T-rex to Netherlands

A European first for the Naturalis Institute in Leiden. It will display a nearly complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex in The Netherlands.For the first time ever a skeleton of this prehistoric predator will be on display outside of the USA.

It has been a wish of Naturalis to display a so-called T-rex in The Netherlands, but all attempts to excavate one had failed to far.

The current discovery, in rural Montana hit bull's-eye. The find includes the skull, legs, and tail bones.

.

The huge predator lived about 70 to 65 million years ago, during the late Cretaceous. It could get up to 42.7" foot long and weighed about 4,000 pounds. Tyrannosaurus rex only lived in the western part of present-day North America.

The bones were found on private property and are the property of the landowner. Naturalis owes an estimated 7.5 million euros for the T-rex. They hope to acquire that by fundraising and crowd funding.

The Tyrannosaurus will be the showpiece in the all-new museum, which Naturalis will open in 2017.