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(MILES CITY, Mont.) – A Montana Tyrannosaurus rex excavated from BLM-administered lands in McCone County has garnered attention and looks to take a spot next to previous finds that have rewritten the book on this popular dinosaur species. 

The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture (Seattle) went public recently with the announcement that they had discovered and uncovered the skull of a T. rex they estimated could be part of a skeleton almost 20 percent complete. The animal was guessed to be around 15 years old at the time of death. The Burke Museum dubbed this specimen the “Tufts-Love Rex” in honor of the volunteer discoverers who initially located it.

“This is a magnificent find,” said BLM Montana/Dakotas State Office Paleontologist Greg Liggett. “It appears that the entire skull may be intact within the block they collected and that is very rare. Usually you find just small bits and parts. To get a complete skull is quite a find.”

The BLM allows excavation of paleontological resources by permit only in order to safeguard this publicly-owned resource. Paleontologists must be qualified to obtain a BLM permit and must place fossils in a federally-approved repository so specimens are available for scientific study to researchers. Without this accountability, the fossils and the knowledge they impart could be lost from public accessibility, said Liggett. 

The institutions that excavate, conserve and exhibit dinosaurs from public lands do not own them, said Liggett. Rather, they hold them in trust for the real owners—the American people, the owners of our public lands. Researchers and dinosaur enthusiast from around the globe benefit from what is learned from these public resources.

"T. rex continues to be a favorite dinosaur for many and there is still much to learn,” Liggett said. 

A different T. rex, also from eastern Montana and excavated by the Museum of the Rockies, has yielded clues about determining the sex of individual dinosaurs. In a paper published in the March 2016 edition of “Scientific Reports” at Nature.com, researchers identified a type of tissue found only in breeding female birds called “medullary bone.”

Medullary bone is present in birds just before and during egg-shelling. It is resorbed rapidly afterwards; in fact pigeons fully resorb the tissue within a week after the conclusion of laying. The fleeting nature of the tissue makes fossil findings with this characteristic exceptionally rare.

A cross-section of a femur from a T. rex, simply identified as “MOR 1125” showed almost complete in-filling of the medullary cavity with medullary bone. Another T. rex named “Petey” excavated in 2006 by the Burpee Museum of Rockford, Ill.  --also tested by the Museum of the Rockies, exhibited medullary bone as well.

Petey, recovered from BLM land in Carter County, was estimated to be about 15 years-old when it died, lending further insight into the breeding ages of T. rex.

“It seems like quite a few folks found small pieces of T. rexes this summer,” said Doug Melton, BLM Archaeologist for the Miles City Field Office. “T. rex parts were reported from crews in Carter, Fallon, Garfield, McCone and Powder River counties. This includes a portion of a T. rex tooth found by a five year-old during a Montana Wilderness Association hike in the BLM-administered Sand Arroyo Area of Critical Environmental Concern, located in McCone County.”

Dinosaur fossils get their names due to a variety factors and the sex is assumed, like in the case of “Jane,” another Eastern Montana T. rex recovered in 2001 from BLM land in Carter County. 

Jane, named after a museum benefactor, was discovered and excavated by the Burpee Museum. This T Rex was 51 percent complete and estimated to be four years younger than the Tufts-Love fossil; dying at about 11 years of age. Jane created no small stir of “her” own by being initially considered a new species “Nanotyrannus” due to her smaller size. Paleontologists later reclassified Jane as a juvenile T. rex. A life-size cast of Jane’s skull is on display at the BLM offices in Miles City.

To illustrate the global interest in Montana’s dinosaurs, in 2013, the Burpee Museum was approached by promoters of a major dinosaur exhibition in Osaka, Japan. A portion of Jane’s maxilla with bite marks (inflicted by another T. rex) traveled across the Pacific for a short time. The fossil was displayed in conjunction with a life-size, fully-feathered animatronic replication that greeted spectators in a location devoted to this T. rex-teenager. Jane was featured in commercials, promotional events and even starred as a plushy costumed spokes-dinosaur tossing pitches at baseball games.

The BLM Montana/Dakotas has seen modest counts for paleontology permits this year, said Melton. With the end of summer, field crews are returning to their museums with this year’s finds, where the specimens will be further prepared and preserved for future study. 

Fossils from BLM lands play an important role in scientific research and advancement, as well as being exciting museum exhibitions and international ambassadors. As more reports arrive, the BLM will tally and publish the season’s discoveries.

If you go looking for fossils on BLM lands, you are welcome to collect reasonable amounts of common invertebrate (animals with no backbone) and plant fossils without a BLM permit, but collecting vertebrate fossils, like dinosaurs and tracks, must be authorized with a permit. No permit is needed for plant fossils, such as leaves, stems and cones, or common invertebrate fossils such as shellfish.  

For more paleontology and fossil collecting information call the BLM Miles City Field Office at (406)233-2800.

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