Paleontologists Unearth most Complete Dinosaur Skeleton Ever Found in British Colombia

A team of paleontologists have unearthed the most complete dinosaur skeleton ever discovered in British Colombia, the Canadian Press reported.

The 73 million year-old hadrosaurus was found without a head, but paleontologist Richard McCrea and his team expect they will uncover a hadrosaur head as they continue their excavation, although it might not be the one they are looking for.

The skeleton was found in what McCrea described as a "bone bed" where there could 30 or more skeletons awaiting excavation.

About 60 tyrannosaurus teeth were found near the headless hadrosaur, which McCrea suggested could mean that a scavenging tyrannosaur could have decapitated the hadrosaur.

"The head would have been easy to take off" of a dead hadrosaur, he said. "It's one of the weakest links on most animals because the head is fairly heavy."

Hadrosaurus was a herbivorous dinosaur that lived in the Late Cretaceous period, using jaws filled with more than 3,000 teeth to munch on the era's tough vegetation. The creatures could be as many as 10 meters long and weighed several thousand pounds.

Hadrosaurus has a well documented history in North America. In 1838 the bones of a hadrosaur discovered along the Cooper River in New Jersey later became the first dinosaur species identified by more than isolated teeth ever discovered on the continent. The bones were later mounted in 1868, which was reportedly the first time dinosaur bones were ever mounted for display.

The bones of the B.C. hadrosaur were taken to Tumbler Ridge Museum last week, but it will be some time before they are on display to the public -- the museum reportedly does not have the funds to hire the staff needed to prepare the bones.

McCrea told the Canadian Press that because British Colombia does not have the reputation as a region to unearth dinosaurs, it receives little funding, despite ample paleontological resources.