Researchers piece together 66-million-year-old dinosaur fossils found in South Dakota

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The groundbreaking discovery of a 66-million-year-old dinosaur continues to reveal itself years after a piece of it was first spotted, Missouri researchers said.

A South Dakota rancher found the tip of the triceratops' horn while fixing a fence in the Badlands in 2019, and since then researchers from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, have made annual trips to dig up over 113 fossilized bones belonging to "Shady."

During this summer's excavation, the group from the university dug up one of Shady's largest bones—the sacrum—along with 11 other bones, the university said in an Oct. 22 news release.

This fossil is known as "one of the most intact, contiguous Triceratops in the world," according to Westminster.

In 2019, the rancher called the National Forest Service about the discovery, and the NHS then called in Westminster College professor David Schmidt, who had a permit to excavate in the area, according to the school.

Schmidt observed the initial horn finding and worked with students and other researchers in 2020 to excavate the skull belonging to the 3,000-pound Triceratops near the town of Shadehill, the fossil's namesake, the university said in 2020.

Schmidt said he hopes to display the massive dinosaur at the university for students to learn from once they unearth the rest of its fossilized skeleton.

"All along, the ultimate goal of recovering Shady has been for Westminster students to use the fossil specimens for undergraduate research, for practical experience and to gain skills needed for graduate school or wherever their career paths take them," Schmidt said in a statement.

Shadehill is about a 400-mile drive northwest from Sioux Falls.

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