Quick Facts

Thescelosaurus sp.
Pronounced (THES-SEL-OH-SAUR-US)


 

Nickname: "Jonathan"
Discovery Location: Southeastern Montana
Diet: Meat, plants, bugs (Omnivore)
Period: Late Cretaceous
Age: 66 million years
Formation: Hell Creek
Length: 14 ft
Location of Original Specimen: RMDRC, Woodland Park, CO

Jonathan is a very large Thescelosaurus that was discovered in September 2006 in Dawson County, Montana. Preperation has just recently begun. We are getting ready to do a silicone peel of the skeleton before we completely disassemble it. We will be doing a 3d cast of the finished and restored bones for display in our museum.

Pictures

Prep is ongoing, watch this space for future updates on this exciting project!


Jonathan's left hand.


A section of tail, with chevrons and ossified tendons still in place.


Jonathan's right leg, complete from the knee down.


The skeleton was buried belly up. This shot shows not only how complete the body section is, but also the massive size of Jonathan. The yellow object towards the bottom of the photo is a four foot level for scale.



Field Notes

Jonathan was eroding out of the outcrop head first, so unfortunately the skull, neck and shoulders appear to be lost forever. We will be reconstructing these based on other Thescelosaurus skeletons in the lab.

Lab Notes

The bone is very soft and powdery in the center, so extra care and glue must be used during preparation. One strange side effect of the lab work, is that the matrix around the fossil will turn green. This is a reaction between the Activator used for our superglues and the sulphur that occurs naturally in the sediment. The color can be reversed with the use of hydrogen peroxide.