Dinosaur Resurrection

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Dinosaur Resurrection

• Transporting a 77-million-year-old, mummified
  dinosaur across the country

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Background Who is Leonardo?

• A Brachylophosaurus Canadensis (duck-billed
  dinosaur) is discovered by the Judith River
  Dinosaur Institute in Malta, Mont., on July 27,
  2000. Dubbed Leonardo, this fossil is one of
  only four existing Brachylophosaurus specimens
  identified to date.

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Background Who is Leonardo?

• According to the Guinness Book of Records,
  Leonardo is the most complete, reticulated
  dinosaur ever unearthed. Around 90 percent of
  the mummified dinosaur is covered with
  fossilized soft tissue.

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Background Who is Leonardo?

• The dinosaur has been remarkably preserved over
  the eons, so paleontologists suspect there would
  be fossilized organs within the torso of the
  creature. This close-up of the fossil shows
  Leonardos ribs.

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Background Who is Leonardo?

• Paleontologists believe Leonardo was about four
  years old when it died more than 77 million years
  ago. The science team suspects there would be
  fossilized organs within the torso of the
  dinosaur, but they needed state-of-the-art
  equipment to successfully scan the fossil.

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Background Who is Leonardo?

• A member of the science team solicits help from
  Sealed Airs packaging experts to create a
  protective packaging solution to safely transport
  the fragile fossil more than 2,000 miles across
  the country from Malta, Mont., to NASAs Johnson
  Space Center in Houston where the fossil could be
  scanned.

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Creating a Protective Packaging Solution

• Bill Armstrong, technical development manager for
  Sealed Air Corp., works with a team of other
  packaging experts from Sealed Air, International
  Safe Transit Association, Lansmont Corp. and the
  U.S. Navy to develop a custom package design.

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Testing July 2007

• Two tons of shingles are loaded into a truck as
  part of a test run to measure the shock and
  vibration environment for the route. The truck
  bed is monitored with GPS-enabled instrumentation
  which records the shocks, bumps and vibrations
  experienced and to determine where, on the route,
  each event occurred.

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Testing July 2007

• A 1,500-mile round-trip test run measures bumps,
  shocks and vibrations along the route.

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Testing July 2007

• The test run successfully measures the amount of
  disturbances the package received throughout the
  trip so the Sealed Air team knows exactly the
  types of conditions Leonardo would have to
  withstand.

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Testing a Protective Packaging Solution

• The packaging team uses sandstone samples in
  Sealed Airs packaging dynamics lab in Danbury,
  Conn., to run various tests to determine which
  packaging solution would best perform on
  Leonardos 2,000-mile journey.

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Designing a Protective Packaging Solution

• After development and testing in the packaging
  design center, the team travels back to Malta,
  Mont., to implement the packaging solution, which
  begins with a sturdy base.

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Designing a Protective Packaging Solution

• After the base is created, the packaging team
  raises the fossil on jacks and lines it up with
  the base. The dinosaur is almost as wide as the
  truck, so the measurements of the crate need to
  be precise.

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Designing a Protective Packaging Solution

• The fossil is shrink-wrapped with Sealed Airs
  CorTuff high-abuse shrink film to stabilize the
  fragile surface.

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Designing a Protective Packaging Solution

• After the film is successfully shrink-wrapped
  around the fossil, the team begins to construct
  the crate around the dinosaur.

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Designing a Protective Packaging Solution

• The fossil is then blocked and braced on the base
  using Sealed Airs Instapak foam.

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Designing a Protective Packaging Solution

• After the fossil is secure in the crate, the team
  carefully assembles the top.

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Designing a Protective Packaging Solution

• A piece of Leonardos tail is packed in a
  separate box and mounted atop the main crate.

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The Finished Package

• Leonardo is ready for shipment. It will travel
  2,000 miles across the country from Malta, Mont.,
  to NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston.

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Final Destination February 2008

• After a 2,000 mile journey, Leonardo arrives at
  NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston.

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Final Destination February 2008

• The team carefully begins unpacking the crate to
  determine if Leonardo arrived safely. The head
  paleontologist on the science team says, Not a
  grain of sand was out of place.

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Final Destination February 2008

• Shortly after unpacking the crate, the science
  team with support from NASA scans the fossil to
  determine if the fossilized organs are indeed
  intact. The scanning takes place under strict
  security, with the findings to be revealed when
  Secrets of the Dinosaur Mummy debuts on Discovery
  HD.

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Documentary Debut Findings Revealed

• Discovery HD
• Sunday, Sept. 14
• 9 p.m. EST

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For more information or high-resolution images

• Contact Rachel Hadley
• 404.266.7502
• rhadley_at_webershandwick.com