Dueling Dinosaurs

The Dueling Dinosaurs or Montana Dueling Dinosaurs is a fossil specimen originating from the Hell Creek Formation of Montana. It consists of the fossilized skeletons of a tyrannosaur (generally considered a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex) and a Triceratops horridus entangled with one another and entombed in sandstone. This is quite similar to the Fighting Dinosaurs, a 74-million-year-old specimen found Mongolia in 1971, in which a Velociraptor and Protoceratops were locked in battle and preserved. The "dueling" inference comes from the numerous injuries sustained by both dinosaurs, including a tooth from the tyrannosaur embedded within the Triceratops, although it is not known whether they were actually buried fighting one another. Despite the scientific importance of the specimen, it remained obscure for decades due to a lengthy legal dispute over property rights to the specimen, which has since been resolved. The fossil is in the possession of and being studied by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, where it went on display in 2024.

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