Boy discovers rare dinosaur skull near Grand Junction
September 10,2016
GRAND JUNCTION — A Colorado museum says an 8-year-old boy discovered a rare dinosaur skull during his summer vacation.
Lachlan Barrett of Florida uncovered the 140-million-year-old skull on the Museums of Western Colorado’s dinosaur dig at the Mygatt-Moore Quarry. Scientists believe it belonged to an apatosaurus louisae, which would make it the fourth such specimen ever found and the only one with vertebrae still attached.
Julia McHugh, a paleontology curator at the museum, tells The Daily Sentinel that preparing the skull for display is a yearlong process. The top of the head is still encased in rock and only the palate and some teeth roots are visible.