A dinosaur-loving undergraduate student has unearthed the skull of a plant-eating triceratops from 65 million years ago during a dig in the Badlands of North Dakota.
The researchers gave the triceratops the name Alice, after the owner of the land on which the fossil specimen was found.
The skull is presently being preserved, with the researchers hoping that Alice will eventually go on display and be used as an educational tool.
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A dinosaur-loving undergraduate student, Harrison Duran, has unearthed the skull of a plant-eating triceratops from 65 million years ago during a dig in the Badlands of North Dakota
Fellow biologists Harrison Duran, an undergraduate student at the University of California, Merced, and Mayville State University professor Michael Kjelland uncovered Alice during a two-week dig in the Badlands of North Dakota.
The state is one of the places in which the world-famous, dinosaur-bearing Hell’s Creek Formation of rocks outcrops on the Earth’s surface.
Professor Kjelland had found a similar triceratops skull in the same area one year beforehand, but had not expected to make a similar discovery again.
‘I can’t quite express my excitement in that moment when we uncovered the skull,’ said Duran, who found Alice upside down, its left horn partly exposed at the base.
‘I’ve been obsessed with dinosaurs since I was a kid, so it was a pretty big deal.’
‘I have been going out to the badlands for years off and on, but to this particular site it was the first time,’ Kjelland told CNN.
Alice was found preserved along with various fossil plants.
‘It is wonderful that we found fossilised wood and tree leaves right around, and even under, the skull,’ Mr Duran said.
‘It gives us a more complete picture of the environment at the time.’
The researchers spent a week carefully excavating Alice — using a special glue to painstakingly stabilise the fractured skull and hold it together.
With the assistance of a local cattle rancher and his family, the duo were able to coat Alice in protective layers of foil and plaster, box the skull up and lift it onto a truck to ultimately deliver it to Professor Kjelland’s laboratory.
With the assistance of a local cattle rancher and his family, the duo were able to coat Alice in protective layers of foil and plaster, box the skull up and lift it onto a truck to ultimately deliver it to Professor Kjelland’s laboratory. Pictured, Kjelland with Alice after it was covered in plaster
‘I can’t quite express my excitement in that moment when we uncovered the skull,’ said Duran, who found Alice upside down, its left horn partly exposed at the base. ‘I’ve been obsessed with dinosaurs since I was a kid, so it was a pretty big deal.’ Pictured, a young Harrison Duran
Instead of ending up in a private hands — as is common for such prized fossils — the researchers would like to see Alice go on public display, although where the skull might be exhibited remains to be determined.
‘My vision is to have Alice rotate locations,’ Professor Kjelland said.
‘The goal is to use this find as an educational opportunity, not just reserve Alice in a private collection somewhere so only a handful of people can see her.’
In the interim period, however, the researchers are planning to make a cast of the skull — one that Mr Duran is hopeful will go on display at the University of California, Merced campus.
His dream, however, is for the real fossil to be exhibited there as well.
‘It would be amazing for UC Merced to be able to display Alice on campus,’ Mr Duran said.
‘It’s such a rare opportunity to showcase something like this, and I’d like to share it with the campus community.’
With Alice recovered safely, the researchers will now commence the work of preparing the specimen for display — along with returning to North Dakota in the coming months to undertake further investigations.
WHAT WERE TRICERATOPS?
Triceratops dinosaurs were herbivorous and had two big horns over their eyes and a smaller nose horn, as well as a parrot-like beak and a large frill that could reach nearly 1 meter (3 feet) across.
According to the Natural History Museum in London, UK, its horns could have been used to ward off attack from Tyrannosaurus.
A partial Triceratops fossil found in 1997 has a horn that was bitten off, with bite marks that match Tyrannosaurus.
Triceratops likely lived in herds to warn each others of danger and reduce their chances of being targeted by predators. Pictured is a reconstruction of what a Triceratops may have looked like
There have also been puncture marks found on fossil frills showing that male Triceratops also used their horns to fight each other, perhaps to impress females.
Triceratops’ frills could have been used to attract mates, or as a way for members of the same species to recognise one another, or to regulate body temperature.
Triceratops likely lived in herds to warn each others of danger and reduce their chances of being targeted by predators.
Triceratops was herbivorous and had two big horns over its eyes and a smaller nose horn, as well as a parrot-like beak and a large frill that could reach nearly 1 meter (3 feet) across. Pictured is a Triceratops skeleton at the American Museum of Natural History
