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Digging up Monty, biggest dinosaur found in Montana

July 25,2016

      For the past couple of months we have been keeping you updated on the dinosaur discovery, Monty. The head paleontologist for the dig says this dinosaur is the biggest one found in Montana.

      Earlier this month the excavation for Monty began and our Tanya Modersitzki, whos been following the process of the discovery, was there to see first hand just how big Monty really is.

      Simply fascinating, this bone is 155-million-years old. Im literally holding a piece of history, some of the first creatures to roam this earth and I just so happen to be holding the biggest ever found in Montana. Maybe even one of the largest dinosaurs in North America.

      "Lets say Monty was walking straight at you and we took a cross section of him from an outside of a rib to the other side hed be 11-feet through the chest," Nate Murphy, head paleontologist for Judith River said.

      Monty is a member of the Sauropod family, or many know it as a "Long Neck." Judith River Dinosaur Institutes head paleontologist, Nate Murphy says it maybe just a big Sauropod from an already existing species. But, the vertebrae on a Sauropod is like a fingerprint but Montys is over three-foot tall.

      "It shows different characteristics of any Sauropod that Ive ever seen," he said.

      Paleontologists say an ancient river filled with toxins is what killed Monty and many other dinosaurs along the way.

      "We believe it use to be a flood plane because there was a larger ocean near by and at certain times of the year this area would flood and then the water would recede and each time it did, it would leave behind minerals and this would keep happening and as it happens from all this build up of different minerals it can become toxic," Serena Celestino, paleontologist intern said.

      Celestino says theyre still working on the science behind the theory. She says just by looking at the landscape they can tell it was a coastal area and the fact there hasnt been any plants fossilized.

      Monty and many other dinosaurs have been discovered on a private ranch in the Snowy Mountains, and the owner says its a real rush to be the first person to dig up a bone thats millions of years old.

      "Our intention is to have these dinosaurs is to have them go someplace where the public can see them and can appreciate them," the ranch owner said.

 

-------This article was originally published by Tanya Modersitzki

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