Chief fossil preparator at Denver museum dies

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science’s chief fossil preparator has died.

The Denver Post reports that 50-year-old Mike Getty died on Monday after becoming ill at the excavation site of the newly discovered triceratops in Thornton. Getty led the public reveal of one of the dinosaur’s horns on Friday.

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science did not say what caused Getty’s death, but said it was not the result of a construction-related incident.

The museum, Saunders Construction and the City of Thornton will be developing a plan to continue the fossil excavation in the coming days.

Getty was credited with uncovering the remains of entire herds of centrosaur dinosaurs in the Dinosaur Park Formation in Canada.