Young Explorers Uncover T. rex in North Dakota Badlands
In a tale that could rival any adventure movie, Dakota News Now featured a great story that happened in North Dakota. Two young brothers and their cousin made a discovery that left them "completely speechless" during a hike in North Dakota's badlands. Kaiden Madsen, 9, along with his cousins, Liam and Jessin Fisher, 7 and 10, stumbled upon a T. rex bone sticking out of the ground, sparking an extraordinary journey.
Their discovery was publicly announced on Monday via a Zoom news conference as the Denver Museum of Nature & Science prepares to reveal the fossil at a special exhibit, “Discovering Teen Rex,” opening June 21. This event will coincide with the debut of the film “T.REX,” capturing their amazing find from July 2022.
It all began on a family hike, a favorite activity of the brothers' father, Sam Fisher, who loves exploring the outdoors. "You never know what you’re going to find out there," he mused. "You see all kinds of cool rocks, plants, and wildlife."
The initial find was thanks to Liam and his dad, who first spotted what they thought was a "chunk-osaurus" — their playful term for unidentifiable fossil fragments. However, a photo sent to Tyler Lyson, associate curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum, led to a surprising twist.
Lyson, initially suspecting a duckbill dinosaur, organized an excavation. To everyone’s astonishment, they unearthed the lower jaw with unmistakable tyrannosaurus teeth. Sir Sam Neill, who played the voice of Jurassic Park, later narrated the scene that the documentary crew captured.
Despite initial disbelief from friends, the boys affectionately named the fossil "The Brothers." Estimates suggest this teenage T. rex weighed around 3,500 pounds and was 13 to 15 years old.
Now, visitors to the Denver museum can watch as workers carefully chip away the rock encasing the fossil, a process expected to take about a year. Aspiring paleontologist Jessin continues his fossil hunts, recently finding a turtle shell, and offers this advice to other kids: "Put down your electronics and go out hiking."
This whole story makes me smile, and makes me want to head out to see what I can find!
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