Triceratops found in Thornton to go on display at museum this weekend

Constructions crews in Thornton, Colorado, have unearthed an incredible discovery: a 66-million year old dinosaur skeleton.

The fossils are believed to be 66 million years old.

The construction site where the skull was found has been secured by the officials who feared that the news might attract thieves.

A 40-pound rib bone found at the site will make its way to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science Friday in a white plastic jacket.

Denver Museum of Nature and Science curator of dinosaurs Joe Sertich says the find is one of three triceratops skulls found along the Colorado Front Range and has likely been laying there for at least 66 million years.

"This is what we as curators dream about - getting a call about a possible fossil and confirming it's not just a dinosaur fossil, but a record-breaking one".

It's not over yet though: a team of excavators from the museum, Colorado Office of Archaeology, Saunders Construction inc. and the City of Thornton are still working on the site. Sertich has described the Thornton triceratops as the size of a rhino, smaller than the fossils found in Montana and the Dakotas that show triceratops about the size of a medium elephant, Sertich said Thursday.