Image: Current state of discovery for Teen Rex. That's its lower jaw! 

• he fossil of Teen Rex preserves about 30% of the skeleton collected in a plaster jacket that was nine-feet long and five-feet wide. The Teen Rex would have measured approximately 25 feet in length and 10 feet in height.
• The fossil of Teen Rex was collected in a plaster jacket weighing about 6,000 pounds, including plaster, burlap, rock and the fossil itself. While the exact weight of the fossil is subject to ongoing research and analysis, it is estimated that the Teen Rex weighed ~3,500 pounds at the time of its death.
• The discovery of a teenage T. rex is significant because many T. rex fossils found are from older, larger animals. The teenage specimen provides researchers with an opportunity to study the growth and development of T. rex during this crucial phase of their life (the period of fastest growth), offering insights into how these formidable predators matured.

• Sam Fisher, 45 (as of Summer of 2024), has worked at Denbury for 12 years, which recently changed to ExxonMobil. He is a CO2 operator. Sam enjoys tinkering, making old tractors run and exploring in his spare time.
• Danielle Fisher, 34 (as of Summer of 2024), is employed at Baker Public Schools as a paraprofessional working in Special Education. In her spare time, she likes to read, crochet and sew.
• Emalynn Fisher, 14, just graduated 8th grade. She enjoys drawing and making Tik Tok dances with her best friend. She plans to go to veterinary school after high school.
• Liam, 9 (as of Summer of 2024), just finished the 3rd grade. He likes to play his ukulele and guitar. Liam enjoys hiking and looking for dinosaurs. He plans to go into paleontology.
• Kaiden Madsen is 11 years old and just finished 5th grade. He likes to draw and he wants to be a ranch hand when he grows up.
• Jessin, 12 (as of Summer of 2024), just finished 6th grade. Jessin enjoys reading about, and doing anything that involves paleontology. He is an aspiring paleontologist and has dreams of working for Dr. Tyler Lyson when he is old enough.

Dr. Tyler Lyson is a vertebrate paleontologist who studies the extinction of the dinosaurs, the rise of placental mammals and the evolutionary origin of various reptiles, particularly turtles. He combines developmental, genetic and fossil data with highresolution chronostratigraphic data to address his research questions. Tyler has conducted fieldwork throughout the American West and has active field sites in North Dakota, Montana and Colorado. Tyler was born in North Dakota and has been doing paleontology fieldwork since he was in middle school. Tyler received his BA from Swarthmore College and his PhD from Yale University. Tyler joined the Museum in 2014 after a postdoctoral position at the Smithsonian Institution.

Natalie Toth grew up in Chicago where she developed a strong love for natural history museums, which ultimately led to her pursuit of a career in the geosciences. At the Museum, she works alongside a remarkable team of volunteers in the earth sciences labs to collect and prepare fossils from around the world. Natalie has been fortunate to participate in numerous excursions for vertebrate fossils across the Rocky Mountain West and has the opportunity to support the groundbreaking research interests of the Museum’s curatorial staff.

Evan Tamez-Galvan knew at an early age that she wanted to work with dinosaurs and became determined to make that dream a reality as she grew up. This passion led her to study geology and biology at Mercyhurst University, earning her bachelor’s degree in 2021. In the fall of 2021, she became a lab intern at the Museum where she learned to properly prepare and store fossils. Evan now works full-time with an exceptional team of volunteers and interns to prepare Jurassic sauropods from the Morrison Formation in Wyoming.

Salvador Bastien works with the volunteer team in the earth sciences labs to bring new specimens in from the field and prepare them for the collections. Growing up in Wisconsin, he developed a passion for the natural world that brought him to the Colorado Front Range for his undergraduate studies. At Colorado College, he gained a deeper understanding of evolution, anatomy, and the history preserved in the rock formations of the American West. Interning for Grand Staircase project with the paleontology team piqued an interest in the fossil record that expanded to Salvador’s full-time involvement with the Museum since 2018.

Alex grew up in Colorado where she cultivated her passion for the outdoors and natural sciences. She obtained a bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University, where she studied biology and chemistry with a concentration in evolutionary biology, ecology, and conservation genomics. After graduating she interned for the Jurassic Giants and Kaiparowits projects at the Museum, where she fell further in love with paleontology and the Museum's community. Alex now works at the museum as a full-time fossil preparator, where she collaborates with outstanding interns and volunteers to prepare ‘Teen Rex’, share incredible science with museum guests, and contribute to top-notch research.

Sadie Sherman works with a team of interns and volunteers to prepare Hell Creek fossils for storage in collections. As a child, she developed a love of dinosaurs and evolutionary biology that became a driving force in her life. This led her to the dinosaur rich fields of Alberta, Canada where she studied biology and paleontology. From there, she would become an intern at DMNS and learn all the preparation steps and techniques necessary to be hired as full-time staff.

Teen Rex Prep Lab

The public is invited to meet the paleontologists through interactive workshop and lecture series while the T. rex specimen is prepared on public display as the highlight of a new prep lab.

Local Fossil Discoveries

The exhibition features a wide array of dinosaur fossils, including Triceratops and Edmontosaurus, from the Museum’s collection.

Discover more about this incredible discovery in our digital magazine, Catalyst.

Experience the ultimate G.O.A.T. — Greatest of All Tyrants — as it roars to life on the giant screen in the film "T. REX." For over a century, the T. rex has reigned as the undisputed king of the dinosaurs. With state-of-the-art CGI and cutting-edge paleontological insights, this movie offers an unprecedented journey into the world of the T. rex and its fellow Cretaceous carnivores. This movie features scientists from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science unearthing the teenage T. rex.

Share your experience on social media using #TeenRexdmns for a chance to be featured on Museum channels!