Canadian dinosaur recovery

["Stewart, Dwight" <Dwight.Stewart@VLSI.com>]

                              Rare dinosaur skeleton unearthed in
                              Drumheller 
                              WebPosted Thu Aug 19 16:02:20 1999 

                              DRUMHELLER, ALB. - A rare dinosaur skeleton is
now safe and
                              sound at the Royal Tyrell Museum in
Drumheller, in southern
                              Alberta. 

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                              The dinosaur is believed to be closely related
to a
                              Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was discovered last fall
and is one of
                              only five such skeletons in the world. 

                              Paleontologists and a trucking crew moved the
skeleton from
                              Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta
Tuesday. 

                              Moving the skeleton wasn't an easy job. It was
encased in rock
                              and a giant plaster cast, and weighed four and
a half tons. A
                              winch truck used a cable attached to a
stoneboat to drag the
                              block through the hills, coulees and cliffs of
the park badlands. 

                              It was an exciting day, says Phil Currie, a
curator of dinosaurs
                              at the Tyrell Museum. But it was also a
nerve-wracking one. 

                              "A big part of our job is finding our
specimen, then they're
                              uncovered, and encased in plaster and burlap.
But until the very
                              end you're always nervous about how they're
going to make it
                              out of the badlands." 

                              It will likely take museum staff at least
three years to prepare
                              the dinosaur for display.