Inside Arizona’s Groundbreaking Dino Discovery!

America has, once again, gone crazy with Dino fever. Jurassic World: Rebirth has hit theatres, and moviegoers everywhere are showing up in droves.

Here in Arizona, however, folks are losing their minds over a Dino that's much more real than the animatronic/CGI monsters we see on Isla Nublar.

Petrified Forest=Petrified Bones

Arizona's petrified forest is one of our most unique features, and within it, Paleontologist Ben Kligman discovered something extraordinary. Around 1,200 fossils were recovered from the forest, from bones to teeth to scales, but one discovery was more important than all the rest.

That was a jawbone, which was painstakingly examined through the Smithsonian Institute. Upon that examination, Smithsonian's Susie McIntyre noticed that all the teeth were still attached to the jaw, making this a relatively easy guess. So what was this jawbone connected to?

Inside the Grand Canyon's BIGGEST Secret

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Introducing: The Pterosaur

It was discovered that the jaw was originally connected to an animal known as the Pterosaur. Despite its name, this isn't actually a dinosaur, rather, a closer cousin to modern day seagulls. These critters were small, just big enough to perch on your shoulder. These were the first animals to develop flight after insects.

Due to the amount of volcanic ash covering the fossil when it was found, scientists could precisely date this animal as around 209.2 Million years old. This is notable, mostly because it fills in a missing gap in the fossil record just before the end-Triassic extinction. Arizona has been long known for its ability to preserve ancient creatures in its deserts, but this is unlike anything we've ever seen before.

[CBS]