Scottus Richardsoni

Yeah so what I didn’t win the lottery to hike the Wave, but I did win big with a private VIP tour of the BLM archeological lab in Kanab, from a wonderful and uncannily lucky fossil scout named Scott Richardson. Here he is explaining how the rock is removed from the bone, in this case on a tibia of a hadrosaur. Scott discovered in rapid succession the only two Kosmoceratops (“the horniest dinosaur ever discovered”), one a near complete fossil head to tail, and had it named after him: Kosmoceratops Richardsoni. It has the most ornate head of any dinosaur ever discovered. It’s Scott’s job to hang out camping in Grand Staircase Escalante, looking for fossils and helping extract them. He does have an AWESOME JOB.

Honestly, dinosaurs never piqued my interest even though when I was in grade school they were a huge deal. But today I was totally enraptured. Did you know that birds are our modern day dinosaurs?

Anyway, thanks for getting me through security for your awesome tour Scott – very inspiring!