‘Extremely rare’ dinosaur discovered by 3 tweens: My friends ‘don’t believe me that I found a T. rex’
Call it shovel and pail-eontology.
Three North Dakota boys made the extraordinary discovery of a highly rare Tyrannosaurus rex fossil that could change what we know about dinosaurs.
Now, the achievement of the young brothers Liam and Jessin Fisher and their cousin Kaiden Madsen is being immortalized in a documentary narrated by “Jurassic Park” star Sir Sam Neill, known on-screen as Dr. Alan Grant.
The upcoming film, titled “T. Rex” — set to debut on June 21 — captures the young archaeologists’ unexpected journey, which began as an ordinary hike in the Hell Creek formation of their home state in July 2022.
Millions of years ago, the near-Canada region was an environment comparable to modern-day Florida, abundant with prehistoric turtles, fish, crocodiles and, of course, the king of the dinosaurs among other cold-blooded species.
But two years ago while out with their dad, Sam Fisher, the group thought they uncovered a common fossil of a duckbill dinosaur — which is known for its peculiar head shape.
“I went up to a ledge with my dad and then he and I spotted the bones,” Liam, 9, told The Post. “We called for Jessin and Kaiden and Jessin said, ‘That’s a dinosaur.'”
Jessin, who dreams of being a paleontologist and dressed as one for Halloween, played a pivotal role in the discovery’s unraveling. For years, he had been out on several expeditions trying to find dino bones but never succeeded until that day.
“I had found buffalo and cow bones in the past and knew these were definitely bigger,” Jessin, 12, told The Post of the discovered leg bone. “It was pretty cool.”
They first sent a photo to a family friend, Dr. Tyler Lyson, the associate curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
After a year’s worth of paperwork, the group returned to the site for a much closer look, along with the brothers’ mom Danielle and their sister Emalynn, 14.
Jessin and Lyson excavated hand in hand. They first etched out the creature’s neck, jaw and teeth — pivotal parts to reconstructing its dated anatomy.
“To go out with the intent of finding a dinosaur fossil and your first one is a T. rex? That is, even being conservative, one in a million,” Lyson told The Post.
The entire uncovering was captured by the documentary crew, who agreed to tag along after Lyson had only mentioned a few details about how the boys were digging up a dinosaur fossil.
“Never in a million years did I think we would chronicle the discovery of a T. rex in real time,” producer Andy Wood told The Post.
Kaiden, 11, told The Post he was speechless.
“I started bawling when I saw it,” mom Danielle, whose family lives south of Marmarth, told The Post. She admitted that when everyone first came home a year before, her attitude was, “Yeah, okay whatever.”
Not only did they make a discovery lying 67 million years in waiting, but the specimen was a unique, juvenile T. rex.
“If we want to understand how quickly a T. rex grew up from a little chick-sized animal into an 8,000-pound monster, we need juveniles,” Lyson said.
“This is going to be an important fossil and help us determine the rate of growth for the T. rex and how its skeleton changed over time.”
At the end of it all, a Black Hawk helicopter — which Liam bragged he got an exclusive tour of — choppered out the plaster-covered “teen rex” bones to a truck. Lyson then drove 10 hours back to the Denver Museum and prayed not to “run out of gas” with the 6,000-pound payload in the trailer.
Further analysis estimated that the 10-foot-fall young Rex likely weighed in at a whopping 3,500 pounds and was about two-thirds the size of an adult at 25 feet from tail to nose.
It was believed to have been between 13 and 15 years old.
“I’m excited for my friends to see the film,” said Liam. “They don’t believe me that I found a T. rex.”
