New dino? Fossil hunters think find could be a first

Mon., July 25, 2011

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Two Kansas fossil hunters say they think they found something new while digging in Montana.

Jim Kirkland, a state paleontologist at the Utah Geological Survey, has examined photos of the fossil that Robert and Alan Detrich are uncovering and said it looks like a new type of ankylosaur. The low-slung, heavily armored dinosaurs lived around 65 million years ago and munched on plants.

“This thing is worthy of note. There is no doubt about it,” said Kirkland, who specializes in ankylosaurs. “In my mind it’s clearly a new one.”

The brothers have been digging since May in a fossil-rich area near the town of Jordan. They’ve uncovered the ankylosaur fossil’s skull, part of its leg, ribs, armored plates and some vertebrae.

Kirkland said it appears the creature measured about 30 feet long, making it the biggest ankylosaur he had seen. He said typical ankylosaurs were 16 feet long, with one type, the ankylosaurus, measuring 20 feet.

Kirkland and the Detrich brothers hope a person or institution will step forward to buy the fossil for a museum, which would allow for further study to determine if it is indeed unique. The effort would involve cleaning the fossil and comparing it against related animals to make sure it isn’t just a variation of a previously discovered dinosaur.

Public display in a museum would also allow the brothers to seek naming rights should the fossil prove to be a first.

Robert Detrich said, if given the opportunity, he would like to call it “enormasaurus” in honor of his late mother, Norma.

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