Utah Site Reveals 'Weird Fused Reptiles with Armor' & Other New Dinos

Dino Discoveries Thrilling Paleontologists

from Big News Network

Enthusiastic scientists say bones coming out of Utah's Grand Staircase National Monument are rewriting the age of the dinosaurs, when they last lived. The area has become a gold mine for paleontologists, with the latest discovery airlifted from its grave this week.

A precious cargo 75 million years old, gently lifted by helicopter from its grave in Grand Staircase National Monument. Though you can't see it wrapped in protective casting, this is the skull of a new bizarre horned dinosaur from a little known time window in dino history called the Cretaceous Period.

Paleontologists from the Utah Geological Survey and the Utah Museum of Natural History are finding all sorts of treasures in this remote area, the last in the continental United States ever to be mapped. In some places humans have never walked before.

Dr. Scott Sampson, Chief Curator, Utah Museum of Natural History: "Every single dinosaur found so far represents an animal that is new to science - and most of them haven't even been described yet. It takes time to work these up once you've removed them from the ground."

Specimen after specimen, they just keep coming in here, pushing the boundaries of this old museum beyond capacity. Horned and duckbill dinos, smaller bodied ancestors of T-Rex, weird fused reptiles with armors all over their backs, domed headed dinos, fish, amphibians, turtles, crocodiles, mammals, and more.

As Sampson says, we're uncovering a whole ancient ecosystem we're never seen before.