Dinosaur Deathtrap in Utah a Marvel Too Big to Move [VIDEO]

Paleontologists in Utah have an unusual problem: How will they move a massively heavy herd of fossilized dinosaurs off of a mountainside?

Behind the logistical challenge is a fascinating story from prehistory, which Don DeBlieux, a paleontologist with Utah Geological Survey, calls "one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my career."

A whole gang of Utahraptors (carnivorous dinosaurs similar to the velociraptor of Jurassic Park fame) were found in a well-preserved fossilized graveyard, a dinosaur deathtrap where the remains of at least a dozen dinosaurs and possibly birds, fish and other organisms are ensconced on a steep slope near Moab, Utah, just outside Arches National Park.

"[Utahraptors] found this big hulking herbivore stuck in the mud. They went in, probably a feeding frenzy, these Utahraptors - old ones and young ones - and in turn, a bunch of these animals got stuck in the mud," Jim Kirkland, Utah's state paleontologist told local news outlet KSL, adding that the fossilized grave is so dense that "we can't put an icepick into it without hitting a skeleton."

The graveyard was actually found about a decade ago by a geology student, and scientists have been pouring over it since. After so many years, what they really want now is to move the fossils to a lab where further testing can be done.

Utahraptors are among the largest species of raptor identified; adults measured 25 feet long and could weigh thousands of pounds.

The five-ton fossilized mass is encased in a protective layer of plaster and burlap, but the problem is that the weight of the fossils is so much that there is not a helicopter in the state that can lift it.

"This is pretty much bigger than anything the Air National Guard in Utah has available," Kirkland said.

To get the fossils off the mountainside, other options are being explored, including encasing the mass inside a specially build protective box and dragging it down the mountain. But the bumpy ride has paleontologists worried that breakage will occur on the way down.

They have issued a call for the donation of a helicopter large enough to move a herd of dinosaurs.