A local Western Colorado family has uncovered rare fossils of a Elasmosauridae near the Bookcliffs.

The discovery of the Elasmosauridae fossils will help shed light on the creatures that once inhabited the shallow seas that once covered western Colorado along the Bookcliffs.

Elasmosauridae belonged to the family of plesiosaurs, they had long necks and were present during the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous. Their diet consisted of fish and shelless cephalopods.

The Museum of the West will work to uncover the rest of the fossil once dig season has ended on August 30, which will take a lot of work to uncover the remaining fossils.

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