It's the only one of its kind in the world.
Green Horn
The Natural History Museum in Los Angeles has a fascinating new exhibit in the form of a dinosaur that was unearthed in the Badlands of Utah back in 2007 — with, strikingly, green bones.
It's the only green-boned dinosaur to have ever been found, according to museum officials.
It dates back to a time in the late Jurassic Era, around 150 million years ago, making it well over twice as old as the Tyrannosaurus rex.
The green color is the result of a mineral called celadonite, which seeped into the bones during volcanic activity around 50 to 80 million years ago. Celadonite usually only forms under these conditions, which are technically extreme enough to destroy bones.
Fortunately for us, the dinosaur — dubbed "Gnatalie" because of all of the gnats that swarmed the paleontologists' heads as they unearthed its bones — survived the ordeal and is making its debut at the LA Natural History Museum later this year.
"Dinosaurs are a great vehicle for teaching our visitors about the nature of science, and what better than a green, almost 80-foot-long dinosaur to engage them in the process of scientific discovery and make them reflect on the wonders of the world we live in!" said Dinosaur Institute team member Luis Chiappe in a told the Associated Press.
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Meet Gnatalie! She’s going to be the new resident at the Natural History Museum.🦖🦕 🎥
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Gnatalie isn't just highly unusual because of her uniquely green hue — she's also a member of a new species of dinosaurs that's similar to sauropods, enormous herbivores that include the brontosaurus and brachiosaurus.
Details about the discovery are set to be published in a scientific paper sometime next year.
"It's tremendously huge, it really adds to our ability to understand both taxonomic diversity," Mount Aloysius College teacher and sauropod researcher John Whitlock told the AP, "but also anatomical diversity."
Other possible names for the unusual find included Olive, Verdi, Esme, and Sage — but in a public vote, "Gnatalie" took the crown.
More on dinosaurs: Researcher Buys Dinosaur Fossil Online, Discovers Terrifying Monster
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