over the ownership of the dinosaur. now w-the bureau of land management fossils that are found on public lands bureau of land management, u.s. forest service lands, national park service lands, those fossils can only be collected with a permit an then once someone clebts that fossil it has to go a public museum where it remains in trust for the american public. this fossil was on a rancher s land but under an indian trust land. here you are. let s take this group and it s your first day at work with the federal government happens to be the day that sue, this t-rex is confiscated. do you think the raid went a tad too far? well, i wasn t part of the investigation. my first day of work was may 14th, 1992.
this fascinating story, the senior paleontologists with the u.s. bureau of land management. scott, welcome. hi, brooke. nice to meet you. when you watch this film two story lines diverge. you have the discovery of this t-rex and then the fall out. let me begin at the top with the discovery. put this in perspective for all of us who love going to museums. how significant is this t-rex discovery in all of history? as far as dinosaurs go this is one of the most amazing fossil ever found. it s an amazing discovery. i think that starts to distract from other parts of the story too where we talk about how it ended up in a criminal trial. but in fact that criminal trial wasn t for the dinosaur. okay. you re getting ahead of me. i m just trying to wrap my head around. first this crazy discovery.