Don’t Miss The Biggest Amazing Discovery In North Carolina This Year, Dueling Dinosaurs

Sign up for Dueling Dinosaurs in North Carolina, an extraordinary fossil and research exhibit developed from years of planning. Coming this spring to Raleigh, the project has taken up permanent residence at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Be there as the prehistoric secrets are unearthed and broadcast to the world about a Tyrannosaur and a Triceratops. Tickets will be available in February with an opening scheduled for April 2024. Let's take a look at this exciting exhibit coming to The Tar Heel State.

The Dueling Dinosaurs are among the most complete skeletons ever discovered of two iconic dinosaurs — a Triceratops and a Tyrannosaur — including the only 100 percent complete Tyrannosaur skeleton yet discovered in North America.

The dinosaurs were buried side by side during the Late Cretaceous on a subtropical coastal plain in what is now Montana.

This remarkable find will give scientists at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences the chance to answer questions that have long puzzled paleontologists.

What did the frill of Triceratops look like? Are original molecules still preserved in the skin? Is there evidence of feathers on the Tyrannosaur? Is this an adolescent Tyrannosaurus rex or is Nanotyrannus a valid species? How did they die, and were they actually dueling?

For months, the public has witnessed signs of this exciting exhibit coming to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

In April of 2022, some stairs outside the Nature Research Center were demolished to accommodate the building expansion for the SECU DinoLab. Parts of the exhibit, such as the Triceratops fossil, are enormous. The lab was specifically designed to hold all eight blocks of the Dueling Dinosaurs fossils at once and necessary lab equipment.

These massive steel beams to frame the SECU DinoLab were installed in November of 2022.

The beams reinforce the floor to support the enormous weight of the Dueling Dinosaurs and their matrix.

The weight of future large fossils was also a design consideration which is why the ground floor was reinforced underneath with huge steel beams.

These are some of the steel reinforcements under the SECU DinoLab to hold up the Dueling Dinosaurs and the Montana sediment that encases them weighing 15 tons!

The massiveness of this discovery required the construction of a whole new lab — a state-of-the-art space designed for the public to view and experience.

Within this research center, visitors will get up close and personal with the fossils and meet some of the scientific team as they uncover long-buried secrets.

Dig into more mysteries by clicking on this photo of the Triceratops and the Tyrannosaur.

Once you're there, scroll down until you find the photo on the website and click on the interactive red dots.

We can't wait to witness this massive fossil and research exhibit!

For more information about the Dueling Dinosaurs in North Carolina, visit the Dueling Dinosaurs website. While you're in Raleigh, eat and shop at Lafayette Village, a little slice of Paris. And stay the night by reserving a budget-friendly hotel on the Extended Stay America website.