Nature

New Duckbill Fossil Found in Montana

Mummy of the same species discovered in the same location eight years ago

By Gabriel Gache, Science News Editor

4th of June 2008, 09:45 GMT

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Artistic impression of two duckbilled dinosaurs

During a tour of a region where nearly eight years ago a mummified duckbill was found, a public relations coordinator from the Texas museum discovered the fossil of a duckbilled dinosaur that roamed the Earth some 75 million years ago. Leonardo, as the mummified specimen found in Montana was named, is currently on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

The author of the discovery, Steven Cowan, a 22 year old employee of the Texas museum, went on a tour of the respective area two weeks ago and saw by chance several bones sticking out of some rocks on a hillside.

"It was exciting; they appeared to be ribs. He came back and found a scapula (shoulder bone) and a few other tendons showing from the rock. About 10 feet away, we found another bone jutting out of the rock. Based on the position, the head may have fallen off and rolled down the hill, but we're hoping that the legs and torso are still in the stone", Cowan said.

The newly discovered fossil was named Marco, after Cowan, because if it weren't for him, the specimen would probably still be laying there, said Bob Bakker a paleo curator from the Houston Museum. "One of the things we always need to watch out for is thinking that we know it all. I knew enough never to go to a ridge top because you don't find specimens there. But I forgot to tell that to Steven, so he did exactly that and proved me wrong", added Bakker.

Paleontologist Mark Thompson, the man accompanying Cowan during that rainy afternoon, reveals that he was already walking to the car when Cowan made the discovery. "I really didn't want to walk half a mile back to see it, but I did. And I saw some tendons, vertebrae, ribs and a shoulder blade", Thompson said.

TAGS:

dinosaur | fossil | mummy | duckbill | museum

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