The Mystery Of The "Dueling" T. Rex and Triceratops May Finally Be Solved
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Over the years, researchers have found ample evidence proving that the horned Triceratops and the Tyrannosaurus Rex (T. rex), which roamed western North America in the late Cretaceous period — some 69 million years ago — were mortal enemies. However, finding perfectly-preserved fossils of the prey and predator locked in combat was something they only dreamed of until the 2006 discovery of the "Dueling Dinosaurs" at a private Montana farm by commercial fossil hunters Clayton Phipps and his team.
"The "Dueling Dinosaurs" is one of the most remarkable fossil discoveries ever made," Scott Sampson, a paleontologist and the president of Science World, a nonprofit education and research facility in Vancouver, BC, told Smithsonian in 2017. "It is the closest thing I have ever seen to large-scale fighting dinosaurs. If it is what we think it is, it’s ancient behavior caught in the fossil record. We’ve been digging for over 100 years in the Americas, and no one’s found a specimen quite like this one."
Surprisingly, the intertwined creatures. thought to be the best-preserved skeletons of Triceratops and T. rex unearthed to date — and the only 100 percent complete skeleton of T. rex yet discovered— were not well-received by American museums and research institutions. Some researchers believed they were scientifically useless, while others were upset they were being sold by for-profit collectors. After failing to sell the fossil even in a private auction, Phipps locked it up in storage, where it remained for a decade.
In 2016, Lindsay Zanno, a paleontologist at North Carolina State University and the head of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, offered to buy the fossil from Phipps for $5 million. However, the transaction could not be completed due to a legal battle about the fossil's ownership between the current and previous owners of the Montana farm where it had been found. The matter was finally decided by courts in May 2020. On November 17, 2020, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences officials announced that the world's most famous dinosaurs would finally be available for research and public viewing.
The museum's scientists believe the carcasses, which are still entombed in the Montana hillside's sediment with each bone in its original position, will provide access to biological data not available in normal fossil finds, where the remains are scattered. The rare burial conditions, which preserved features such as skin impressions and possibly even the remains of soft tissues and stomach contents, will reveal unprecedented insights into the cretaceous residents' lives. Even more exciting is that the "Dueling Dinosaurs" will be housed in a new, hi-tech exhibit that will allow visitors to see the fossils up-close and talk to paleontologists as they meticulously uncover their secrets.
“The Museum is thrilled to have the unique opportunity to house and research one of the most important paleontological discoveries of our time,” said Dr. Eric Dorfman, director and CEO of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. “Not only are we able to uncover unknown details of these animals’ anatomy and behavior, but our new dedicated facility and educational programs will allow us to engage with audiences locally, across North Carolina, and worldwide."
Resources: naturalscience.org, nationalgeographic.com, inmashable.com
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247 Comments
keykey123about 4 yearsWow. Cool, merry Christmas and happy new year
marysiahabout 4 yearsUm ok😄
iipottatoabout 4 yearsDinosaurs are one of my favorite things to study about and this is really cool! B)
dancemonster500about 4 yearsWow that's cool!! I want to see it in person!! That would be soooooo cool!!! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!- laronaabout 4 yearsDinosarurs went to extinction because a metor & metor right bloked the sun light and the hervevors had nothing to eat & the carnivors had no meat to eat okay everone.But dinos used to exsis
- laronaabout 4 yearsI am 8 years old
- laronaabout 4 yearsHappy covid .19
uchiha_yungboi3about 4 yearsIt's actually a raptor... not a T rex
shibasammy29about 4 yearsEven though it looks like a raptor, it's a juvenile tyrannosaur.- shibasammy29about 4 yearsWell, it's not a raptor. These are professional paleontologists. Raptors did not look how they do in Jurassic Park. That's a tyrannosaurus. Not a raptor.
shanaeomgabout 4 yearsA 6-foot asteroid hit the earth and kill 70% of the earth and that is what caused the dinosaurs to go extinct.
zebrapowerabout 4 yearsThat's the THEORY- zebrapowerabout 4 yearsI think that too though
- dancemonster500about 4 yearsWow that must have hert a lot!!!! I feel bad for the dinosaurs. Did you know that one species of dinosaurs survived and is now birds!!! Cool don't you think? Well bye!!!!! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!!!! Bye!!!!
devillady2010about 4 yearsI know ! Everyone I the world knows about that. Bird are dinosaurs because the lived when the asteroid came they flyed away!!
lilypadsabout 4 yearsI love dinosaurs but not hurt 😃😥 I wonder if it hurt badly how would they die together if they ate the ather dinosaur but not dead with it unless it died there long after that get it like and follow if wonder the same thing #merry Christmas# happy holidays happy new year 😁😁😁😀😀have fun thanks for reading is great news I love it
