The incredible dino discovery found under a museum

The fossil is the size of a hockey puck

A museum in Denver in the US, which is well known for its dinosaur displays, has just discovered a fossil of its own - under its car park!

The Denver Museum of Science and Nature was drilling into the ground to look at the potential for the building to use geothermal heating.

Geothermal energy is a type of renewable energy that uses the Earth's natural heat to warm homes and businesses or generate electricity.

James Hagadorn, who works at the museum, said finding the bone in this way was "super rare".

The discovery was made while drilling to check the potential for geothermal energy at the museum

The bone was found in a hole drilled more than 750ft (230 meters) into the ground, but the hole was only a couple of inches wide.

Museum officials struggled to say just how unlikely it was to hit a fossil in this way, even in an area where a number of fossils have been found before.

They say that only two have been found in this way anywhere in the world before, let alone on the grounds of a dinosaur museum!

Thomas Williamson, an expert from the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque, says the way it was found is certainly surprising, but "scientifically it's not that exciting".

The samples were taken from holes drilled that were only a couple of inches wide

Thomas Williamson also said there is no way to tell exactly what species of dinosaur it was.

However those at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science believe the bone is the vertebra of a plant-eating dinosaur that would have been quite small.

They say it lived in the late Cretaceous period around 67.5 million years ago.

The fossil is now on display in the museum, but there are no further plans to look for more under the car park.

James Hagadorn said he'd love to have a look for the rest of the dinosaur, but he can't see that happening as they "really need parking".