by Laura Geggel, Staff Writer | May 20, 2015 03:10pm ET
A fragmented femur bone hidden underwater for millions of years has become the first evidence that a dinosaur once roamed Washington, a new study finds.
And not just any dinosaur: This beast was a theropod — a two-legged, mostly meat-eating group of beasts, such as Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor, that are related to modern-day birds, the researchers said.
Scientists found the 80-million-year-old fossil of the dinosaur when they were searching for ammonites — extinct marine invertebrates with spiral shells — and other fossilized animals. They had focused their fieldwork in the San Juan Islands, an archipelago located a short ferry ride away from the Seattle area. [See Images of the Fossil of the First Dinosaur Found in Washington]
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