MASSIVE 13+ LB Triceratops Occipital Condyle With Skull Dinosaur Fossil Hell Creek
This listing is for an incredible huge 13 lb 3 oz Triceratops occipital condyle with partial skull attached found in the Hell Creek Formation of Slope County, ND. This is the rear of the skull articulation point where it attaches to the first neck vertebra. This is about as big as they get and it's really special that there is a lot of skull still attached as well and the neural canal attaching to the brain of the animal. All natural no repair or restoration just glue to stabilize. The Hell Creek Formation dates back to the Late Cretaceous approximately 66-68 million years in age.
It represent the coastline of an ancient sea that spanned across the middle of North American during much of the Mesozoic Era. That is why dinosaur remains are so common in the American West, those areas were the ancient floodplains of a seaway that no longer exists. Dinosaur like the famous Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops and Pachycephalosaurus were part of this amazing ecosystem. Other dinosaur such as Edmontosaurus, Thescelosaurus, Struthiomimus and Oviraptorids existed here as well. And of course there were the Dromaeosaurs Raptors that inhabited this area and preyed upon these species such as Acheropraptor and Dakotaraptor.