Ancient Giant of the Petrified Forest

Suspended overhead, the fossilized skeleton of a prehistoric phytosaur dominates the museum gallery, offering a remarkable glimpse into life more than 200 million years ago during the Late Triassic Period. Resembling a modern crocodile but belonging to a different branch of the reptile family tree, this ancient predator once inhabited the rivers and floodplains that covered what is now northeastern Arizona. Displayed near Petrified Forest National Park, the impressive fossil highlights the region's extraordinary paleontological history and invites visitors to step back into a world long before the age of dinosaurs.
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