By: Tiffany Han

On a day in 2022, ten-year-old Jessin Fisher, his seven-year-old brother Liam Fisher, and their cousin Kaiden Madsen were fossil hunting in Hell Creek Formation in North Dakota. The area was rich with dinosaur bones, and the trio hoped to find a couple. But they got more than they asked for. Later that day, they would find a teenage T-Rex’s bones buried in the ground.

The process all started when Liam Fisher and his father, Sam Fisher, found a gray and white bone sticking out of the ground. Sam Fisher immediately called Jessin and Kaiden over. Sam asked what the bone was, and Jessin said it was a dinosaur.

Apparently, Jessin’s hunch was correct. The bones were indeed the remains of a dinosaur. And it was not just an ordinary dinosaur—it was a teenage T-Rex. Sam sent a photo of the fossil to Dr. Tyler Lyson, a paleontologist at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. However, the permits and licenses needed took over a year, so they only started evacuating in 2023. The three boys were also included in this team. Originally, Lyson thought the fossil belonged to a duck-billed dinosaur, a common dinosaur. However, the scientist and Jessin found what looked like a T-Rex’s tooth. After some more digging, they found the jaw, with more teeth connected to it.

The excavation took eleven days. The scientists say that the T-Rex was probably about 25 feet long, 10 feet tall, and weighed around 3,500 pounds. They believe the T-Rex was only thirteen when dinosaurs went extinct. “Juvenile [T.] rex specimens are extremely rare,” Dr. Lyson said, continuing, “This find is significant to researchers because the ‘Teen Rex’ specimen may help answer questions about how the king of dinosaurs grew up.”

Liam, Jessin, and Kaiden named the T-Rex “The Brothers.” On June 21, 2024, it went on display in a museum in Denver. The exhibit includes a documentary chronicling the amazing discovery of the teen T-Rex.