Planned Giving
Back in the Lab, an Even More Exciting Discovery
Last summer, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science received a call from construction workers in Thornton, Colorado. They had uncovered something, and they thought we'd better take a look.
Our curator of dinosaurs, Joe Sertich, quickly gathered his gear and headed north. When he arrived at the site, he confirmed in just moments that Saunders Construction had indeed found something very important—a dinosaur fossil.
In the ground, the fossil was identified as a Triceratops. In just two short weeks, the Museum joined forces with Saunders, the City of Thornton, and the State of Colorado to excavate an estimated 95 percent of the skull and 20 percent of its skeleton. Brantner Elementary School, right across from the site, also got caught up in the excitement. Dr. Sertich visited the students to talk about the science behind the new find, and the school held a contest and named the dinosaur "Tiny."
After a month of careful cleaning and examination by volunteers and staff in the Museum's Fossil Prep Lab, they determined the fossil actually belonged to a rare Torosaurus, a close cousin of Triceratops. The frill, or the "shield" of bone projecting backward from the head, revealed this new information.
The two animals are nearly indistinguishable because both had a large horn over each eye and a smaller nose horn. Unlike Triceratops, however, Torosaurus had a longer, thinner, and more delicate frill, with two very large holes. These frill features were revealed as the skull was cleaned and compared to specimens already in the Museum collections.
"Not only is the fossil more complete and better preserved than I imagined but it has also revealed itself to be something extremely rare," said Dr. Sertich. "While the number of good Triceratops specimens collected from the American West likely exceeds 2,000 individuals, there are only about seven partial skulls of Torosaurus known. The Thornton beast is by far the most complete, and best preserved, ever found."
The Torosaurus fossils continue to be cleaned and on public display in the Fossil Prep Lab inside the Prehistoric Journey exhibition. The Museum is excited to study the science buried with this Torosaurus and build on the rich history of our region as we piece together what Colorado was like 66 million years ago.
For videos, photos, and more information, visit www.dmns.org/torosaurus. CBS Denver produced a special about the discovery that you can watch here.
To help the Museum continue to preserve and archive artifacts, please visit our website or contact DMNS Advancement at 303.370.8262.
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