Dino dig continues at Dinosaur Nat’l Monument parking lot | Gephardt Daily

DINOSAUR NATIONAL MONUMENT, Utah and Colorado, May 3, 2026 (Gephardt Daily) — There’s still time to swing by the Quarry Exhibit Hall parking lot at Dinosaur National Monument and see paleontologists in action.

“The team reopened the dig they began last fall during the parking lot repaving project—where they initially uncovered nearly 3,000 pounds of fossils,” a DNM social media post says.

“When they returned this spring, the discoveries kept coming. In addition to lots of Diplodocus tail vertebrae, a beautifully preserved Camptosaurus toe claw and a striking Allosaurus tooth were also found! These finds offer an exciting peek into the Late Jurassic world that once filled this landscape.”

Diplodocus could grow to about 80 feet long, and stood 13 feet tall at the hip, according to the National Park Service and other online sites. It weighed about 22,000 to 35,000 pounds, and traveled in small herds. It was a plant eater.

Allosaurus (Utah’s state fossil) were about 28 feet long, stood about 10 to 15 feet tall, and weighed about 3,300 to 5,500 pounds. They were meat eaters, and could run about 19 to 34 miles an hour. The average human sprint is about 15–20 mph, according to online sources.

The Camptosaurus was 16 to 24 feet long, and typically stood about 6 feet tall at the hip, and weighed 1,100 to 2,200 pounds. It was a plant eater.

All three dino varieties lived in the late Jurassic period, about 161 to 145 million years ago.

“Come witness this incredible work before the dig wraps up!,” the Dinosaur National Monument social media post says.

Dinosaur National Monument is located in eastern Utah and western Colorado, with fossil displays on the Utah side.

Photo: Dinosaur National Monument