Page 19 - Peter Larson News Today

Clayton figures if there are that many valuable fossils on the neighbors land, this must be as many on his. could they help him keep his home on the range. >> i started watching and picking up fragments lear and there and learning more about it. i got excited this stuff is everywhere. jamie: because phipps ranch sitso hell creek mor formation. this was a forest where giant ruled earth, peter larson runs the black hills institute, they prepare foes ill -- fossils for museums and collectors. >> th...

Comes back and when people see the movie, theyll see the wonderful people that surrounded us in hill city and tried to help to do everything they could. and the kids and all they gave to try to keep that dinosaur in hill city. all of that is a part of my life and its a part of my life that i cherish. you know, it really made the human being i am today and its not ending. its still continuing. >> it is a remarkable, remarkable story and a remarkable film. peter larson, kristin donna, thank you so...

There and to the world? it only counts if its hard. >> and this was hard. peter, youre still out there searching for dinosaurs. >> yep. >> do you think its possible, every time you look around a bend, every time you dust off an area, do you think that maybe theres the next sue? >> well, since sue, weve collected nine more t-rex specimens. none as complete as sue, but theres a chance. its a really slim chance because sue is such an awesome dinosaur and, you know, by far the most complete. but the...

By fours. i got up there with all these materials and took me over to this big cliff and he said, take a look. i looked at it and looked at him and said, is that t-rex? he said, yes. and i think its all here. >> joining me are peter larson, the paleontologist who found the t-rex and ex-wife, kristin donin. they wrote a book about the experience. peter, its been 20 years since that moment. but its still got to be emotional to see that. >> it was truly the high point of my life being part of that ...

>> now want to turn to a big story, really big story about sue, most complete t-rex fossil ever. and the battle that followed her discovery. sues story is subject of cnn films, dinosaur 13. joining me now, one of the scientists from the film, dr. phillip manning, head of the group at university of manchester and professor of natural history. quite a long, important title. how did you first hear about sue, the single largest most complete t-rex fossil ever found. >> good evening, well i think eve...

Why is this fossil so remarkable? >> well, t-rex. owns the coke coka -- coca col dinosaurs. you want to find the largest, most impressive. this was one of the most complete t-rexes ever found to scientists. it was a big animal as well. so, sue, she was a very important find. that would illuminate so much on, on probably one of the most famous dinosaurs which we had such fragmentary remains of. it was a really important specimen. >> paleontologist, peter larson and his team, south dakota black hi...

Tyrannosaurus rex. >> probably 66.5 million years old, something like that. this is a big dinosaur. this is one of the biggest. >> reporter: a dinosaur thats tentatively been sold already to a museum. we dont know the price, but what we do know is overall, prices for dinosaurs shifted seismically with the discovery of the largest t-rex fossil ever found named sue. >> it changed my entire life, my entire focus in science and changed our business, changed everything. >> reporter: larson and his bl...

After sue sort of things i guess you might say that. >> sue, the single largest and most complete t. rex fossil ever found. larson and his team at south dakotas black hills institute excavated her in 1990. she was found on private property and as word spread about the historic fossil find, a dispute with the land owner, a native american tribe, and the federal government led to sues seizure from larsons lab. sue was sold on the open market. when the field museum in chicago purchased her for $8 m...

He said yes. i think its all here. >> we havent started digging or moved anything around yet. we have just been looking at it and taking some pictures and trying to figure out how to proceed. theres a real mass of bones here. most appear to be excellently preserved and i believe the tail is going that way and the skull is going this way. but were just going to have to dig it up and see. >> one of the people you just saw there, peter larson, he and his team were thrilled when they found the fossi...

>> follow peter larson and you step back in time. >> this is one of the very coolest things. this is the skull of this t. rex. >> an 8 ton more than 66 million-year-old fossil dubbed murray. incredibly the tenth one larson has collected. when you find an intact skull, what does that mean? >> its like ecstasy. its pure joy. >> he cant contain it. >> back here we have more interesting things to look at. the outside of a vertebra. this is filled with pieces of skin. before we go, this is really coo...