North Dakota family discovers rare teenage T. rex 'chunkosaurus' fossil
A North Dakota family made a once-in-a-lifetime discovery while hiking in 2022. They found a rare teenage T. rex fossil, estimated to be 67 million years old.
Brothers Jessin and Liam Fisher, their cousin Kaiden Madsen, and father Sam Fisher snapped photos of the massive bone and sent them to a paleontologist, who realized how special it was right away.
Nicknamed "chunkosaurus," the fossil is now being studied at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.
Juvenile T. rex could reveal growth
Juvenile T. rex fossils are super rare: only a handful have ever been found worldwide.
This one belonged to a T. rex that was about 25 feet long, weighed around 1588kg, and died as a teenager (between 13 and 15 years old).
Scientists hope studying "chunkosaurus" will reveal more about how these dinosaurs grew from lanky teens into fierce adults.