Triceratops? Torosaurus? The Denver Museum of Nature and Science isn鈥檛 saying for sure what their latest find is yet 鈥� except that it鈥檚 exciting.
The two dozen fossils found so far, including a lower leg bone and several ribs, are from a horned dinosaur, confirmed the museum鈥檚 chief fossil preparator Natalie Toth. Researchers plan to head back to the site later this week.
鈥淭here鈥檚 still a bone or two that鈥檚 still going into the ground,鈥� Toth said. 鈥淪o as we uncover more, we may have a better idea what kind of horned dinosaur it is.鈥�
The fossils were discovered two weeks ago at a Highlands Ranch construction site. The first batch of bones arrived at the museum Wednesday so they can be cleaned and analyzed.
Toth estimated them to be roughly 66 to 68 million years old.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just so unbelievable to me that we鈥檙e in a metropolitan area and we truly have dinosaurs in our backyard,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes you get a call like this or you get folks that will bring what they think are fossils up to the window, but often times they鈥檙e rocks or pieces of petrified wood, which are still interesting. But to go out there and have it actually be part of a dinosaur is pretty spectacular.鈥�
It鈥檚 not the first time this has happened, though. Two years ago, a torosaurus skull was found on a construction site in Thornton. In 1992, part of a T-rex was found in Littleton.
