Boy, 12, finds 80-million-year-old fossil on a 4H trip and plans to display it at the county fair

A 12-year-old Kansas boy made a prehistoric discovery during a recent trip with his 4H club when he uncovered an 80-million-year-old marine fossil buried underground.

Corbin Bullard of Clearwater, found the fossil in September, when he was 11, while visiting Jewell County with the Sedgwick County 4-H Geology Club. The youth program teaches kids ages 7 to 19 about earth science, rocks and fossils through hands-on activities.

“He said, ‘Whoa.’ So we looked down and found what I think were seven or eight large vertebrae,” Corbin’s mother, Wendy Bullard, told KWCH Tuesday.

It took three separate trips to fully excavate Corbin’s discovery from the site. Although Corbin has long been interested in dinosaurs, experts identified his discovery as a tylosaurus, a type of mosasaur, or large marine reptile, that swam through an ancient sea covering Kansas during the Cretaceous period about 80 million years ago.

“Pretty much all of the middle of America used to be underwater,” Corbin explained to the news station.

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One version of the marine creature, the Tylosauraus proriger, was around 45-feet long and are related to modern-day snakes. The creatures lived around the same time periods as the dinosaurs, but are technically not dinosaurs. They propelled themselves through the water with their tail and used paddle-like flippers, according to National Geographic.

The fossil is made up of eight pieces and stretches more than 15 feet. Corbin has already spent at least 30 hours carefully cleaning it, he said.

“I feel like it’s very surreal to have had this happen. I’m very proud of Corbin for sticking through it and finding everything,” Stephanie Hays, the Sedgwick County 4-H agent, told KWCH.

Corbin will soon show off his findings at the Sedgwick County Fair from July 8-11.

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