In the next few weeks, excavation will begin in Montana on one of the largest dinosaur fossils ever discovered.

"We found last summer [2015] some bones sticking out of the hillside and in our initial excavation we found a vertebrae and rib pieces of a gigantic sauropod," said Director of the Judith River Dinosaur Institute Nate Murphy. "Monty is an unusually large animal, well over 100 feet long."

The long-necked dinosaur has been dubbed “big Monty” by researchers, who say this will be the biggest fossil ever recovered in Montana.

"It's the biggest, by far," Murphy said. "Monty will be one of the largest dinosaurs ever found in North America. It will rival some of the great Titanosaurs of South America. We are hoping to dig up the full "Monty," this dinosaur will go to a public museum somewhere, and we are hoping it will be here, in the U.S."

Murphy says “Big Monty” is more than twice the size of a full grown Tyrannosaurus Rex and might best be described as “a walking whale.”  Murphy expects excavation work to begin by the first week of July.

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