BOZEMAN, Mont. - A 5-foot-long Tyrannosaurus rex skull, unearthed nearly 40 years ago in eastern Montana, is now on display at the Museum of the Rockies here.
The skull, which paleontologist Jack Horner says is the world's largest, was found in the Hell Creek Formation near Billings in the late 1960s and collected by Montana State University geologist Bill McManus.
Museum preparator Carrie Ancell began reconstructing the skull fragments in the late 1980s, and Michael Holland finished the work this year.
'We are going to try to figure out how old the animal was when it died by using histology, the study of the microscopic structure of fossil remains,' said Horner, the museum's curator of paleontology. 'The specimen contains several characteristics that suggest this individual was mature, and perhaps quite old, when it died.'
The latest T. rex skull is one of three on display at the Museum of the Rockies, which has parts of 12 T. rexes.
___
On the Net:
Museum of the Rockies: http://museumoftherockies.org"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment