well as other bones that were just found at a Thornton, CO construction site. According to DMNS curator Joe Sertich, “this find is likely the most complete Cretaceous-period skeleton ever found in this region.” He went on to say that this was “what we as curators dream about—getting a call about a possible fossil and confirming it’s not just a dinosaur fossil, but a record-breaking one!”
So far 12 Triceratops bones have been excavated. Volunteers are at the site from the museum, the Colorado Office of Archaeology, the Saunders Construction, Inc., and the City of Thornton. This team is still hard at work trying to carefully uncover more pieces, focusing on the skull and frill bones (the frill (part of the shield of bones behind the head). The first piece to be completed excavated was a 40-pound rib bone, and there are still more to be uncovered.
Starting this weekend visitors of the Museum can visit the Prehistoric Journey exhibition and watch as volunteers begin their work on the bones in the paleontology lab. Along with this excitement, DMNS has Nature’s Amazing Machines exhibition, The Science Lounge and the Sci-Fi Film Series for the adults, as well as programs for the kids.