If the backhoe driver had not have stopped digging he did, he could have damaged the delicate fossil. Fossils much be removed very carefully and if they are not handled with care, they can easily crumble.
Luckily, he stopped as soon as he realized what he was digging was not dirt and the crew called around to get someone experienced with fossils on the scene.
When dinosaur fossils are found, they are usually broken or only found one small piece at a time. The fact that this is a large piece of a tail in one place, makes this fossil truly special.
Paleontologist Matthew Vavrek inspected the tail and said, “As we walked around it, we saw this whole part of a tail of a dinosaur. To see something like that is pretty incredible.”
“The last time I’ve seen something like that was in a museum. I’ve never found something like this before.”
The Tourmaline Oil Corp, the company responsible for digging on the site where the fossil was discovered, will be helping Vavrek carefully dig up the tail and any other fossils that are nearby.
They are hoping to uncover an entire dinosaur.Because the tail is so long, Vavrek believes the dinosaur it belonged to was likely on the larger size. It can take several weeks or even months to completely uncover the fossil, depending on the weather. The fossil was found in Canada which is already seeing snowfall. If the ground freezes, the crew will have to wait until it unthaws to remove the dinosaur from the site.
