Washington State Unveils First Dinosaur Fossil Ever

Paleontologists in Washington State have made an amazing discovery – the state’s first ever dinosaur fossil. The chunk of a giant left femur, the scientists say, is roughly 80 million years old. According to Firstpost, the fossil likely belongs to a dinosaur in the group Theropod, which includes the Velociraptor and the infamous T-Rex.

The fossil measured 16.7 inches in length, and was actually discovered in May of 2012 while researchers were searching for ammonite fossils on the Coast of Sucia Island, northwest of Seattle. They unveiled the fossil for the first time at the Burke Museum in Seattle.

The fossil was peculiar because it was found among the remains of the prehistoric clams the scientists were originally searching for. The fossil was believed to have been underwater for quite some time. It is likely that whatever dinosaur the bone fragment belonged to died by the sea and was eventually washed away by the tides.

While the interior of the continental United States is widely documented for its fossil deposits, the record in the Pacific Northwest is spotty at best. Due to the high amount of seismic activity along the west coast, rocks containing fossils are constantly getting shifted and destroyed. As a result, historical geologists have a difficult time of putting together the lineages of the animals that once roamed the region.

Researcher Brandon Peecook was able to determine that the bone was the femur of a Theropod dinosaur due to the unique cavity where bone marrow was stored. It took the team nearly three years to extract the fossil from the surrounding rock, and it was months until it was properly identified. The 15-pound fossil will remain on display at the Burke Museum for dinosaur fans all over the region to come and see.

The State Column

Christian Sidor, (R) Burke Museum curator of vertebrate paleontology, and Brandon Peecook, University of Washington graduate student, show the size and placement of the fossil fragment compared to the cast of a Daspletosaurusfemur, in this undated handout photo provided by
REUTERS/THE BURKE MUSEUM/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

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Frosty wrote:

Christian Sidor, (R) Burke Museum curator of vertebrate paleontology, and Brandon Peecook, University of Washington graduate student, show the size and placement of the fossil fragment compared to the cast of a Daspletosaurusfemur, in this undated handout photo provided by
REUTERS/THE BURKE MUSEUM/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

Source

dang