What’s seven feet tall, covered with feathers, and is moving, piece by piece, into the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford? It’s “Pearl,” an extremely rare dinosaur that could fill in some blanks for researchers.
Scott Williams is director of Science and Exhibits at Burpee. And THIS is an important find.
“Pearl” is a rare type of giant oviraptorosaur: they’re not birds, but really, really close. Crews from Burpee have been finding significant pieces of Pearl during digs at the Hell Creek Formation in Montana over the past two years.
Williams says some heavy hitters in paleontology are excited about this specimen: there’s only one other on display in the U.S. This rare dinosaur is fairly complete and Williams feels there's more of it to be found at the Hell Creek site. It will take several years to prepare Pearl for exhibit at Burpee, but visitors will be able to watch the reconstruction as it progresses.
Aspiring paleontologists can get in on the next dig, which will take place in July and August.
