I loved dinosaurs since i was a little kid. I have loads of model dinosaurs, books about dinosaurs and I’ve watched all the Jurassic Park movies. My dad, Sam, is friends with paleontologist Tyler Lyson, and I’ve been able to visit his lab a few times.
The area where we live in North Dakota is well known for dinosaur fossils. I like to go out and look for them, but usually only find pieces of rock.
On July 31, 2022, our cousin Kaiden stayed with us, and my dad took us on a hike with my little brother, Liam, then seven. I didn’t really want to go because it was hot and I was tired, but I thought I might find some fossils, so I went along.
We had been walking for about an hour when Liam noticed something in the ground. My father called me to look.
I could see a long thin whitish leg that was the size of Liam. The dirt around has eaten away. Another piece of bone jutted out next to it. Dad took a picture and sent it to Tyler. He’s probably sent him about 100 pictures of things we’ve found, but this time Tyler replied right away and said, “It’s definitely a dinosaur.”
We had to secure the fossil to keep it safe, so we went back later and covered it with tarp and soil.
I was so excited. I thought it might have been a T rex because of the size. It would have been special whatever it was, but I really wanted it to be a T rex because they are the king of the dinosaurs. I didn’t want to jinx it, so I didn’t say it out loud.
We had to wait 11 months for permission to excavate. The whole time I was excited, but also nervous. My father was worried because his co-workers were teasing him saying he had just found a dead cow. But deep down I was sure it was a dinosaur. It looked like the ones I saw in my books.
When the excavation began, we were allowed on site to help, which was a dream come true. I sat with Tyler and we dug out teeth. I was holding a tooth that was bigger than my hand. It was wonderful. My hands were shaking. It was the first time a person had touched it and the first time it had been seen in 66 million years.
As soon as Tyler saw the teeth, he confirmed it was a T rex right there. My mother cried. I wanted to jump up and down, but I couldn’t because we were next to a very large fossil. I was really lucky though.
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We had to keep it a secret for almost a year until it was secured because it was such a rare find and someone could have tried to steal it. It was easy for me because I’m good at keeping secrets, but I was worried that Liam might tell people. We were finally allowed to say we found a dinosaur. People would ask, “What dinosaur did you find?”, and we would have to say, “We don’t know”, even if we did.
After the fossil was excavated, it was taken to Denver to be exhumed. Then we could tell people the truth, and all the children from our school had to come and see it. Everyone was very excited – even the teachers.
The fossil and the plaster it was wrapped in weighed 2,700 kg (6,000 pounds), so it had to be transported by helicopter. They sent a Black Hawk, and we got to sit in it before it took off, which was one of the best parts of the whole thing. Liam and I had to take a day off school to see it being transported – it was crazy to see it fly through the air.
The paleontologists are still working bit by bit on the partial skeleton, but they send us pictures and messages of how they are doing.
We found out it was a young T rex, which is really rare – only about four of those fossils have ever been discovered. This is a very important find because we can use the fossil to learn how T rex would have grown.
Everyone says it will be hard for me to find a T rex, but I guess there is always more to find. I want to be a paleontologist when I’m older. I would love to discover a new species of dinosaur. For now, I always make sure to look closely when we’re on hikes, just in case there’s something else out there.
As told to Heather Main
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