Edmontosaurus story sorry

[Mar Qos Aker <marqosaker@yahoo.com>]

Dear fellow listers:

Okay, I got this from googling edmontosaurus japan today 11 am MDT 10 02 2009

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,549442,00.html

Enjoy. Marc Bauer MT USA 

'Dakota' the Duckbilled Dinosaur Travels From North Dakota to Japan
Friday, September 11, 2009  

BISMARCK, N.D.  â  Dakota the duckbilled dinosaur is a hit in Japan after 
making its biggest trip ever.

The 67-million-year-old Edmontosaurus with fossilized skin, found in North 
Dakota's Badlands a decade ago, has been on display in Chiba, Japan, since 
July. But getting the 5-ton mummified specimen there has been a mammoth task.

Dakota has done little traveling since Tyler Lyson, a doctoral paleontology 
student at Yale University, discovered the dinosaur on his uncle's ranch near 
Marmarth, in southwestern North Dakota, in 1999.

Lyson said Dakota has been the highlight of the "Dinosaur 2009 â Miracle of the 
Desert" show, which features 260 specimens of featured fossilized creatures 
from around the world.

"Obviously, I was very apprehensive about sending a one-of-a-kind specimen that 
far," Lyson said.

Paleontologist John Hoganson, of the North Dakota Geological Survey, said 
officials made several trips to Bismarck to assess the fossil before shipping. 
He said Dakota's body, fossilized into stone, weighs about 8,500 pounds, and 
two other portions including a tail and an arm bring the total to about 10,000 
pounds.

"We had to find the biggest forklift in Bismarck to load it," Hoganson said.

Only a few mummified dinosaurs exist, and researchers Dakota may have most and 
best-preserved skin. It has been the subject of a children's book and an adult 
book, and National Geographic television programs.

Masterpiece International Shipping, which specializes in packing up and 
shipping items like paintings and relics, handled the big cargo. It was taken 
by truck to Chicago and then flown to Japan.

"They treated (Dakota) with the utmost respect," Lyson said.

A spokeswoman for New York-based Masterpiece International said the company 
does not comment on its operations.

The exhibit's sponsors, which include Japanese electronics and automobile 
companies, paid for the move, which Lyson estimated to be in the tens of 
thousands of dollars.

Lyson, who traveled to Japan with his parents, said that visitors to the 
exhibit are funneled through various displays, with Dakota saved for last.

"Of all the featured things, this was the grand finale," Lyson said.

Hoganson said he and Lyson gave a presentation on the fossil.

"It was a packed house," Hoganson said. "About 500 people paid money to come 
listen to us talk in English about dinosaurs."

The exhibition runs through Sept. 27, and Dakota is slated to return to 
Bismarck next month.

Its tail and arm will go on display in late October at the North Dakota 
Heritage Center in Bismarck, Hoganson said. In a back room, paleontologists 
will continue the detailed work of removing rock that encases Dakota, he said.

Lyson hopes to eventually send Dakota on a worldwide tour and then bring it 
back to his hometown of Marmarth, in North Dakota's southwestern corner, where 
he is creating a museum.

"The money we're getting from the Japanese will help finish preparation on it," 
Lyson said, though he declined to specify that figure.

Hoganson said he thought the Japanese have more fascination with dinosaurs than 
other countries.

"It's interesting because they don't have hardly any dinosaur fossils found in 
Japan," he said. "I think it may be because the movies, like Godzilla