Tibia and fibula of a longneck sauropod dinosaur discovered in southern Colorado

An excavation team in southern Colorado has unearthed two dinosaur fossils. They belong to a longneck sauropod dinosaur, according to the Royal Gorge Regional Museum & History Center in Cañon City.

The museum will be presenting the fossils to the public later this month. It shared the news this week in a Facebook post explaining that the bones are a tibia and a fibula. The discovery was originally made by someone who "stumbled on" one of the fossils and reported the find to the Bureau of Land Management. So far it hasn't been revealed exactly where the bones were found but it is presumably in Fremont County.

Sauropods are plant-eating, four-legged dinosaurs with long necks and tails.

The excavation team was put together by the museum, the BLM and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

After the fossils are revealed to the public on Jan. 21, museum staff and members of the Western Interior Paleontological Society will be working to prepare and preserve them in the museum's program room. Visitors to the museum will be able to "observe our trained volunteers in action prepping the fossils."

Get more information about the museum at their website museum.canoncity.org if you're planning a visit to see the fossils.