The Beginning of a Lifelong Adventure

Kyle Morris

Hi! My name is Kyle Morris. Ever since I was a little boy I wanted to be a paleontologist, specifically with a focus on dinosaurs. I still remember one of the first dinosaur figures I ever had. It was given to me for my sixth birthday, and of course it was a T. rex. I named him Rainbow, and I still have him to this day. Today, I get to live my childhood dream and study and teach about these amazing animals that God created!

From looking at life-size models to digging up their bones, anything and everything is on the table as we explore the world of my favorite animals, the dinosaurs. But first, check out this article to learn more about what a dinosaur really is.

To start us off, you’ll never guess what I want to talk about. You guessed it . . . cows! That’s right, cows. This story takes us to eastern Montana, and it happened only a few weeks ago. I was taking part in helping to prep a dig site in Glendive, MT, for the summer dig season. We’d been out working for about 45 minutes, removing boulders and shoveling dirt, when suddenly, I saw something black out of the corner of my eye. As I turned to look at what I expected to be a big dog, I saw not one, but two young cows. I shouted to the rest of the team so we could all stay out of their way as they trotted along and disappeared over a hill. Strange. About 15 minutes later, a real-life Montana cowboy appeared atop his horse in the valley below. He shouted up to us and asked if we’d seen any cows recently. To which I responded, “Yeah, they went over that hill about 15 minutes ago,” and pointed in the direction the cows went. And that is where the adventure began.

After directing the cowboys, we went over the hill to see if we could help. However, the cows had gotten themselves into quite a predicament.

Can you spot the cow?

Apparently, immediately after passing through our dig site, the two cows had gotten themselves wedged in a very small ravine. In fact, one of them was only suspended by its stomach and horns which were just wide enough to prevent it from falling all the way in. In all honesty, when I first saw them, I thought for sure they were going to die. However, God had placed us in just the right place, at just the right time, with just the right tools. With the help of a couple more cowboys, their horses, and an excited pack of cattle dogs, we were able to get both cows out of the ravine in about two hours. They were a little angry though! After the cowboys left, we thought to ourselves, “It’s not every day you excavate living fossils!”

A few days later, as I was digging into the side of a hill, I made the find of the week! Sticking out of the rock was the tip of a dinosaur bone. I pursued it back into the rock, eventually excavating the whole of the bone (minus a few missing edges). Though originally thought to belong to a Tyrannosaurus rex, upon further evaluation back at the lab, we identified it as belonging to a Triceratops. Based on the size of the bone, we believe it to have come from a very large Triceratops, possibly up to 35 feet long. The bone itself was a chevron, one of many that stick off the bottom of a dinosaur’s tail as an anchor point for muscle.

Triceratops Bone

Triceratops

Learn more about my adventures in the world of dinosaurs!