The Denver Museum of Nature & Science recently became the site of an extraordinary discovery when a 67-million-year-old dinosaur fossil was unearthed right beneath its own parking lot. This find, reported around July 11, 2025, quickly captivated both the scientific community and the public.
The fossil, identified as a vertebra, was found during drilling operations exploring the potential for geothermal heating for the institution. The vertebra is believed to belong to a small, plant-eating dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period, roughly a million and a half years before the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs.
According to James Hagadorn, the museum's curator of geology, finding a dinosaur bone in the core sample is "like hitting a hole-in-one from the moon," emphasizing the extreme rarity and serendipitous nature of this discovery. The specimen represents the oldest and deepest dinosaur fossil ever found within the city limits of Denver.
Scientists suggest that the creature to whom the vertebra belonged inhabited a swampy, heavily vegetated environment. This discovery offers a unique glimpse into the ecosystem that once thrived directly beneath modern-day Denver.
The dinosaur fossil is now on display at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, offering visitors a unique opportunity to witness this remarkable relic from a prehistoric past firsthand.
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