Preteen boy finds 80-million-year-old fossil on youth program field trip

• A 12-year-old Kansas boy, Corbin Bullard, discovered an 80-million-year-old marine fossil during a 4-H club trip in Jewell County last September.
• The fossil, found when Corbin was 11, was identified as a tylosaurus, a type of mosasaur or large marine reptile that swam in an ancient sea covering Kansas during the Cretaceous period.
• Corbin's mother, Wendy Bullard, recounted how the discovery began with Corbin exclaiming, leading to the identification of seven or eight large vertebrae.
• It took three separate trips to fully excavate the 15-foot-long fossil, which is composed of eight pieces.
• Corbin has spent at least 30 hours cleaning the fossil and plans to showcase his findings at the Sedgwick County Fair in July.

IN FULL

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