Regular Cowboy State Daily readers probably picked up that I love dinosaurs and paleontology. Dinosaurs are why I moved to Wyoming in 2012, and they're one of the main things that's kept me here.
Paleontologist Paul Sereno was one of my childhood heroes. I heard him give a presentation at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History when I was 5 years old, and followed his exploits, finding rare and bizarre dinosaurs around the world, as I was growing up.
And I still do, who am I kidding?
Our readers might not believe this, but I don't pitch every Wyoming dinosaur/paleontology story that pops up. There's a lot more than I can handle.
I could probably become an exclusive dinosaur and paleontology writer for Cowboy State Daily, but even I like to mix things up by expanding the scope of my work. It's an enjoyable indulgence rather than "my job."
I immediately knew that this one was special. I wanted to do a story on "Wyoming's dinosaur mummies" since I started at Cowboy State Daily, and here was an exciting new discovery from Lusk, published by Paul Sereno and his colleagues in Chicago. I had to cover this one.
I'll admit that I had to prepare for that interview. I can cold-call most people without issue, but there's a list of people where I had to take a moment and temper my emotions before making the call. Sereno was one of those people.
I've met a lot of my "heroes" as a Cowboy State Daily writer, so getting to spend 20 minutes on a Zoom call with Paul Sereno will always be one of the highlights of my career. It's not only because I got to have a professional moment with someone I idolized, but it was in the context of sharing the legacy of Wyoming's paleontology with our readers, something that I've become very passionate about.
If there's a story about dinosaurs and fossils in Wyoming, there's a good chance I already know about it. This story will always be one of my tops, and I intend to keep writing more like it until I find the perfect T.rex in Lusk's "mummy zone." It's a long shot, but one can dream.
Newly Designated Wyoming Dinosaur ‘Mummy Zone’ Could Hold A Perfect T. Rex
