Taking the Kids: Discover a rare ‘Teen rex’ in the Badlands of North Dakota

Here’s what to do the next time the kids balk at putting down their electronic devices to go outdoors. Tell them about the amazing dinosaur discovery the Fisher brothers and their cousin made by doing just that.

Jessin Fisher,12, his brother Liam,9, and their cousin, Kaiden Madsen,11, discovered a rare juvenile T. rex fossil in the Badlands of North Dakota. Their discovery is now on display at the new exhibition “Discovering Teen Rex,” at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The kids are also featured in a new documentary “T. Rex,” being shown at the museum and others, including the Field Museum in Chicago. You should also view this video of how the Teen Rex discovery came together.

“My friends didn’t believe me. They will have to believe me now,” said Liam Fisher, in Denver for the documentary premiere and the opening of the exhibit in June.

“Teen Rex” was likely 14 to 16 years old when he or she lived on this planet, approximately 67 million years ago. It is only one of a handful of juveniles of the species ever found. And it’s one of the more complete ones, said Dr. Tyler Lyson, curator of paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. The teenage specimen will enable researchers to study the growth and development during their fastest period of growth, offering insights into how these giant predators matured.

Just as important, the discovery will hopefully inspire other youngsters to pursue their passions. Anyone, regardless of age, can make a significant impact, the museum scientists note. “Kids should put down their devices and go hiking,” said Jessin Fisher, who plans to be a paleontologist.“This is so cool.”

Dr. Lyson, who has been studying the Hell Creek dinosaur ecosystem for the past 30 years, noted that Teen Rex is estimated to have been about 25 feet long and 3, 500 pounds. A fully grown adult T. Rex could be 40 feet long and weigh up to 8, 000 pounds.

Dino lovers, of course, can see many exhibits around the country and learn more from museums’ digital offerings. At the Field Museum, see Sue, named for the woman who found her, the largest and most complete T. Rex ever found. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis boasts five immersive dinosaur exhibits, including an art lab where you can draw or design a day in the life of a dinosaur. The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, has one of the largest collections of North American dinosaurs, including one of the few mounted T-rex skeletons in the U.S., numerous dinosaur eggs and babies. The American Museum of Natural History in New York City is known for its dinosaurs, the largest collection of dinosaur fossils in the world, and including the iconic Tyrannosaurus rex that has been exhibited for more than 100 years. The David H. Koch Hall of Fossils-Deep Time at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C., encourages visitors to consider how human activities are driving Earth’s climate change, unlike past extinction and warming events. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia is home to the first mounted dinosaur skeleton dating back to 1868, more than 30 species, dinosaur footprints and much more. The website OnlyDinosaurs.com lists these among the 20 best dinosaur exhibits in the U.S.

At the Denver Museum, visitors will be able to watch scientists as they work in a new prep lab, uncovering the fossil from the huge (9-foot-long, 5-foot-wide) plaster jacket in which it was transported to the museum. Visitors will see the meticulous process of uncovering and studying fossils, interacting with the working scientists.

As new bones are uncovered, they will be shown on a large poster board of the Teen Rex’s skeleton.

“It’s not like it looks in the movies,” said Natalie Toth, the museum’s chief fossil preparator, as she watched the three boys carefully brush rock from the enclosed fossil. She said the process will take a year and each time visitors return to watch they will see something different as more of the fossil is uncovered. “It’s pretty amazing,” said Dr. Lyson.

“Dinosaurs are such a good gateway for kids into science,” added Toth.

The Fisher boys didn’t need any encouragement, their dad Sam Fisher said. They just like to go out hiking and hunting for dinosaur fossils. They were just a few miles from their Marmarth, North Dakota, home in the Badlands near the Montana-North Dakota border one July day two years ago with their cousin, Kaiden Madsen, when Liam spotted what turned out to be Teen Rex’s shin bone.

“I thought it was a horse or a cow,” Liam said. But his brother Jessin knew it was a dinosaur. They found a couple of teeth. That was exciting enough. “But never in a million years would I have thought this was such a big discovery,” he said. This area, the Hell Creek Formation, is 66 million to 68 million years old and it’s where m any T-rex dinosaur fossils have been discovered.

Fortuitously, Sam Fisher had gone to high school with Dr. Lyson, and he has been a mentor to the young Fisher boys. They sent him pictures of their find on federal property managed by the Bureau of Land Management. At first, he thought the find was a much more common duck- billed dinosaur. However, once the museum’s team obtained the excavation permit and were able to excavate the fossil a year later over the course of 11 days using a Black Hawk helicopter, they realized the boys’ find was much more significant.

“I was speechless,” said Liam Fisher.

Jessin Fisher is struck that the Teen Rex was close to his age and can teach scientists so much. “It’s fascinating,” he said. “I never outgrew dinosaurs.”

Said Sam Fisher, “We will go out and explore more…maybe we will find another one.”

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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The fourth edition of The Kid’s Guide to New York City and the third edition of The Kid’s Guide to Washington D.C. are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)