"Workers from the National Museum of Natural History and the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman unearthed the remains of two tyrannosaurs along with a triceratops at a dig on remote Hell Creek this summer. In recent years, the site has emerged as a rich trove of all sorts of dinosaur bones. [...] The Smithsonian's share of the Hell Creek T. rex includes a femur (thigh bone), a tibia (shin bone) and a complete foot, with toes. Last summer dinosaur hobbyist Nathan Myhrvold, a former head of research for Microsoft and a sponsor of the digs, discovered a partly exposed bone that led to the discovery of the fossil trove, which was excavated this summer.

'It is phenomenally well preserved. These additions tell us more about how T. rex lived,' said Doug Erwin, the Smithsonian's interim director and curator of the paleobiology department. Horner's research, Erwin said, is focused on the ecology of the dinosaurs and their metabolism. 'We are not trying to find new dinosaurs but trying to understand the world they lived in,' Erwin said."


"T. Rex Marks the Spot
Dinosaur Bones Found in Montana Are Heading for the Smithsonian"
by Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post, 21August 2002

Dig!