GREAT FALLS (AP)
Fossil hunters have uncovered a world-class dinosaur find in the badlands of western Garfield County. Frozen in the sandstone are the death poses of two beasts, a meat-eater and a plant-eater, with their tails crossed like swords. The pair’s sudden, sandy burial, near the coast of Montana’s prehistoric sea 75 million years ago, preserved them with remarkable detail, right down to tendons and teeth, the Great Falls Tribune reported in describing the find Sunday. The discovery is believed to be one of only three worldwide capturing a meateater and plant-eater together, and the first in North America, the newspaper said. At first blush, the evidence implicates the carnivore in its grave mate’s death. But Nate Murphy, paleontologist at the Dinosaur Field Station in Malta, who visited the quarry last summer, says the murder case against the meat-eater is weak. Based on the placement of the skeletons, it’s more likely that the two unfortunates were victims of a flood and their Bodies washed up on the same sandbar, he said. The vegetarian’s attacker or attackers struck at some point before its carcass came to rest, Murphy said. Fossil enthusiast Clayton Phipps, who discovered the fossils along with partner Mark Eatman, has spent considerable time pondering the animals’ demise. He entertains a theory drawn from life on the ranch, where he’s seen dogs chase cows into the water. Perhaps predator chased prey into a bog, where they were trapped, he speculates. The find has also stirred up the feud between paleontologists, who want fossils donated to universities or museums, and commercial fossil hunters, who aim to cash in on their efforts. “I’ve always been an advocate of keeping our dinosaurs here in Montana,” said Murphy. In 2001 Murphy discovered Leonardo, the famous “Mummy Dinosaur” that was featured in a Newsweek centerfold spread in 2005. Such finds “are a uniquely Montana resource,” Murphy said. “A lot of museums around the country and around the world have taken advantage of our resource, and we’ve lost a lot.” Eatman, the Billings floor salesman who first spotted the new fossils last summer, says he and his team have deep respect for the science of paleontology. They also have a bottom line. “We all went broke digging them up,” said Eatman, who hopes to sell the specimens to a major American museum. The profits would be shared among Eatman, his two digging partners and the ranch couple that owns the fossil. They say the find is in the league of “Sue,” the largest, most complete T. rex fossil ever found. After a legal battle, that fossil sold to the Chicago Field Museum for $8 million. “We want to do the right thing and we do want (the bones) to be studied, researched and go to an American museum,” Eatman said last week. “What we don’t want to do is be the poster guys for the controversy between commercial versus academic paleontology.”
