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North Dakota forks over $3 million for mummified dinosaur

Historical Society Director Merl Paaverud said the deal was the "opportunity of a lifetime."

By Brooks Hays
A segment of the "Dakota" fossil. (CC/Flickr/Kabacchi)
A segment of the "Dakota" fossil. (CC/Flickr/Kabacchi)

BISMARCK, N.D., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- North Dakota's State Historical Society has agreed to give a one time $3 million grant to the Marmarth Research Foundation in exchange for the rights to a mummified hadrosaur, or duck-billed dinosaur.

Though the dinosaur isn't technically mummified, it is an extraordinarily rare find in that its muscles and soft tissue fossilized along with the bones.

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The fossil, nicknamed "Dakota," was first discovered in 1999 by Tyer Lyson, then a teenager. Lyson happened upon the fully fossilized dinosaur while exploring his family's property. Seven years later, Lyson and a number of dinosaur experts exhumed the fossil so it could be taken to the lab and studied.

Lyson, who went onto to study biology and earn a paleontology degree from Yale, has remained the owner of the fossil. But now he has relinquished his rights to the state in order to enrich the nonprofit group he presides over and directs.

Lyson says the grant will be used to set up an endowment fund for the organization -- money which will be used fund more public digs, educational outreach, and expand research collections. As part of the deal, Lyson's group will display some of its other fossils at the state's Heritage Center and will be granted access to the center's research labs.

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According to the local paper, Jamestown Sun, Historical Society Director Merl Paaverud said the deal was the "opportunity of a lifetime."

"Hopefully we'll just be in partnership with them forever," he added.

Three million dollars may sound like a lot for really old bones, but the 65-million-year-old fossil is quite renowned. Dakota enjoyed a bit of publicity in the wake of its unearthing, becoming the subject of a National Geographic documentary and a segment on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Now, Dakota and its celebrity will remain at home.

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