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Feathered Tyrannosaur?????
Hey,
What do you all make out of this newsreport, which I found on two newspaper
sites? It claims that a family in Montana found a "feathered tyrannosaur" near
Choteau. Of course, Bakker is in the middle of this too.
Steve
Here goes:
STEVENSVILLE, Mont. Officials of a Florida museum say Montana's Rocky
Mountain
front has yielded what they believe to be an unknown species of
meat-eating dinosaur, a
feathered raptor in the Tyrannosaurus rex family.
The yet-unnamed species of albertosaur, 65 million years
old, was uncovered by a
Stevensville family of hobbyist archaeologists who have explored
a site near Choteau for a
dozen years, Martin Shugar told the Missoulian newspaper. He is
a physician and director of
the Graves Museum of Archaeology and Natural History in Dania
Beach, Fla.
The fossil is an "exceptional specimen" because the skull
is nearly intact and the bones of
the body are 75 percent complete, Shugar said.
Robert Bakker, a paleontologist and adjunct curator for
the museum, called it "the cheetah
of the Tyrannosaurus rex family" and said it "will become
enshrined in the great textbooks of
dinosaurs."
It is notable, he said, because it is more slender and
delicate than other dinosaurs in the
Tyrannosaurus rex family. Its breastbone and curved hand claws
also are unusual, he said.
"It was an elegant animal. There are bits and pieces of
animals like this in other collections
but never a complete skeleton," Bakker said. "This find clears
up a lot of mysteries."
The new raptor was unveiled at a news conference in
Florida on Friday, the Missoulian
reported.
The Stevensville family, Cliff and Sandy Linster and their
seven children, uncovered the
fossil and several other types of dinosaurs on ranch land
outside Choteau. They have
explored the site for years as a hobby and bought the site just
last year.
They sold the albertosaur fossil to a millionaire investor
who donated it to the Graves
museum, they told the Missoulian. Then Cliff Linster retired
from his construction job to
devote full time to dinosaurs. The article did not name the
investor or say what he paid for
the fossil.
Cliff Linster's home telephone number is unlisted.
Shugar plans to make the albertosaur skeleton and other
specimens from the Linsters' site
the centerpiece of a dinosaur hall at the Graves museum.
Shugar and Bakker praised the Linsters' site as a
monumental find and their amateur
excavating abilities as outstanding.
"The Linsters' contributions to science are going to be
huge," Shugar said. "Their finds are
spectacular. They know what they are doing.
Okay, opinions? Thoughts? Have any of you heard anything? Have any of you
heard of this museum? Hmmmm...
Steve
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Steve Brusatte-DINO LAND PALEONTOLOGY
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