3 young boys and dad uncover rare dinosaur bones while hiking in North Dakota

A hike in North Dakota's Badlands led to a staggering discovery.

A dad and some budding paleontologists unearthed very rare bones from the dinosaur age.

It was an unlikely prehistoric discovery.

Kaiden Madsen, along with his cousins, Liam and Jessin Fisher, were out for a hike when they came across something unusual sticking out of the ground.

The trio stumbled upon these fossil remains of a Tyrannosaurus rex while wandering across the North Dakota Badlands in the summer of 2022.

Paleontologist Tyler Lyson returned with the boys and his group of paleontologists to excavate the fossil. But it took another year to finally get the necessary permission to extract the fossil.

These young cousins took an active role in the excavation of the dinosaur's remains. And now, the boys' amazing find is set to go on display and be revealed to the public at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

Experts estimate the dinosaur may have been 13-15 years old and weighed around 3,500 pounds when it most likely died some 67 million years ago.

"It provides a key insight into the growth of this iconic animal," Lyson said.

The young explorers hope their stunning find inspires more discoveries.

"What I want them to learn is if you just put down your electronics and just go out hiking, you'll find something," one of the boys said.