Walking the dinosaur just part of the job

When staff from the German magazine Stern arrived in Malta two weeks ago for a story on Leonardo, the mummy dinosaur, they wanted a picture of the 77-million-year-old duckbill in its natural environment.

Nate Murphy, curator at the Judith River Dinosaur Institute in Malta, wanted to oblige so he and a crew loaded their prized restoration of their prize dinosaur onto a flatbed truck and drove "Leonardo" out into the badlands.

Leonardo is the centerpiece of the Judith River Dinosaur Institute’s collection. It was discovered in the badlands near Malta in 2000. The discovery rocked the dinosaur world because it was fossilized before its muscles, tendons and scaly skin decomposed. It is, in effect, a dinosaur in the flesh.

"The Stern article is expected out towards the end of the year. It is a full-length feature," Murphy said. "Basically they came because the dinosaurs we are collecting here are so well known, that they felt a lot of their German readers would enjoy learning more about our dinosaurs."

By MICHAEL BABCOCK
Tribune Regional Editor

Full Story: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051004/NEWS01/510040309/1002

(Many thanks to Tod Kasten and Victor Bjornberg for passing this along. Russ)

A map from Travel Montana and the http://www.mtdinotrail.org Web site can help you find the state’s 13 dinosaur museums via the state highway system.

Further Stories:

Montana’s dinosaur trail is all mapped out http://www.matr.net/article-15720.html

Dinosaur Trail attracts visitors to Montana http://www.matr.net/article-15462.html

Buried Treasure in Montana – With the help of new fossil discoveries and new technologies, scientists are learning how dinosaurs lived—and died http://www.matr.net/article-15113.html