Scientists at the Tanis dig site in North Dakota have uncovered a fossil of a dinosaur that they believe died on the day that the giant reptiles were wiped from existence by an asteroid.
According to the scientists studying the surprisingly well-preserved thescelosaurus leg, remnants of debris found on the fossil can be traced back 66 million years to the exact moment of extinction. Discovering a specimen from the day of the cataclysmic asteroid’s impact is a truly remarkable moment in history.
The find is so improbable and historically signficant, in fact, that University of Manchester professor of natural history, Phillip Manning, called the discovery “absolutely bonkers.”
“The time resolution we can achieve at this site is beyond our wildest dreams,” he told BBC. “This really should not exist, and it’s absolutely gobsmackingly beautiful. I never dreamt in all my career that I would get to look at something a) so time-constrained; and b) so beautiful, and also tells such a wonderful story.”
University of Manchester graduate student, Robert DePalma, who is leading the dig, added, “We’ve got so many details with this site that tell us what happened moment by moment, it’s almost like watching it play out in the movies. You look at the rock column, you look at the fossils there, and it brings you back to that day.”
The Tanis dig site has been the focus of the upcoming BBC documentary Dinosaurs: The Final Day with Sir David Attenborough. The beloved narrator and presenter will review the fossils, which he has called “an impossible fossil.”
In other dinosaur news, a new study has provided a fresh theory about why the Tyrannosaurus Rex’s arms were so short and stubby. Spoiler: It wasn’t because it was cuter that way.
Billy Givens is a freelance writer at IGN.