News spread quickly in Thornton, Colorado this week about a rare dinosaur fossil that was unearthed at the site of a construction project last week. People in Thornton have called the finding one of the most exciting and biggest things to ever happen for the suburb of Denver.
A communications director for Thornton said the find appeared to be comprehensive and it is hoped that the majority if not the full skeleton of the dinosaur will be found.
The horns of the dinosaur along with the bones from its shoulder have been found.
City officials kept the find quiet at the start only because they were worried about thieves or vandals that might come.
The site is patrolled now 24-hours a day by security.
Paleontologists believe that the find is an adult triceratops from 66 million years ago. It is believed that most of them weighed as much as six tons, stood 10 feet tall and were over 30 feet in length.
Scientists believe, the dinosaur a herbivore, moved very slowly which made them easy targets for larger meat eaters, such as the Tyrannosaurus rex.
However, this one is very unique.
During a broadcast from the site where the dinosaur was found, a dinosaur curator from Denver said that as with triceratops that have been located in other areas around Denver, it appears this one is only half of the size of the one farther north.
The curator added that although hundreds have been located across the American West, there are only three good skulls amongst the group and this find could be one of the best found to date and could open up secrets as to why the triceratops in the Denver area were smaller compared to those to the north.
The bones located in Thornton appear as well to be disaggregated, said the curator so the triceratops he believes might been lying dead on the ground for weeks, since the flesh and bones had fallen apart and other dinosaurs would have come along and eaten the remains.
They believe that they might also find teeth from a T-rex that could potentially unlock clues about those fearsome carnivores.