But on Thursday morning, a small exception was made to airlift out the dinos, encased in plaster, so they could begin their journey to the museum in Albuquerque. These fossils were first discovered by a paleontologist working with New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science when he was trekking through Bisti wilderness in New Mexico, back in 2011.
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Sgt. 1st Class Terrill Lee, from left, Sgt. James Ray and Staff…
This was something that had never been seen before – the full skeletal remains of a baby Pentaceratops, a plant-eating dinosaur with large horns that once roamed what is now North America tens of millions of years ago.
According to the paleontologists, the mission was successful.
The museum staff was able to execute this massive effort with the help of the New Mexico National Guard using Blackhawk helicopters.
The Pentaceratops, a horned-face dinosaur, lived during the Cretaceous period about 75 million years ago, according to the museum’s website.
Muddy conditions around the area prevented the National Guard from transporting the third and last plaster jacket containing the rest of the skeleton of the baby.
Museum curator Spencer Lucas explained that since the fossils were found in federal area that is off-limits to vehicles, the National Guard had to deploy their Blackhawk helicopters to get the remains.
Hundreds of pounds of plaster were carried in, with countless water jugs and a host of heavy tools to complete the job. She also said that a total of less than 10 adult Pentaceratops have been excavated over the past century. “So it will be interesting to see what the differences are in shape, the size of the horns and other kinds of features”, he said. Scientists suspect that the dinosaur, which was rhinoceros-like, might have used its horns when defending itself.
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The remains of the young Pentaceratops appear to have been washed down through a streambed, as a few of the skeleton has fallen apart.
