This new generation of children is not exactly known for its love of the outdoors. Instead, kids are being raised in the Information Age with iPads, cellphones, and more streaming services than we can name. And who can blame them? Even those of us who grew up without all of this technology can find ourselves addicted to it.
But the discovery of a dinosaur fossil by one group of boys may inspire a new generation of people to put their devices down and return to nature. That's right, three young boys actually found a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil while hiking in North Dakota, and it's a big deal.
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'You just never know what you are going to find out there,' the brothers' dad said.
In July 2022, 9-year-old Kaiden Madsen and his two cousins, Liam and Jessin Fisher, then 7 and 10, went on a hike with the brothers’ dad, Sam, in Marmarth, North Dakota.
Sam, an avid hiker, told the Associated Press, “You just never know what you are going to find out there. You see all kinds of cool rocks and plants and wildlife.”
On that particular day in July, the boys did see signs of wildlife … ancient wildlife. Liam and Sam were the first to spot something interesting: a bone sticking out of the Hell Creek Formation. The formation is a popular paleontology site that spans from Montana and Wyoming through the Dakotas. Liam initially thought the bone was a “chunk-osaurus” a made-up name for fossil pieces too small to identify.
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Sam took a picture of the bone and sent it to the family's paleontologist friend.
Sam shared the picture with a family friend, Tyler Lyson, who is the associated curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Initially, Tyler believed the bone belonged to the common duckbill dinosaur. But after he organized an excavation of the site in 2023 that included the boys and their sister Emalynn, the team found that the bone belonged to a Tyrannosaurus rex.
Tyler was digging with Jessin where he thought he might find a neck bone. “Instead of finding a cervical vertebrae, we found the lower jaw with several teeth sticking out of it,” he said. “And it doesn’t get any more diagnostic than that, seeing these giant tyrannosaurus teeth staring back at you.”
The boys have named the fossil 'The Brothers.'
The film crew for the T. Rex documentary by Giant Screen Films was present at the excavation to capture the moment. Dave Clark, a member of the film crew, said the experience was electric. “You get goosebumps,” he said.
Based on the size of the dinosaur’s tibia, experts estimate that the T. rex was 13 to 15 years old when it died and weighed around 3,500 pounds. Liam, Jessin, and Kaiden, have named the fossil “The Brothers.”
The T. rex will be displayed at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
The paleontologist said more than 100 T. rex fossils have been found, but many of them are incomplete. Right now, it’s still unclear how intact this fossil is, but the team has already found a leg, hip, pelvis, tailbones, and a good chunk of the skull.
The bones, which have been encased in plaster, were airlifted to a truck that later drove to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science where the dinosaur will be displayed. The public will also have the opportunity to watch the dig take place. The museum estimates that it might take a year to complete.
One of the boys hopes to be a paleontologist when he grows up.
Jessin, a fan of the Jurassic Park movies, is an aspiring paleontologist. He has continued digging, unearthing a turtle shell recently. He has a bit of advice for other children looking to discover something cool. “Just to put down their electronics and go out hiking," he suggested.
