Discoverers Sherman Mohler (right) and Derek Hoffman at the Ornatops site in New Mexico.
Let’s step back in time about 80 million years. That’s the approximate age of the Ornatops incantatus, a duck-billed, plant-eating dinosaur that lived in northwestern New Mexico.
Citizen scientists unearthed the school bus-sized creature during a recent expedition. It s the coolest Easter egg hunt you could ever imagine, said Sherman Mohler, an engineer from Gilbert and president of the Southwest Paleontological Society.
His partner on that particular trip was Derek Hoffman, a geologist at the University of Arizona.
The men are volunteers, accompanied by professional investigators. As Mohler explains, the volunteers do everything from preparing food to excavating delicate ancient bones.