Rare Tyrannosaurus rex skull arrives at Seattle museum
SEATTLE — Paleontologists with Seattle’s Burke Museum have unearthed the bones of a Tyrannosaurus rex that lived more than 66 million years ago, including a rare nearly complete 4-foot long skull.
The remarkable discovery includes the dinosaur’s vertebrae, ribs, hips and lower jaw bones, and represents about 20 per cent of the meat-eating predator.
Several dozen scientists, volunteers, students and others worked over the summer to excavate the bones in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana, a site well known for fossil finds.
The team later encased the massive skull in a protective plaster cast, lifted the 2,500-pound load onto a flatbed truck with the help of local Montana ranchers and drove it to Seattle. The skull was unloaded at the Burke Museum Thursday.